Chip Kelly’s Gamble In Philadelphia
Saturday, March 07, 2015
Abe Asher of partner site Oregon Sports News
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| Chip Kelly |
It makes perfect sense to me.
Kelly believes in the power of his system, and considering the amount of money the Eagles owed LeSean McCoy next season, he decided that McCoy’s dwindling production didn’t make it worth it to keep him around.
McCoy knew he was cooked in Philly weeks ago. Kelly would simply have released him if he couldn’t figure out a trade, but Buffalo bit on McCoy – even though McCoy doesn’t want to be in Buffalo – so Kelly sheds himself of one of his biggest earners while swiping a money player he knows in Kiko Alonso.
It’s moves like this one that were the reason that Kelly won a power struggle at the beginning of the offseason in Philadelphia with longtime Eagles general manager Howie Roseman in the offseason.
The Eagles thought about it, and doubled down on Kelly just a few months ago, and this is what they signed up for. Chip is going to Chip.
He’s a proven commodity now in the NFL and although the Eagles had a disappointing end to the 2014 season, Philadelphia didn’t do badly considering they lost their starting quarterback on the first day of November.
Kelly continues to be fascinating character because he is absolutely committed to being different. He certainly didn’t get from New Hampshire to the Philadelphia Eagles by following the status quo.
He’s unafraid and he believes in himself, and when you watch him make shake up the NFL, you just have to sit back and smile.
Someone like Chip is good for the league. He’ll make it grow. In just two years, he’s carved out the type of aura and respect that is incredibly rare in pro coaching circles. You can count on one hand Kelly’s company in terms of coaching prestige.
Kelly is a loner. It’s one of the other things that makes him fascinating. He isn’t and has never been married, he doesn’t have any kids, and he keeps a tight circle of close friends from his days back in New Hampshire.
For someone with a transcendent offensive system that already has changed the very face of football, Kelly really doesn’t have any coaching tree to speak of and he doesn’t appear to be in the process of building one.
Mark Helfrich, you say? Actually, Helfrich was hired on a recommendation from then Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti, who worked with and was high on Helfrich from his time at Oregon with Bellotti as a graduate assistant.
Kelly got on board – after all, the hire of his offensive coordinator didn’t figure to a game-breaker long term. It was always going to be Kelly crafting the offense and calling players.
It was telling that only one coach followed Kelly from Oregon to Philadelphia. Of course that had a lot to do with the legendary continuity and loyalty among Oregon’s football assistants, but it also outlines clearly that Kelly never built the staff in the first place.
Kelly passed the first big test of his power in Philadelphia – the front office power struggle in December – but he lost his right-hand man in the Eagles in player personnel director Tom Gamble.
Now, Kelly has a lot of power and few friends.
Kelly is well liked in and around his team – but he doesn’t have any strong, long-term connections with those around him.
Which is to say this: Kelly had better win. If he doesn’t, there might not be a ton of people sticking their necks out to save him.
Kelly won’t be worried about that. He’s nothing if not confident. This is a guy who ditched his offense’s most explosive playmaker two offseasons in a row because the system was making the players; the players weren’t making the system.
Now the Eagles have a ton of cap space, and are still angling after Kelly’s former – and maybe future – quarterback in Marcus Mariota.
It’s Kelly’s ship. He wiped out the general manager, traded away the team’s biggest stars, cut the team’s highest earners, and still doesn’t have anyone in the league willing to bet against him.
The Eagles, and their increasingly confused and upset fans, have no choice but to hop onboard.
This thing is just starting to get interesting.
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