Eagles RB Ja’Quinden Jackson Hospitalized After Scary Kickoff Hit vs. Patriots, CT Scan Comes Back Negative
Eagles RB Ja'Quinden Jackson was hospitalized after a scary kickoff collision vs. the Patriots; a CT scan came back negative just days before Philadelphia's roster cutdown.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Ja’Quinden Jackson was carted off the field and taken away in an ambulance during Saturday night’s preseason game at New England, after his head collided with a Patriots player’s leg while he was making a tackle on the opening kickoff. The Eagles later confirmed Jackson had strength and movement in all extremities, and his agent said a subsequent CT scan came back negative with Jackson awake and alert. New England went on to win the exhibition contest 24-21.
The injury occurred just seconds into the game at Gillette Stadium, as Jackson dove to bring down Patriots returner Lan Larison on the opening kick. Jackson stayed down for several minutes while medical staff attended to him, and both teams took a knee near midfield as the ambulance was driven onto the field. Jackson reportedly gave a thumbs up as he was loaded in, a small but welcome sign for a locker room that had gone silent watching one of its newest faces get strapped to a backboard.
A Roster Long Shot Now Facing a Longer Road
Jackson’s path to Philadelphia has been anything but conventional. A former all-state quarterback at Duncanville High School in Texas, he began his college career at Texas before transferring to Utah, where he converted to running back and rushed for 1,358 yards and 14 touchdowns over three seasons. He then transferred again for a final season at Arkansas in 2024, producing 790 yards and 15 touchdowns on 149 carries. Undrafted in 2025, Jackson signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, spent the year on their practice squad, and was waived in May.
The Eagles brought him in on August 10 as part of a three-player signing, and his addition was a direct response to injuries piling up in the backfield. Elijah Mitchell landed on injured reserve that same day, and Dameon Pierce has been dealing with a hamstring issue that has limited him in camp. At 6-foot-2 and 233 pounds, Jackson was viewed as a physical depth option who could soak up preseason carries and make a push for a practice squad or roster spot behind Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby. Instead, his Eagles preseason debut ended in a stretcher before he ever touched the ball on offense.
What It Means for Philadelphia’s Backfield Math and Futures Markets
The timing compounds the uncertainty. Philadelphia must trim its roster to 53 players by August 30, and the running back room already looked crowded with question marks entering the weekend — Barkley as the clear lead back, Bigsby as the primary change-of-pace option, and a competition among Pierce, Will Shipley, Carson Steele and Jackson for whatever spots remained. With Mitchell already on IR and Pierce banged up, Jackson’s health status now becomes another variable the front office has to sort out on a compressed timeline, even before considering how long his own evaluation and recovery will take.
None of this moves the needle much on Philadelphia’s marquee futures, and it shouldn’t — the Eagles remain priced as one of the stronger contenders in the NFC, currently sitting around +1600 to +1800 to win the Super Bowl and roughly +115 on the NFC East, with their season win total set at 10.5. Barkley’s workload and health are what actually drive those numbers, not the back of the running back depth chart. But roster-construction storylines like this one are exactly the kind of thing that shapes depth-chart-driven markets and practice-squad speculation in the days before cutdown, and it’s a reminder of how quickly a team’s plans for filling out a position group can change in the middle of preseason. Sportsbooks and bettors tracking Eagles roster news will be watching for the next update on both Jackson’s recovery timeline and Pierce’s hamstring before those depth-chart battles get sorted out for real.