Eagles Notes: Wolff, Marcus Smith among few sidelined from Eagles workout

The Eagles practiced Thursday with 85 of their 90 players participating in most drills during the third session of organized team activities.

Safety Earl Wolff and linebacker Marcus Smith joined quarterback Sam Bradford as the players who were limited by injuries. Guard Evan Mathis has skipped the offseason program, which has been voluntary to date. Wide receiver Nelson Agholor, the team's first-round pick, was absent because of an NFL Players Association event.

Wolff is recovering from a knee injury that affected him throughout last season. Coach Chip Kelly said he has been cleared to return and the team is waiting for him to be a full participant. Smith, the 2014 first-round pick, missed the last few days with a pulled leg muscle.

Two notable players who participated were inside linebackers Kiko Alonso and DeMeco Ryans, both of whom had season-ending injuries last year. Alonso suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament last July and Ryans is back from a ruptured Achilles tendon in November. Ryans said he's "not all the way where I want to be" in his recovery.

Walter Thurmond, who missed the last 14 games last season with the New York Giants because of a pectoral injury, is back practicing and moved from cornerback to safety.

Allen Barbre, who missed 15 games last year with an ankle injury, returned to the field and played left guard in Mathis' place. He is expected to be a front-runner for the starting right guard spot this season.

Linebacker Najee Goode practiced; he missed 15 games with a pectoral injury last season.

The Eagles know that Malcolm Jenkins will start at safety and Byron Maxwell will start at cornerback, but the other two spots in the team's rebuilt secondary are up for grabs.

Nolan Carroll was with Maxwell as a first-team cornerback on Thursday. Chris Maragos paired with Jenkins at safety. Carroll was the team's dime cornerback last season.

Running back DeMarco Murray rushed for an NFL-best 1,845 yards last season in Dallas, but Cowboys running back Joseph Randle said Wednesday there was "a lot of meat left on the bone," intimating that Murray could have done more.

"Hopefully he can taste some of that meat this year," Murray said. "I'm not worried about it. I never heard about it until now - not a big deal, I'm not worried about it."

Kelly had a different theory on Randle's comment. "Maybe that means [Murray's] not a big eater," Kelly joked.

The Eagles' proposal to move two-point conversions from the 2-yard line to the 1-yard line did not pass, although the NFL moved the line of scrimmage on extra-point attempts to the 15-yard line. That is not enough to motivate Kelly to go for more two-point conversions.

"We were 43 of 45 in the last two years from that distance, so 96 percent," Kelly said. "I don't know what changes, to be honest with you. . . . The defense can score, but we're still going to kick an extra point. I don't understand the proposal. If they want you to go for two more, the ball has always been on the 2-yard line. That's always been an option for everybody for a while."

- Zach Berman