PHILADELPHIA – With old friend DeSean Jackson coming to town Saturday, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to need as much help as possible at cornerback.

Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis was optimistic about the availability of Byron Maxwell and Eric Rowe. Both starting cornerbacks were injured during Sunday’s 40-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Neither practiced with the team on Tuesday.

“Right now, it’s day-to-day,” Davis said. “I’m hopeful we’ll get both of them, but I really do not know. We’ll practice accordingly and have everybody prepared. When we get to Saturday, we’ll play whoever’s healthy.

“I’m confident that we’ll have them. I think we will.”

Rowe is in the NFL concussion protocol. He has to be cleared by an independent neurologist before he can practice. Maxwell injured his upper body, along his collarbone.

For him, it’s a matter of being able to function with the pain.

During Sunday’s game, Jaylen Watkins and E.J. Biggers filled in at cornerback. Safety Walter Thurmond, a converted cornerback, also played a handful of downs as an outside cornerback.

“The intelligence and football IQ of our secondary was on display the other night when those guys went down,” Davis said. “We were moving multiple positions. There was two- and three-man positional shifting going on within the drives. We were able to play the packages that we wanted to.

“We were able to function because of their ability.”

Denzel Rice, who has been inactive for eight games, is another option.

“Jaylen’s got the nod on the outside because of his experience,” Davis said. “Jaylen covered well last week. When we asked Jaylen and E.J. to go outside, all of them played the corner position pretty well.

“They didn’t get behind Jaylen. Jaylen ran with a lot of speed. The deep ball didn’t get over the top. He actually had a chance to make two interceptions.”

Two other Eagles did not practice Tuesday. Wide receiver Seyi Ajirotutu, who plays mostly on special teams, sprained his ankle. Defensive tackle Bennie Logan injured his knee.

The Eagles usually use Tuesday for a short practice that is mostly designed to help players recover from the previous game. Because they are playing Washington Saturday, this Tuesday practice was longer and dedicated to focusing on the game plan for Saturday