Eagles place starting RG Andrew Gardner on season-ending IR

Andrew Gardner's season is over.
Matt Rourke/AP

The Eagles didn't just place kicker Cody Parkey on season-ending injured reserve this week. They also lost Andrew Gardner for the season with a foot injury.

As we are all well aware, this past offseason the Eagles released both of their 2014 starting guards, Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans. They did this despite being the only team in the only team in the NFL not to have drafted an offensive lineman over the last two years. Here's a chart of how many offensive linemen each team in the NFL has drafted over the last three years.

 Team2013 2014 2015 TOTAL 
 Rams
 Seahawks
 Bengals
 Vikings
 Patriots
 Colts
 Broncos
 49ers
 Bears
 Chiefs
 Giants
 Jets
 Titans
 Redskins
 Ravens
 Bills
 Cowboys
 Lions
 Jaguars
 Dolphins
 Raiders
 Buccaneers
 Cardinals
 Panthers
 Browns
 Packers
 Texans
 Saints
 Falcons
 Chargers
 Steelers
 Eagles1 


The NFL average during that span is 4.125 drafted offensive linemen per team. Because of their failure to add youth to the mix along their OL, the Eagles do not have much in the way of quality depth. Gardner may be the least painful loss of the starting offensive linemen for the Eagles, but their depth will now be tested.

The Eagles signed Julian Vandervelde for the 300th time (a team record, probably) to fill the roster spot, and Matt Tobin is likely to take over as the starter at RG.

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