Q.  Any updates on LB Kiko Alonso?
            CHIP KELLY: Kiko has not passed the [concussion] protocol. When he does, I’ll announce that, but he hasn’t and he won’t go today. 
 
Q.  How about an update on LB Mychal Kendricks?
            CHIP KELLY: Kendricks is fine.
 
Q.  So he’ll practice today?
            CHIP KELLY: Yeah.
 
            Q.  Kendricks explained to us that his numbers weren’t right, so he didn’t practice. Is that the same thing in relation to RB DeMarco Murray’s absence from practice last week in terms of his hydration levels and loads?
            CHIP KELLY:  No, hydration and loads, in terms of practice, are two entirely different things.  It was just kind of where [Kendricks] was from a body standpoint, so just backed off him a little bit.
 
            Q.  Can you explain what the term ‘loads’ is?
            CHIP KELLY:  Just your workload.
 
            Q.  Losing DB JaCorey Shepherd to a torn ACL is pretty significant injury. Can you just talk about that and the options in the nickel spot?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah it’s sad. Just bad ‑‑ first and foremost, you just feel so bad for him because he’s worked so hard and had invested so much into this. He’s a great young man.  It was tough talking to him yesterday.  He got his MRI in the morning and then came back.  I just got in there right after Chris [Head athletic trainer Chris Peduzzi] had told him what the outcome was.
            It was just one of those freak things; his foot was planted kind of a little bit awkwardly — when you see the tape — when the contact happened, and it just went.  I feel for him.  He’s going to get operated on.  He’ll be with us, we’ll put him on Injured Reserve and he’ll stay with us for the entire year.  We’ll get him in on all the meetings and get him up to speed in terms of what we are. Hopefully, as we talked to him about, we won’t use this as a rookie year ‑‑ rather next year won’t be his rookie year, this will be it.  He’ll learn everything he needs to learn from a mental standpoint, and we’ll start the rehab as soon as possible with him.
 
            Q.  What’s the plan for the slot corner?
            CHIP KELLY:  We’re going to rotate a lot of guys in there.  Watkins [DB Jaylen Watkins] will be in there, [DB] Eric Rowe will be in there,  [CB E.J.] Biggers will be in there, and we all know that we have Walter [DB Walter Thurmond] and Malcolm [S Malcolm Jenkins], but we had already planned for the first two weeks of just using corners in there anyway.  We’ll make an adjustment if need be after this Colts’ week.
 
            Q.  Watkins wasn’t able to get on the field very much as a rookie.  Why was that?  You struggled at corner and yet he still didn’t really play.
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, I think he just wasn’t better than Nolan [CB Nolan Carroll], who was our dime, and our fifth and sixth, and [Brandon] Boykin at that point in time.
 
            Q.  Was there a reason you had to do the Boykin trade when you did before camp?
            CHIP KELLY:  No, it was just when Pittsburgh contacted us.  There was no reason or rhyme to it.  Again, we weren’t shopping him to anybody.  They called, as I said, last year at draft time and we turned them down, then they called just about a week before camp, and we didn’t accept it, and then they upped their offer just when we were headed to camp, so it was really what they were looking to do. But we weren’t shopping Brandon at all.
 
            Q.  Do you think you could have gotten the same offer if you’d have waited two weeks?
            CHIP KELLY:  No idea.
 
            Q.  Are you comfortable with what you have as far as your slot corner options?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, we’re comfortable in terms of what we have right now.
 
            Q.  Was Rowe one of the names that you mentioned that will be in there?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, Rowe, Watkins and Biggers are the three nickels today.
 
            Q.  The initial plan was to have Rowe on the outside, right?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, we’ve been a week into camp, too.  The initial plan was always to use corners [inside].  So we were going to move Eric anyway and find out who the best option was.
 
            Q.  When you put out your initial depth chart this week, how much should we read into what you put out there? How significant is that?
            CHIP KELLY:  Derek Boyko [Eagles director of public relations Derek Boyko] will put out the depth chart. So I hope that answers your question.
 
            Q.  Are you going to hold Shepherd’s roster spot for now?
            CHIP KELLY:  We’re holding his spot, yeah.  We’re not going to expose him to the waiver wire.  He’s with us.
 
            Q.  How do you feel like Jaylen Watkins has been practicing lately?
            CHIP KELLY:  Jaylen has done a nice job. He did a nice job since camp has started, so I know Billy [defensive coordinator Bill Davis] and Cory [defensive backs coach Cory Undlin] have been happy with him.  He’s got some versatility: he’s got nickel, he’s got corner, he’s got safety ability.  But we feel like Jaylen has done a nice job since we got here.
 
            Q.  He talked about his technique.  Have you seen a dramatic improvement?
            CHIP KELLY:  He’s gotten a lot better from a technical standpoint, yeah.
 
            Q.  Where does CB Denzel Rice fit into that whole group?
            CHIP KELLY:  He’s in the mix.  You’ve only got a certain amount of snaps, so we’re still working it, looking at Wat [Watkins] there, still looking at Biggers there, and now Eric will kind of move into that spot. Then at some point in time it’ll be Denzel and it’ll be Walter.  We still have yet to play a preseason game, so we’ve got a long way to go here.
 
            Q.  I know you really don’t pay much attention to how the reps go between first, second and third teams.  For those of us who do, it’s basically been QB Sam Bradford 90 percent and QB Mark Sanchez 10 percent with the first team.  How has that been playing out?  You talked about a quarterback competition.
            CHIP KELLY:  Ryan [quarterbacks coach Ryan Day] just rolls those guys. Again, when you’re in there, ‘Are you moving the group, are you completing the ball, are you putting the ball where it’s supposed to be, are you making good decisions, are you doing all that?’
 
            Q.  So the reps are based upon Day’s impression of how well the quarterbacks ‑‑
            CHIP KELLY:  No, he just rolls him.  I don’t ‑‑ you can ask him when you talk to him.
 
            Q.  What have you liked so far from watching Thurmond at safety?
            CHIP KELLY:  Very productive.  If you watched him Sunday in the Linc [Lincoln Financial Field], I think he had two interceptions and caused a fumble.  I think he leads the defensive backs right now in turnovers caused, whether it be interceptions or fumbles caused.  He just kind of has a knack of being around the ball. I think he’s a real savvy player back there and has fit in really well.  It has been kind of seamless for him in that transition from corner to safety. He just always seems to be around the ball making plays.
 
            Q.  Is it safe to consider Thurmond the starter at safety at this point?
            CHIP KELLY:  No.  We’ve got four more games.  He could hurt his leg tomorrow, so you can consider him the starter today for today’s practice, yeah.
 
            Q.  I know you don’t have the benefit of hindsight, but were you leaning on Shepherd to help fill Boykin’s role? Does Shepherd’s injury change the way you look at that trade?
            CHIP KELLY:  No.  We just felt like we had really good depth in the secondary; better than we’ve ever had since we’ve been here.  With kids like Eric and JaCorey that you’d throw into the mix, with [DB Randall] Evans, with Denzel Rice and then bringing in Walter, bringing in Biggers, bringing in Max [CB Byron Maxwell], man, we just felt like we’re a lot deeper in the secondary than we’ve ever been.  Then with what we were offered when they finally got it up to a fourth, we just felt like we couldn’t pass up that opportunity.
 
            Q.  What kind of first week did Rowe have, and do you have any concern about moving him to a second position?
            CHIP KELLY:  No, because it was the plan all along.  All those guys have to be versatile.  If they’re not going to end up being the starter, then they’ve got to be able to play everywhere.  That’s part of the whole plan, but I think through the spring we kept him in one position specifically just to get his feet wet. I thought he did a really nice job competing with Nolan out there. He’s taken a lot of – Cory [Undlin’s] repetitions out there, he lets those guys kind of go with the first team sometimes.  I think he’s done a really good job in match‑ups when we’re in one‑on‑ones and three‑on‑twos.  I thought Eric had a really good first week.
 
            Q.  S Chris Prosinski had a couple interceptions last week in practice. How is he progressing?
            CHIP KELLY:  Chris is doing a really nice job and that’s going to be an interesting battle with the safety position when you’ve got Jenk [S Malcolm Jenkins] and [S Chris] Maragos and Walt and Chris, and then you throw Coup [S Jerome Couplin] and Earl [S Earl Wolff] and [S] Ed Reynolds in there, and again, it’s another position we’re going to have to make some difficult decisions when it comes down to the end.
 
            Q.  Where is Couplin in his recovery?
            CHIP KELLY:  I think he’ll be cleared — he’ll start doing some things.  He’ll be cleared and back on the field for Monday after the Colts [game]. So he won’t play in the Colts game.
 
            Q.  Is the plan to give Bradford some playing time on Sunday?
            CHIP KELLY:  We haven’t had any discussions about what we’re doing Sunday until we get through ‑‑ we’ve got today and then two more big days of practice on Wednesday and Thursday, and then we’ll kind of start to hone in on the Colts game when we hit Friday or Saturday.
 
            Q.  You talked this spring about how Sanchez has looked different after having a year in the system and no longer coming off shoulder surgery.  Do you see something different from him in this camp as opposed to last year’s camp?
            CHIP KELLY:  It’s the same with all those guys that are in Year Two.  I think he just has a better command.  This isn’t his first preseason training camp with us in our system, understanding how we train, how we call plays, how we run drills and things like that.  I just think you can see that he’s a lot more comfortable.
 
            Q.  With regards to Bradford, did he surprise you with the way he played last week and the fact that he hasn’t missed a practice?
            CHIP KELLY:  Did that surprise me?  No.
 
            Q.  What happened to Frank Mays and what’s your plan for that spot?
            CHIP KELLY:  Mays ruptured a tendon in his finger.  He’s scheduled for surgery at some point in time.
 
            Q.  Are you filling that spot today?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah.
 
            Q.  Last year in the dime you moved Carroll inside and played him in that dime linebacker spot.  Have you thought about moving Carroll into the slot, also, and just bringing in another outside corner?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, after one week of practice we’ve thought of a lot of things.  We’ve got four more weeks to go in preseason and then another week of preparation until we play Atlanta.  Any guy that lines up at nickel today, I wouldn’t kind of write it down that he’s going to be the starting nickel when we play the Falcons.  There are a lot of different combinations that can express themselves.  Some other guys could get hurt and decisions don’t even have to be made because now you’re down to X.
 
            Q.  Rowe played inside in college? Does that help him play inside now?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, he did, he played safety in college, and then he moved ‑‑ yeah, it does help him — and then he moved out to corner just his senior year.  That was one of the things that we were attracted to him about when we got to the draft, was his position versatility. But we felt he was a corner when Cory [Undlin] worked him out, and then I was out there with Ed [Vice President of Player Personnel Ed Marynowitz] at his pro day. We felt he had NFL corner skills, and we always want to start on the outside and then be able to move in. We felt that because he had played safety and has the man‑to‑man coverage skills that he would be a natural nickel anyway.
 
            Q.  LB Brandon Graham doesn’t fit a lot of your size parameters, but what ‑‑
            CHIP KELLY:  He actually does. The only thing he’s short [in] is just height, but weight‑wise he does, arm length he does and strength numbers we look at, he does.  He fits all of those.  He’s just not the height that you want.
            But I think his arm length and his power and his weight are exactly what we’re looking for.
 
            Q.  What does he do to offset perhaps what he lacks in height?
            CHIP KELLY:  His power.  I think a lot of times he’s a very difficult ‑‑ he can really set an edge and turn the ball back inside, especially in the run game.  Sometimes when you’re taking a shorter outside linebacker, you worry about them being able to set the edge, but he’s outstanding at that.  That’s really one of his strengths.
 
            Q.  In Year Three what can DT Bennie Logan do better?
            CHIP KELLY:  I mean, just like all those guys, they’re all progressing.  I think he’s been fantastic for us.  All of them are never, in their opinion or in our opinion, what they can be.  I think they’re always striving to get better, but I think that entire D‑line kind of has that same mindset, whether it’s Bennie, Ced [DE Cedric Thornton] or Fletch [DE Fletcher Cox].  I think they’re continuing to grow, continuing to get a little bit stronger, develop more pass rush moves, add a little bit more to their game, but I think he’s been outstanding.
 
            Q.  What’s the value in having that group intact from last year and having them all back together again?
            CHIP KELLY:  Just that you don’t worry about it.  We don’t spend a whole heck of a lot of time when we’re making defensive personnel meetings on the defensive line just because you have so many veterans in those positions, and they’re young.  That’s the other thing.  It’s not like they’re long in the tooth. Ced and Fletch are the older guys in the group.  Bennie is just going into Year Three.  That group as a whole is very consistent in terms of their production on a day‑in‑and‑day‑out basis, and it’s just kind of something you can always count on, is that our D‑line right now, barring any type of injury, is in pretty good shape.
 
            Q.  Along the lines of what you said about Graham, your defensive ends aren’t really the tall tree, 6’6″ guys that you probably like.  How do they compensate?
            CHIP KELLY:  Fletch [Fletcher Cox] is pretty tall.
 
            Q.  Is he 6’6″?
            CHIP KELLY:  No, 6’4″-plus. 
 
Q.  Is he long-armed?
            CHIP KELLY:  Fletch has very long arms.  Fletch is ideal for what we’re looking for.  [DE] Brandon Bair is up there.  I think [DE] Taylor Hart is 6’6″.  We just took a 6’9″ kid [DE Brian Mihalik], so I think our defensive ends match up pretty well for what we –
 
Q.  What about the starters though?
            CHIP KELLY: I think Fletch can play any position on the defensive line in any system in the National Football League.  He could be a nose, he could be a three-technique, he could be a one-technique, he could be a five-technique in a 4‑3, he could be a four-technique.  I think anybody out there would take his size, height and weight parameters for what he’s doing.
 
            Q.  You’ve built this roster in the offseason and a lot of guys do reflect the prototypes you look for. As you go forward, are you willing to overlook some things if players compensate in other areas?
            CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, we always do.  Have you seen  [RB] Darren Sproles?  I mean, you still have to be a productive player.  He doesn’t fit the prototype for anything, but you would always take a Darren Sproles.  We have parameters in what we’re going to do, but there’s still production standpoints that you look at that we feel you’ve always got to look at.
 
            Q.  Is there anybody other than Alonso and Couplin that won’t practice today?
            CHIP KELLY:  No, that’s it. Just those two.