Kendricks unlikely to see more playing time soon

Mychal Kendricks' role on defense was limited in the Eagles' 29-10 season-opening win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, and it sounds as if it will remain that way going forward.

Kendricks played 19 defensive snaps on Sunday, which amounted to 37 percent of the total snaps on defense. Linebackers Jordan Hicks and Nigel Bradham played 51 snaps - 98 percent of the total. The Eagles relied on their nickel package for the majority of the game, and Hicks and Bradham are both ahead of Kendricks.

"As good an athlete as Mychal is, it's just unfortunate that we have to take one guy off," coach Doug Pederson said. "Right now . . . he's the odd man out and he ends up coming off the field."

The Eagles signed Kendricks to a four-year, $29 million contract extension before last season. He was inconsistent as a rotational linebacker in 2015, but he was in line for a much bigger role this season.

Kendricks missed two weeks during the preseason with a hamstring injury, and when he returned, the coaching staff had him play in the fourth quarter of the third game and also in the preseason finale. He was the only starter to play in the fourth game.

Kendricks has not agreed to any interview requests since the third preseason game.

The Eagles used 6-foot-3, 327-pound defensive tackle Beau Allen as a goal-line fullback on Sunday. Allen took four offensive snaps, and it's a role Allen could to play after the Eagles cut No. 4 tight end Chris Pantale before the season.

"He had fun out there," Pederson said. "He came off after we scored and he said that he didn't realize that the defense was going to cut [block] him. I said, 'Dude, you are a big guy running through there against a little DB, where do you expect him to go?' . . . Obviously, you saw his athleticism and how well he comes off the ball. He's obviously a former fullback, so we gave him an opportunity."

Long snapper Jon Dorenbos will compete in the finals of America's Got Talent on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on NBC10. The winner is determined by popular vote, which is collected online from 8 p.m. Tuesday through 7 a.m. Wednesday. The winner is announced Wednesday night.