Eagles sign Thad Lewis at No. 3 quarterback

The Eagles made a change at No. 3 quarterback, but it did not involve Tim Tebow.

They signed quarterback Thad Lewis and released Stephen Morris on Monday, giving them a new third-string quarterback behind Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez.

Lewis, 27, is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds and went to Duke. He started five games for the Buffalo Bills in 2013 and one for the Cleveland Browns in 2012. Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was his head coach with the Browns, and was also Shurmur's offensive coordinator in St. Louis in 2010. He spent the preseason with the Browns, and has been with the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans.

In seven career games, Lewis has completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 1,296 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions.

Chip Kelly did not have any update on Monday about the injury status of inside linebackers Kiko Alonso and Mychal Kendricks. Alonso has a knee injury and Kendricks has a hamstring injury.

Alonso was seen walking out of the team facility on Monday with a limp and his knee covered. He declined to offer an update when asked by a reporter. When Kelly was asked if the injury could cost Alonso the season, Kelly said he doesn't any sense "at all."

"I don't think the doctors have any sense at all, either," Kelly said.

Marcus Smith was healthy enough to play on Sunday, but Kelly said the 2014 first-round pick was inactive for stamina and special-teams reasons. Smith is behind reserve linebacker Brad Jones on special teams.

"I think he's probably back healthy, but he hasn't practiced a full week," Kelly said. "I think there's probably some stamina issues with him in terms of could he play a full 60 minutes. And then whenever we make the decisions on the guys that are not the starting linebackers. . .it all comes down to special teams."

zberman@phillynews.com

@ZBerm