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Q.Barring an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, how much do you expect to play Eagles QB Sam Bradford?
             
CHIP KELLY:  We, like every week, we’ll have a meeting this afternoon and talk about everybody. Ones, twos and threes and what our rotation will be and then finalize it after tomorrow’s training session.  So we have not met and talked about that at all.
 
Q.  Do you expect him to play at all?
             
CHIP KELLY:  One more time.  Every week we wait till after today and talk about what we’re going to do rotation‑wise, and we go through tomorrow’s training session and we finalize it and go from there.  So we haven’t had a discussion as a staff yet.  We have a big meeting this afternoon on how we’re going to do it and mix and match everybody.
 
Q.  In general, how tough is it to balance with Sam, wanting to see him out there and wanting to be cautious with him physically?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think he’s beyond the cautious physically, it’s just what do we want to get done? What do we want to accomplish? What do we want to see?
 
Q.  Do you have to talk to Mike to find out if ‑‑

CHIP KELLY:  To who?
 
Q.  Packers head coach Mike McCarthy?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Oh, I thought you meant Mike Vick and I was confused.  No, seriously.  Am I going to talk to who?  Mike?  No.
 
Q.  Whether Packers QB Aaron Rodgers plays or not, does that affect how you’re going to use your defense?
             
CHIP KELLY:  No, I never talk to any other coach in the preseason about what he’s doing.  He coaches his team I coach mine, I don’t think anybody has discussions on who is playing when.
 
Q.  I think QB Nick Foles played 48 snaps in the third game last year.
             
CHIP KELLY:  [Joking] You know that.  You don’t think that.  I guarantee you know that, [Philadelphia Inquirer reporter] Zach [Berman].”
 
Q.  Vick played 46 in the year before.  Has anything changed in the way you view the third game of the preseason?
             
CHIP KELLY:  We’re going to meet this afternoon as a staff and talk about our rotation.
 
Q.  It’s been a clear pattern the past two years.
             
CHIP KELLY:  Two years of data.
 
Q.  Is there anything this year that would make you change?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I have no idea.
 
Q.  What are the variables you need to discuss in terms of figuring out how much Sam’s going to play?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Weather would be a factor.  There is rain coming in Green Bay.  It’s 54° currently right now in Green Bay.  I was just monitoring the weather earlier.  So a lot of different factors, start with the weather though.
 
Q.  What have you seen from Eagles WR Miles Austin since you signed him compared to what he had done in Cleveland and even in Dallas?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think kind of what we saw in Cleveland and in Dallas.  I think he’s a really skilled route runner.  That’s the one thing that’s stuck out even when he was in Cleveland, whether it’s press, whether it’s off, I think he has a great understanding of concepts.  I think he has a great understanding of techniques in terms of how to get himself in and out of breaks.  He’s unique in that way.
             
I think he’s helped a lot of our younger receivers in terms of that.  So I really, really am impressed with what type of route runner he is, and that is the thing that’s stuck out the most for me.
 
Q.  Whether Sam plays or not, what do you want to see out of him for the opener in Atlanta?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Well, if he doesn’t play, I’d just like to see him because that would mean he wouldn’t be in the building.  I just think daily progress.  We’ve seen that on the practice field.  I think he’s better today than he was when we started on August 1st, and I think he’s continuing to get comfortable in what we’re doing, and I see him not making the same mistakes.  I think he’s really a coachable guy.  I think he’s got a great understanding of the game of football.  He’s played in a couple different systems, I think, so that benefits him and we look at that as a positive.  But we continue to see continual growth with him, which I think is important.
 
Q.  You said he was pretty amped up to play and maybe missed some things.  Did you get a sense of that when you watched the tape?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, you could tell he was a little amped up.  He probably wants to have that throw to [Eagles WR] Riley [Cooper] back where Riley was behind the [defensive back] and try to change Riley’s angle a little bit.  But we don’t want to change angle for depth.  But that’s understandable.  Not having played football in such a long time, I think that’s just a natural kind of feeling we would anticipate him having.
 
Q.  Why extend Eagles LB Mychal Kendricks now?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Why?  Because he’s a really good football player and we like him.  Much to a lot of people’s writings.  We think he’s a really good player.  I thought he’s always been a really good player, and we want to build our future football players around the guys that we think fit in terms of what we do.
 
Q.  He said you guys came to him two weeks ago?
             
CHIP KELLY:  We came to him right when we got back to camp.
 
Q.  And there was no reason behind it?  You just thought it was a good time?
             
CHIP KELLY:  No, there was no third gunman, no.
 
Q.  This is the first time that you have extended someone’s contract —
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, usually it’s guys who have a year left on their contract, so you don’t extend anybody else.  It’s just he’s got a year left, so he fell into that category.
 
Q.  Are you talking or would you like to do the same with Eagles DE Fletcher Cox?
             
CHIP KELLY:  We do not discuss contracts.  Good try, [reporter] Geoff [Mosher].  I know you try that every week with us, but we’re not going to discuss anybody else’s contracts or where they are with it.
 
Q.  If Rodgers doesn’t play, is that disappointing?
             
CHIP KELLY:  No, that’s their choice.  That’s Mike’s decision.  We don’t get into it.  Whoever shows up, shows up.  We have a great respect for him.  I think he’s the best we’ve played since I’ve seen him in person in terms of performance we saw him put on against us last year.  But if he doesn’t play, he doesn’t play.  We worry about what we can control.
 
Q.  When you identify defensive constants through film study and you want to keep them in that defense, have you found that tempo is the best way to do that?
             
CHIP KELLY:  No.  Really in this league there isn’t a constant.  It changes from play to play.  I think defensive coordinators are really good at not doing the same thing over and over again where you get a chance to say if we do this, they do that.  I think you get in trouble when you think that, if we do this, they do that, and then, all of a sudden, they don’t do that.  I think it changes.  When people handle it very well, and you’ll see one play when you lineup in a certain formation, they’re going to play one play, and the next time you can line up and they’re going to play you differently.  So there is not a real lot of constants.
 
Q.  Has that forced you to change how you call plays to make it easier to kind of exploit some things?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I don’t think it’s forced us to change.  You just look at what you get, and you’re always looking for nevers or always.  Very rarely in this league do you get a never do this and never get in this league, they always do that.  So if you’re not getting that in your pregame work‑up in terms of looking at what they’re doing film-wise, you just know that going in.
             
There are certain percentages you can play, but a lot of people, especially when you play teams that play you twice, very rarely does a team that you play in your division defend you the same way they did in the first game.  Whether it worked or didn’t work, I’ve seen teams shut a team out playing a certain style of play.  Then next time they play them they play different because they thought that they thought that they were going to be in this, but it turns into that.  So there aren’t a lot of constants, there aren’t a lot of never and there aren’t a lot of always.
 
Q.  Is Eagles WR Josh Huff going to be back for the game or will he return next week?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Huff’s here today.
 
Q.  Going into the third preseason game, what stood out to you about WR Jordan Matthews from the end of last year until now?  What’s been the biggest area of improvement in his game?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I just think the same thing with Jordan sticks out every day, and I think everybody notices it’s just his capacity to work.  I don’t think he’s ever satisfied with where he is.  He’s constantly working on the skill and craft to play wide receiver.
             
He continues to train at a really high level.  He’s the one guy, I think, if you look out there at the two guys that are flying every single day that are consistent are him and [Eagles RB Darren] Sproles, and we have a bunch of other guys that are training at a really high level, but I think he really prides himself on that.  It’s what we saw when we were looking at him as a potential draft pick and the same way he’s been since the first day he stepped on the training field there.
 
 Q.  Sam has elected not to wear a brace.  Other guys even who don’t tear their ACL often wear them.  Do you have a feeling about it one way or another?
             
CHIP KELLY:  From our understanding the brace does not help you with an ACL.  It actually helps you with an MCL.  So a lot of quarterbacks wear it on their front knee in the MCL so if someone were to fall on their leg, you’re going to get a medial strain.  But ACL tears from our understanding, and I could be corrected by Web M.D. or whatnot are rotational injuries and the brace doesn’t help you from a rotational injury.  Actually, Sam was wearing the brace when he hurt his knee the second time.  So that may have been a factor in deciding not to wear it this time.
 
Q.  Where does Kendricks fall in the parameters of how you set up for that position?  If he falls short in some areas, where does he make up for it?
             
CHIP KELLY:  He actually doesn’t fall short in our areas.  The biggest thing for us is weight at the inside linebacker spot.  So we’ll take anybody from 5’11” to 6’4″.  So he fits exactly what we’re looking for – parameters.  When you look at him from change of direction, vertical jump, broad jumps, speed, all those other things, he’s off the charts.  So he fits exactly what we’re looking for at the inside linebacker position.
 
Q.  Is he the kind of linebacker mold that you think is going to be successful moving forward given kind of the way the offensive styles are changing?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the offensive styles.  I think his physical attributes lend him to be a three‑down linebacker which everybody’s looking for.  And it doesn’t matter what defensive system you’re in.  I think you value those guys, the guys that can run and physically be able to run with tight ends and running backs but also be big enough and strong enough to take offensive linemen.  Mychal can do all those things and that’s why we extended him.
 
Q.  It almost seems like he uses his lack of height to his advantage.  He can sneak into the backfield and pass rush.  He’s fast so it almost seems like he sometimes ‑‑
             
CHIP KELLY:  I don’t think he’s sneaking into the backfield.  People know where he is.  I don’t think he really has a lack of height.  He’s right at 6‑foot.  He’s the same height as Navorro Bowman and a lot of the really good inside linebackers in this league.  When I made a statement two years ago of big people beat up little people, that doesn’t mean that I want 6’11” inside linebackers.  Mychal fits into all our parameters from a height, weight, speed standpoint in terms of what we’re looking for.  He’s actually the prototypical guy that we’re looking for.
 
Q.  Have you had any more communication with the NFL regarding the Suggs-Bradford hit?
             
CHIP KELLY:  They’re going to send a video out at the end of the week.  I talked to [NFL Vice President of Officiating] Dean [Blandino] briefly on Tuesday.
 
Q.  Can you clarify a little bit?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think we all understand it.  Any quarterback when he’s handing the ball off, doesn’t matter what run play, it could be handing the ball off underneath the center, you have the ability to get hit.
 
Q.  You have to make some cuts coming out of this game.
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, unfortunately.
 
Q.  Based on what you’ve seen already, is it more difficult this year do you think as opposed to previous years?
             
CHIP KELLY:  It is.  I think we have more depth, so I believe we’ll cut some players that will make other rosters.  I’m hoping.  That’s our goal for all of our players and we tell them that on day one, I want them to play in the NFL.  Hopefully it’s on our team, if it’s not on our team, it’s on another team.  But it is going to be difficult and we’ll have to sit down long and hard after this Packer game and ‑‑ when it’s difficult to get to 75, I think from a coaching standpoint that’s a good thing, but there is still a human factor that gets involved with cutting somebody, and that part is not a lot of fun.
 
Q.  So it will be more difficult this year than in year’s past?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Definitely more difficult this year than it was in the last two years.
 
Q.  With Bradford, you mentioned that throw to Cooper. How long does it take for that not to happen? Do you expect to see that for several weeks?
             
CHIP KELLY:  No, we’ve only got a short amount of plays to evaluate him on.  I don’t think it’s a consistent effort.  I was just answering the question was Sam amped up, that was his first throw.  And I would say he was probably amped up then, but I don’t see that as a trend or anything.
 
Q.  Is Sproles going to get any punt return work at all during the preseason?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Probably not.
 
Q.  In terms of kick returns, we’ve only seen one returner in the game so who else is in the mix there?
             
CHIP KELLY:  There are a lot of guys back there.  It just depends on the situation during the game.  There are some guys that have done it that we feel confident in.  Darren’s one of those guys, Josh is one of those guys.  They’ve done it in games for us.  But we’re trying to figure out who some of those other guys can be.
 
Q.  Is it imperative to have a third outside linebacker?  You saw the benefit of having Eagles LB Brandon Graham out there for 43% of the snaps last year.  He probably earned it.
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think if you look at anything we do we’re trying to develop depth at every position, whether it’s at outside linebacker, inside linebacker, secondary running backs, wide receivers.  So the more players in that 46‑man that go on gameday that can actually contribute for you that aren’t just playing a couple snaps here and there are, I mean, that’s what we’re always looking for.  I think we’re trying to keep our team fresh, and part of keeping your team fresh is being able to rotate.  But you can’t rotate.  It’s a good theory to have, but if there is a distinct difference between your one and your two and your three, then you’re probably going to lean on one and two more than you are three.  So we hope at all of our positions that we have a chance to develop that.  I think if you look at what our master plan was, is to make sure we have more depth.  We have it at running back, we have it at receiver, we feel like we have it in the secondary now better than we have before.  But obviously trying to get another guy.  We had a great rotation last year we felt with [former Eagles LB] Trent [Cole] and with Brandon and with [Eagles LB] Connor [Barwin], we felt like we had that.  But we’re still continuing to try to develop that out there.  So that is a question mark for us right now.