McKelvin back at Eagles practice, might play Sunday

After missing Sunday's game against Washington, Eagles cornerback Leodis McKelvin was a full participant in practice Wednesday and appears to be on track to play against the Minnesota Vikings. He had not been a full participant in practice since Oct. 7.

McKelvin, a starter, has missed three of five games this season because of a hamstring injury. He was affected by the injury in the other two games, which was why the team was cautious with him last week even though he returned to the practice field on Friday.

"As a player, you definitely do not want to go out there and be hindered," McKelvin told reporters. "Especially when you've got to sit guys down and put guys up. That was one of the situations . . . Why do you want to go out there and may not last, or something may happen, like in the Detroit game, where it tightened up."

The Eagles had their most extensive injury report of the season, with four players missing practice and three players listed as limited participants.

Cornerback Ron Brooks (calf), center Jason Kelce (foot), defensive tackle Bennie Logan (groin), and defensive end Marcus Smith (groin) were all absent. Coach Doug Pederson called Logan's status "week-to-week" and he appears to be in line to miss Sunday's game. Pederson expects Kelce, the other starter in the group, to play Sunday.

Guard Allen Barbre (ankle), linebacker Mychal Kendricks (ribs), and wide receiver Jordan Matthews (knee) were limited at practice.

Pederson continued to pledge confidence in right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai and said the front office was not involved in the decision to start the rookie.

"No, no they weren't," Pederson said. "This was truly a coach's decision on my part, and [assistant coaches] . . . collectively just taking all the information and making this decision."

Pederson said Vaitai will "learn from the good and the bad" and is making the corrections this week. Vaitai is "hard on himself," Pederson said, and knows what must be improved. It doesn't get any easier with Minnesota, the NFL's second-ranked defense. The Vikings have 19 sacks in five games. Defensive ends Brian Robison and Danielle Hunter, both of whom line up on Vaitai's side, have four sacks each.

"We'll help and do the things that you are seeing teams do and that we'll do," Pederson said. "So we still have full 100 percent confidence that he'll be able to get the job done."