The Eagles will start the season without right tackle Lane Johnson because Johnson will be serving a four-game suspension and their depth on the line may have taken another hit on Sunday.
The team announced that center Julian Vandervelde had back surgery. There’s no timetable for his return, leaving David Molk with an outsize opportunity to earn playing time behind Jason Kelce.
“The sad thing is this is kind of how the NFL works,” Molk said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Your gain is someone else’s [misfortune], which is terrible. It’s the business.”
Molk was out of the league in 2013 after playing 12 games for the Chargers as a seventh-round pick in 2012. Vandervelde played 14 games for the Eagles last year as a reserve offensive lineman and special teams contributor, so his absence would cost the Eagles a reserve with experience in their system at a moment when they don’t have too many players who fit that bill vying to make the roster.