Eagles' Brown to miss wild-card matchup vs. Bucs

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown is set to miss the team's wild-card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers due to a sprained knee, head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters Saturday, including The Philadelphia Inquirer's Tim McManus.

There's optimism that he could return to action if the Eagles advance to the divisional round, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Brown wants to fully heal as much as possible and try to play next week, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

The second-team All-Pro wideout didn't participate in practice this week.

Brown suffered a knee injury in the Eagles' Week 18 game against the New York Giants. It'll mark the first contest he's missed all season.

The Pro Bowl receiver led the Eagles with 106 catches for 1,456 yards to go along with seven touchdowns during the regular season.

Philadelphia is expected to lean on DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Quez Watkins, and Julio Jones in the passing game with Brown sidelined. Smith is set to return to the starting lineup after missing the regular-season finale against the Giants with an ankle injury.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts is trending in a positive direction ahead of Monday night's contest as he works through a finger ailment. Hurts appeared to suffer a gruesome injury to the middle finger of his throwing hand in Week 18. He was upgraded to a full participant in the team's Friday practice after being limited to start the week.