PHILADELPHIA — Alshon Jeffery missed practice again Thursday because of an ankle injury, increasing the possibility Carson Wentz won’t have his two top receivers when the Eagles host the New England Patriots on Sunday.
DeSean Jackson had surgery for an abdominal injury last week and is out the rest of the regular season.
The Eagles (5-4) haven’t had much production from their wide receivers. Jeffery has 34 catches for 353 yards and three touchdowns. He dropped three passes against Chicago on Nov. 3 and has looked slow.
Nelson Agholor has 32 catches for 282 yards and three TDs. He also has dropped several passes, including a potential go-ahead TD in a loss at Atlanta in Week 2.
Mack Hollins has 10 receptions for 125 yards despite playing 374 snaps. J.J. Arcega-Whiteside has two catches in 176 snaps.
Philadelphia brought Jordan Matthews back for his third stint with the team. He could get plenty of action against the Patriots (8-1).
Linebacker Nigel Bradham (ankle) and running back Darren Sproles (quadriceps) also missed practice Thursday.
BROWNS: Antonio Callaway doesn’t have to worry about running late to any more Cleveland games.
The Browns cut the troubled wide receiver on Thursday, just hours before facing the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Callaway’s release came after he was benched by first-year coach Freddie Kitchens for Sunday’s game against Buffalo because he didn’t get to FirstEnergy Stadium on time. Earlier this week, Kitchens said he didn’t know if Callaway got the message with the discipline.
The Browns sent a harsher one, releasing the speedy Callaway, whose problems followed him from the University of Florida.
Callaway, 22, was suspended for the first four games this season by the NFL for violating the league’s drug policy. He caught eight passes for 89 yards in four games since his reinstatement, and the Browns were holding out hope he’d mature.
That didn’t happen, so they’ve moved on.
As a rookie last year, he had 43 receptions for 586 yards and five touchdowns.
JETS: The team owner has Adam Gase’s back. The franchise quarterback does, too.
A day after team CEO and chairman Christopher Johnson announced the coach will remain in place for next season, Sam Darnold gave the news an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“If everything works out like it’s supposed to and Adam is here again, that would be absolutely amazing,” Darnold said Thursday. “Going into OTAs and knowing the whole offense, and even being able to build off things we’ve already done this year, it will be incredible.”
Gase has taken lots of heat from fans unhappy with the coach’s performance through a 2-7 start that has included several key injuries and tough losses.
But Johnson made it clear Wednesday that Gase is going nowhere any time soon when he spoke briefly to reporters during practice, echoing what he already had told the team last week.
“The season has not gone the way, obviously, we’ve wanted,” Gase said. “We’ve got a lot of games left and our job is to improve this team and go out and try to win games and (Johnson) is with us through every step, our communication with him, so he kind of knows what we’ve been trying to do, how we’re trying to fix things that are wrong.
“So to get his support and for him to see what we’re trying to do, that’s an important step for us.”
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