Zach Ertz Has Surgery, Kiko Alonso Still Out


Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Zach Ertz underwent surgery Friday to address a core muscle injury. The procedure was performed by Dr. William Meyers. Chip Kelly announced prior to practice that Ertz will be out for the entire preseason, but thinks the third-year tight end will be ready for Week 1.

“It’s a similar injury [to the one I had]; not the same,” said Jason Kelce, who was sidelined for five weeks following sports hernia surgery last year. “I’ve already kind of talked to him.

“There are some things I wish I had known going into the rehab and going into the recovery process that really helped me out… So I’ve already shared those with Zach, but I think he’s in a much better place than I was.”

Per Jeff McLane, the injury is a partial groin tear as opposed to a sports hernia.

Kelly also revealed that Sam Bradford won’t play Sunday and Kiko Alonso, who has missed more than a week of practice, hasn’t got through the concussion protocol yet.

“We haven’t asked to get him cleared because right now it’s not important to us,” Kelly said, “It’s just make sure that he’s in meetings, he understands everything [and] he’s doing everything in there so when we get ready, he’ll be ready to go play against the Ravens, hopefully.”

DeMarco Murray, who didn’t practice yesterday, will participate today and tomorrow. DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks also returned to practice today while Brandon Hepburn (abdominal injury) and B.J. McBryde (foot) were waived. The Eagles signed defensive end Alfy Hill.

Outside of quarterback, the amount of playing time for players at each position won’t be determined until after practice tomorrow. Kelly emphasized that he is the only thing holding Murray back right now.

“We’re trying to get him acclimated,” he said. “He also carried the ball more than anybody in the National Football League last year so we’re just trying to integrate him into what we’re doing.”

The head coach added that Alonso is “fine.”

“We know what type of football player he is, but that’s not something you need to rush him back into doing anything,” Kelly said. “His legs are healthy, he can run around [and] he can do all those other things, but when you deal with an injury like that, you’re just gonna take your time. We don’t have a game to play until we play the Falcons on the 14th.”

UPDATE: The Eagles clarified Alonso has started the concussion protocol, but he has not finished it yet.

Tim McManus contributed to this post.