Philadelphia Eagles

Pieces in place for Kendricks to be part of draft-day trade

Published Apr. 27, 2015 12:14 p.m. ET

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Eagles inside linebacker Mychal Kendricks has been one of the team's most dynamic defensive players during his tenure with the team. As he gets set to enter the final year of his rookie contract, that might not be enough.

Kendricks has several factors working against him remaining an Eagle in 2015. The most damning is the team's decision to trade for inside linebacker Kiko Alonso and to extend the contract of inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans. This created a log jam at the inside linebacker position with three talented players and only two spots to fill.

When Kendricks did not show up to last week's first set of voluntary offseason workouts with the team, speculation about his future withe the team continued to build. Kendricks hasn't completely silenced the noise.

“I can tell you how it affects the linebacker room: it puts better players in one room,” Kendricks said of the inside linebacker logjam on the NFL Network earlier this month. “We’re stacked now. What does it mean for me? I’m not too sure. But I know that I will just do what got me here. That’s all I can do is just do everything that is asked of me and play my butt off.”

The decision to trade or keep Kendricks will ultimately rest at the hands of Chip Kelly, and he seemed noncommittal about Kendricks' role with the team.

“When he was healthy, he played really well for us,” Kelly said. “But we missed him for … four games. And the health aspect was a difficult thing. We were a different team without him on the field. But when he played, he played really well for us.”

This is, of course, an odd take for someone who brought in several key players with an injury history this offseason like Sam Bradford, Kiko Alonso, DeMarco Murray, Walter Thurmond and Ryan Mathews.

(h/t Philly)

Photo Credit: Michael Perez/AP Photo

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