The Philadelphia Eagles are heading to London for Week 5 with a projected depth chart that looks less like a settled plan than a series of emergency adjustments.
Dontayvion Wicks is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, and he was limited in practice. Drew Kendall is also questionable with a knee injury and has yet to practice this week, leaving real doubt about whether he can play against the Jacksonville Jaguars. If both are unavailable, or even if Wicks is active but not close to full strength, the Eagles will be asking players who were not central to the original Week 5 plan to take on much larger roles.
That is where Makai Lemon and Jake Majors enter the picture.
Lemon is expected to step up at receiver, even though his early season production has been uneven. Through three weeks, he has caught 10 passes for 65 yards and has minus-5 yards on one carry. His NFL debut against the Washington Commanders in Week 1 ended with minus-5 yards, and Pro Football Focus gave him a 59.7 overall grade, ranking him 69th among 85 eligible NFL wide receivers.
There is at least one reason the Eagles are willing to keep leaning on him: on in-breaking routes through three games, Lemon has averaged 3.8 yards of separation, which ranked 17th among all qualifying wide receivers and first among rookies. That is the kind of detail that matters when a team is trying to piece together a passing game around injuries rather than around its preferred personnel.
Wicks’ status is the clearest trigger for Lemon’s expanded role. The Eagles added Wicks to the injury report because of the hamstring issue, and no one has confirmed yet whether he will miss the game. Even if he does suit up, the expectation is that he will not be 100 percent healthy, which leaves Lemon in line for more work either way.
The same kind of uncertainty is playing out up front.
Kendall’s injury is forcing Jake Majors into the starting lineup at center, and he may be making his first career NFL start in Week 5 against the Jaguars. The Eagles had started Cam Jurgens at center in Week 1, but after Landon Dickerson’s injury, Jurgens moved to left guard and Kendall was promoted to starting center. Now Kendall’s knee issue has pushed the job to Majors, creating the possibility that Philadelphia will be starting its third different center in five games.
That is a lot of movement for one position group, especially with Jacksonville bringing a defense that has produced 10 sacks this season.
Majors’ background is part of why the Eagles are comfortable giving him this chance. He broke the Texas program record for career starts with 56, and he spent 2020 through 2024 as a long-time starter for the Longhorns. The Eagles have also had time to prepare him with the starters, and his preseason work drew praise. Still, this is a different test: a London game, a new role, and a front that has already been reshuffled more than once.
The Eagles’ projected changes do not stop there. Epps being out will hurt depth at safety, though Moore is available as a backup and Carter played well as a starter in Week 4, so Philadelphia should be in better shape there than it is at receiver or center. In the backfield, Shipley and Pierce are expected to handle most of the work in place of Barkley and Bigsby.
For Philadelphia, the Week 5 question is not just who is available. It is whether these stopgap moves can become something more than temporary cover. Lemon and Majors are being asked to do more than fill empty spots on a depth chart; they are being asked to make the reshuffled version of the Eagles look functional.