Eagles Practice Observations: Bradford limps, Tebow struggles, Thurmond to safety

The Eagles have been conducting spring workouts since late April, but Thursday was the first time the media was permitted to attend practice. Here are some observations from the session:

-- Sam Bradford, as reported on Wednesday, has been limited at practice and was again on Thursday. Chip Kelly said his quarterback's rehabilitation from a torn ACL was on schedule and that Bradford would increase his participation next week by stepping into seven-on-seven drills. He took a step back two weeks ago, however, and didn't practice the entire week after throwing the week before. He told reporters after practice that it was part of the plan and that doctors wanted to see him push his left knee to see how it responded. Bradford said it responded well. Still, he did very little on Thursday. Wearing a brace on his left knee, Bradford was the only player to not partake in conditioning warm-ups and he sat out all the team drills. He was involved in individual drills and during separate drills in which he tossed to receivers. You could see how the ball glides out of his hand effortlessly. After he met with reporters, Bradford walked into the NovaCare Complex with a pronounced limp. Kelly, predictably, said he couldn't predict when Bradford would be 100 percent, but it's fair to say that if he isn't ready by the start of training camp in August there will be some nervous folks at Eagles headquarters.

-- Mark Sanchez took all the first team snaps on offense with Bradford out. Kelly said the quarterback competition was open, but you can be sure that if Bradford is healthy by the start of the season he will start. You don't trade your starting quarterback and a second round draft pick, plus pay the quarterback you get in return $13 million to have him watch from the bench. Sanchez still believes that he will be given an equal opportunity. Kelly didn't go as far as to say that Bradford and Sanchez would split first team reps as Michael Vick and Nick Foles did two years ago.

-- Tim Tebow, in his first public appearance as an Eagles quarterback, helmed the third unit as Matt Barkley ran with the second team. There have been reports that Tebow's throwing motion and release had improved after his work with Tom House, but there didn't appear to be much difference than how he looked two years ago. I haven't watched Tebow up close for his entire career, but it still takes a long time for him to cock, load and throw. There's an unnatural dip in his windup. Tebow has never been a good practice quarterback and he's obviously still learning a completely new offense, so there shouldn't be too much stock taken in how he threw on one non-contact day in May. But the guess here is that it will be difficult for Tebow to beat out Barkley for the third spot, even if you include his intangibles. He struggled to throw the ball downfield. He was working with a bunch of young receivers, but he often held the ball too long or would check down with a short pass. At one point late in practice, he had a throw tipped at the line that fell into the arms of 6-foot-9 rookie defensive end Brian Mihalik.

-- Barkley looked sharp, or perhaps that was in comparison to Tebow. This was the first opportunity of his career to consistently work with the second unit during the spring. The Eagles are carrying just four quarterbacks after G.J. Kinne asked to be moved to wide receiver. There was a special guest quarterback at practice, though. Ed Marynowitz, the Eagles' recently-promoted vice president of player personnel, helped out by tossing passes to the defensive backs group. Marynowitz played quarterback in college -- first at LaSalle and then at Central Florida.

-- Kelly said, to some surprise, that DeMeco Ryans would be full-go at practice. The Eagles linebacker is only seven months removed from rupturing his Achilles tendon. Ryans did practice, but he said afterward that he wasn't a full participant. Kiko Alonso, who tore his ACL a month before Bradford did, was 100 percent back. He didn't wear a brace. There's a logjam at the top of the inside linebacker group with Mychal Kendricks also in the mix. It appeared as if Ryans, Alonso and Kendricks rotated at the two inside spots with the first team defense. Kendricks, who was mentioned prominently in trade rumors this offseason and missed the first two weeks of spring workouts, was not available for questions after practice.

-- With so many new inside linebackers – the Eagles also signed Brad Jones and drafted Jordan Hicks – it looked like Emmanuel Acho had made a full-time move to outside linebacker. The outside linebacker group was down a man with Marcus Smith sidelined with a "leg pull," per Kelly.

-- Evan Mathis remained the only player to not attend voluntary OTAs. He wants a new contract. It's unlikely that will ever happen. With Mathis absent, Allen Barbre took the first team reps at left guard. Matt Tobin was at right guard, but center Jason Kelce said that Tobin and Andrew Gardner have been rotating at that position.

-- It's early, and OTAs are nothing more than two-touch football, but there were some interesting groupings at several positions, including receiver. Top pick Nelson Agholor was in Los Angeles for an NFLPA event, but Riley Cooper and Josh Huff received most of the first team snaps outside with Jordan Matthews still in the slot. But later on, Matthews took a set of reps outside while Jeff Maehl handled the slot. No one stood out more than the other.

-- Kelly said that Walter Thurmond was moved from cornerback to safety. He worked with the second team defense alongside Chris Prosinski. Thurmond has spent most of his career at slot corner, but Kelly said that experience gave him the skill set to move to safety. We shall see. The Eagles did little to address the position during the offseason and with Earl Wolff still sidelined by his knee, they could be in scramble mode. For the record, Chris Maragos was the first team safety alongside Malcolm Jenkins. Jaylen Watkins was with the third team and appears to have made the shift to safety. When I asked him about it after practice, he said, "For now I am."

-- The cornerback pairings were Byron Maxwell and Nolan Carroll with the first team, Brandon Boykin and E.J. Biggers with the twos, and rookies Eric Rowe and JaCorey Shepherd with the threes. Kelly hasn't rushed his rookies in the past, so Rowe starting out so low on the depth chart was no biggie. Kelly raved about Carroll's offseason, but if Rowe is ready there shouldn't be much reason to hold him back. There is plenty of time to figure out how the starting team will look along with the final roster.