Brandon Boykin back at practice; Mychal Kendricks still absent

Brandon Boykin returned to the practice field on Thursday after missing the past two sessions. Boykin is dealing with a hamstring. It's unknown how much he will participate, but his return is a sign of progress.

If Boykin were held out, Kelly said that Malcolm Jenkins is the Eagles' backup in the slot. In that nickel look, the Eagles would use Earl Wolff at safety.

**Linebacker Mychal Kendricks is not practicing on Thursday. It appears unlikely he will play on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. Kelly said he would treat a veteran like Kendricks different than a rookie when determining if he'd play someone who missed significant practice time, but Kelly has not been known to play players who miss practice as late as Thursday. However, Kendricks is showing improvement.

"He's moving a little better," Kelly said. "We'll see how he is. But he hasn't gotten to the point where we're putting him back in drills yet."

The Eagles have split Emmanuel Acho and Casey Matthews at inside linebacker in base defense. They've taken them off the field in passing situation.

"They're giving you what they got," Kelly said. "They're both very intelligent football player, can key and diagnose very well. Obviously a lot better in the run game. We've gotten into some more nickel and dime sets in the passing situations to get them off the field."

**Kelly said Lane Johnson is "probably not up to speed" with other players as far as conditioning, but that Johnson is "not far off." Kelly said Johnson is more sore after practice than other players.

"You can go away and train, but it's not exactly what we're doing," Kelly said. "His conditioning level is good. It's just a matter of some of the residual soreness that comes after practice."

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