Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. Photo by Todd Bauders/contrastphotography.com

Q.   How did TE Zach Ertz come out of practice yesterday? It was his first practice in a while.

COACH KELLY:  Zach did a good job. Now, he was limited in practice. Just he and Marcus [LB Marcus Smith] were limited in practice. We know we are getting them back, but we are not going to throw them in full or put them in the deep end of the pool and tell them to swim. So he was limited in his reps. He said he didn’t feel any real residual from yesterday, but we still have two more days of training, so we’ll see how it plays itself out. But in the limited reps yesterday, he said he felt good.
 
Q.   So it’s the same status with Smith?

COACH KELLY:  Marcus is the same thing. Both of those guys were limited, so they went through individuals with their coaches and then it was really spot when we got to team and seven-on-seven with those guys.
 
Q.   Everyone else is fine?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah.
 
Q.   Do you expect Ertz’s workload to increase as the week goes on?

COACH KELLY:  We’re actually going to take it day-by-day, so you could say, ‘Yeah, I expect it to increase,’ but then if he gets sore after today’s work, it will actually decrease. So I can’t tell you if it’s going to increase or decrease. We’ll just see how he performs today. He’s limited again today, so he’s not taking the normal reps that he would take if he was back healthy.
 
Q.   You had quite a journey with LB Kiko Alonso at Oregon. Did you ever think at any point that you were under some pressure to dismiss him from the team?

COACH KELLY:  No, not at all. I was never under any pressure.
 
Q.   Did you consider that?

COACH KELLY:  Never.
 
Q.   How did you feel when Alonso got arrested the day after you had your press conference saying that you were going to crack down?

COACH KELLY:  I think he made a mistake, like a lot of young college kids do. Obviously, there has to be a price for that mistake, but there was never any consideration of dismissing him or anything. He just made a mistake and he understood the punishment that went along with the mistake. It really was, and when you look at it and you go through his career, it was just a mistake. I think he learned a valuable lesson from his whole experience there and I’m really proud of him. I’m really proud of what he has become, not only has a football player, but really as a person and as a man. He is an awesome guy to be around. He has come a long way, but I think that’s part of the journey that we all go through.
 
Q.   Do you have any idea as to how that inside linebacker rotation will work come game day?

COACH KELLY:  No. Again, and I say this all the time, we get to the end of the week and we see exactly what’s going to go on. We have had guys – and the reason I’ve been like that, is because we’ve had guys get hurt on Thursday and Friday, so to sit here and say, ‘Hey, this is our rotation,’ and then if one of those guys were to get hurt [afterwards], well then we are wasting time to have those meetings. So we always have our meetings, whether it’s a preseason game or a regular-season game, after our training sessions on the last day, which is Saturday for us, or Sunday for us this week, and then sit down to kind of hammer it out. So we do get enough reps in our training sessions that we feel comfortable with all of those guys in there. We feel comfortable with Jordan [LB Jordan Hicks] in there. So, we will see how it shakes itself out, but you’ll see all three of them, if they are healthy by the end of the week, playing in the game.
 
Q.   What has CB Byron Maxwell shown you in games that you can’t see in practice?

COACH KELLY:  I don’t think we learned anything. I think what I saw in the games is what I saw on the practice field. He is highly competitive. He is always around the ball. He is very close to his receiver. In every situation that he is, he is a sure tackler. So it wasn’t like he did anything different in the games. I think the one thing with Max, is that he practices and trains at a real high level, so it’s not like he is a guy that puts it in cruise mode and then when we get to game day it’s, ‘Wow, that kid really snaps it in.’ He’s not like that at all. He really has a high level of training. He is very deliberate in his training. You usually get that at this level; there are not many guys that just kind of coast through training and then all of a sudden say, ‘Hey, when the game comes along I’ll kind of kick it into gear.’
 
Q.   What was it about DT Bennie Logan’s skill-set that has allowed him to evolve from his role in college and excel in this scheme?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah they were a one-gap defense [at LSU]. He was very disruptive in what they did, but you could see his strength and his ability to hold up that point. Very rarely was he defeated in one-on-one blocks, whether he was playing three-technique or one-technique. So sometimes you have to project their ability to two-gap, but when you talk to your strength coaches you understand how strong he is. Along with the quickness and athleticism that he had, we felt that he was perfect for what we were looking for in the nose.
 
Q.   When you look at your talent and depth at running back, how difficult is it and how much of a challenge is it for you to get everyone on the field and get everyone involved?

COACH KELLY:  I don’t think it’s very difficult. I think Duce [running backs coach Duce Staley] always does a really good job, depending on who is available to him, in terms of rotating those guys in. The biggest thing for us is we just want to keep someone fresh in the game. So if it takes getting you out for a couple of plays, just to get you wind and get you back, it takes a toll on the defense. So you can take [RB] Ryan Mathews out and [RB] DeMarco Murray comes in; or if DeMarco Murray comes out and [RB] Darren Sproles comes in. That’s kind of what we have been trying to build towards here and those three guys obviously give us the opportunity to do that.
 
Q.   How dangerous can that running back group be? Every guy can catch the ball and everybody can run the ball. How dangerous is it to have all three backs with those abilities?

COACH KELLY:  I don’t think ‘dangerous’ is the word we would use. I mean, jumping out of planes is dangerous. They are really good football players and they can run, catch and pick up in pass protection. That’s what we always want in a running back: guys that can do all three things, not just do one really well. I think they do all three of them really well.
 
Q.   Yesterday you said that rookie DB Eric Rowe can have a role right out of the chute. Do you think rookie WR Nelson Agholor can have one as well? If you do, what role would that be?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah, I think Nelson did a really nice job in the preseason games. Obviously, when the ball is in his hands, you can see how dynamic he is. He picked things up really quickly here. He was kind of one of those guys that even in Day Two or Day Three of OTAs, once we got him here after the draft, you could see he has a pretty good mind in terms of what we are trying to get accomplished. So yeah, he definitely is someone right out of the chute that you will see.
 
Q.   Do you feel like your tempo offense still has another gear it can get up to? If so, do you think you can get up to that in Year Three?

COACH KELLY:  No, we don’t look at it as, ‘go up.’ I mean, most of the time you are limited by how they spot the ball and get it down. Are we ready to play – our biggest thing is, ‘Are we ready to play when the ball is put back into play?’ That’s kind of the big thing and I think we’ve been like that for a while. It just depends on how fast we are allowed to play the game.

Q.  What kind of preventative measures have you taken to protect QB Sam Bradford’s knees?
             
COACH KELLY:  Preventative measures?
 
Q.   Yeah. To protect his knee.
             
COACH KELLY:  I don’t think we’ve done any. I don’t understand the question. I mean, he’s not wearing a brace.
 
Q.   Have you done anything beyond what you normally do with a player with a torn ACL?
             
COACH KELLY:  No, we just had the rehab protocol that he went through with [director of sports science and reconditioning] Shaun Huls and [assistant athletic trainer] Joe O’Pella in terms of what we do to rehab the injury but there was nothing else above and beyond that. I mean, we didn’t hold him down and beat on his knee or tackle him or anything like that. Just normal recovery for an ACL that [LB] Travis Long went through, [C] Jason Kelce’s gone through before, [WR] Jeremy Maclin has gone through.
 
Q. Is it fair to say that there is still a level of fluidity to how the roles are going to shake out in the defensive backfield and if so, is that a concern until you see it work out in a game?
             
COACH KELLY:  I think there’s always a level of fluidity because you’re always so based on what your performance is. So, we’ll look at it as those guys kind of get acclimated back there. But that’s the same for every position, not just the secondary.
 
Q.  In Falcons QB Matt Ryan’s high school career or college career, did you get any exposure to him in terms of recruiting?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah, I knew Matt.  I used to work the Boston College camp, so I saw Matt there a lot.  Know him really well.  I know [quarterbacks coach] Ryan Day knows him really well from coaching at Boston College and being a G.A. there.  Big fan of Matt’s.  I think he’s one of the top quarterbacks in this league.  I know he’s a local kid, went to Penn Charter and had an unbelievable career at Boston College. They were No. 2 in the country when he was there.  When you look at what he did when he was there, they were one of the top teams in the country.  I think he’s had a really good career.  They finished just a short time ago — I mean, this league, everything happens so fast and you kind of forget about years ago, but just a couple years ago, [the Falcons] had the ball on the 10-yard line in the NFC Championship Game with an opportunity to go play in the Super Bowl.  He’s played at a really high level.  That’s the thing that we’re most concerned with them offensively is Matt and [Falcons WR] Julio [Jones] and [Falcons WR] Roddy [White] and that group of guys throwing the ball around.
 
Q.   You recruited this area. Did you get a chance to see him in high school?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah, but I mean he was going to Boston College.  I was at New Hampshire at the time.  It would have been nice, but I think he was a top 1-A recruit. He wasn’t really looking at the New Hampshires and the Delawares and the Villanovas at that time.
 
Q.   Hicks is obviously behind three guys at the inside linebacker position. Have you been able to get a sense of what he can do if he needs to step in at one of those spots?

COACH KELLY:  Yeah, we feel comfortable with Jordan putting him in the game and playing him.  He’ll be a real key special teams contributor for us.  He’ll be a four-core special teams guy: he’ll be on punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return.  We would feel comfortable if we had to put him in the game.  He probably took the most snaps at inside linebacker in the preseason. So we feel comfortable with him as he continues to grow and feel more comfortable in the defense, but he understands it.  He’s played multiple positions in college, had multiple coordinators in college, so he’s got a pretty extensive background at it.  But he’ll be a four-core special teams guy for us.  Obviously, we’re going to feature [LB] Mychal [Kendricks] and [LB] DeMeco [Ryans] and Kiko, but we would feel real comfortable if he had to go in the game for us.