It appears as if the Eagles’ vaunted three-man inside linebacker rotation of DeMeco Ryans, Kiko Alonso and Mychal Kendricks won’t be unveiled anytime soon.
None of the three were practicing Thursday, with just Friday’s session and a Saturday walkthrough remaining before the Sunday preseason opener against the Colts at the Linc.
Alonso sustained a concussion in the first open practice at the Linc last Tuesday and hasn’t yet completed the NFL-mandated recovery protocol.
Kendricks, who barely participated in Wednesday’s practice, is said to be nursing something minor. No medical information was provided on Ryans, who is missing his second straight day of practice.
Tight end Zach Ertz, who got banged around late in practice on Wednesday, also sat out practice on Thursday. He walked out to watch about halfway through practice and looked fine. No word on when he'll return.
Ertz was slow to get up after landing hard on Wednesday, the latest in a number of jarring hits he's taken the first two weeks of training camp.
Also, second-year offensive lineman Josh Andrews, who spent all of last year on the practice squad, was taken to the trainer's tent during practice with an unknown injury. No further information was available on his condition.
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Also not practicing are DeMarco Murray, who hasn’t practiced much even when suited up, along with safety Earl Wolff and outside linebacker Bryan Braman.
On Wednesday, Murray said he isn’t injured and correlated his limited action with adjusting to a new playbook.
The Eagles, who were depleted at inside linebacker last season because of injuries, bolstered the depth this offseason by trading LeSean McCoy for Alonso, adding a three-down linebacker to a core that included incumbent starters Kendricks and Ryans.
Defensive coordinator Bill Davis has talked up the benefit of rotating all three linebackers based on down and distance to capitalize on their strengths and keep their workload light.
In his Thursday press conference, Davis said it’s “probably fair” to assume Alonso wouldn’t play the first preseason game but painted an optimistic picture of the third-year linebacker’s condition.
“He is fine,” Davis said. “I’ve got no worries about Kiko. He’ll be fine. Just being cautious that’s all. I know he’s not out here today but I’m not concerned at all.”
The feedback lately on Ryans seems conflicting. On Tuesday, Davis said Ryans is ahead of schedule in the 31-year-old’s comeback from a second Achilles tear but also said Ryans “still has a ways to go” toward a full recovery.
Ryans practiced Tuesday but hasn’t since. Davis said Kendricks is "fine, other than little nit-picking things.”
Brad Jones, Najee Goode, Emmanuel Acho and rookie third-rounder Jordan Hicks are all seeing first- and second-team reps at inside linebacker to compensate.
Asked who’d play inside linebacker against the Colts, Davis joked, “Whoever is left. Even if the starters aren’t playing ... the preseason is awesome from that standpoint because all these young guys and the guys that are second and third role, they get all this playing time, we get all this evaluation time.”
Reuben Frank contributed to this post.