Eagles LB Kamu Grugier-Hill needs surgery, put on IR

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill has been placed on injured reserve with a back injury that requires surgery, the team announced Wednesday.

"Following Sunday's game at Washington, Kamu Grugier-Hill reported back discomfort to team physicians," the team said in a statement. "On Monday afternoon, an MRI confirmed a lower lumbar disc herniation. After consulting with the team's spine surgeon, the decision was made to proceed with surgery."

Grugier-Hill is expected to be fully recovered in 3-4 weeks, his agent told ESPN.

"Kamu has been playing through significant pain for the majority of the 2019 season," agent Steve Caric said. "This pain has forced him to take weekly pre-game pain killing shots and IV drips. This past week, the pain became unbearable and it was determined he required a minor and minimally invasive back procedure to relieve the pain."

The Eagles promoted defensive tackle Bruce Hector to take Grugier-Hill's roster spot. Grugier-Hill played just five defensive snaps against the Washington Redskins -- his lowest total of the season -- after missing the previous week with a concussion. He was not forthright with the team about suffering a head injury early in a Week 13 game against the Miami Dolphins, telling the doctors that he had hurt his shoulder so he could stay in the game. It wasn't until the following week that he came clean when the symptoms failed to subside, and was placed in concussion protocol.

Coach Doug Pederson expressed his disappointment over Grugier-Hill's decision-making last week, and at the time said he had not made a determination whether Grugier-Hill would be disciplined.

Grugier-Hill's lack of playing time against the Redskins was unrelated to that situation, according to defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

"They ran a lot of big personnel in there and we had a little different lineup in the big personnel, so I think that took a little bit of his snaps away," Schwartz said Tuesday. "And then on third-down, we were a lot of dime personnel. Just sort of the way that they had played and then our matchups against it."

Grugier-Hill, who missed time early in the season with a knee injury, finishes with 22 tackles and four tackles for loss in 10 games. The 25-year-old is in the final year of his rookie contract.