With every passing day, Chip Kelly becomes more and more fascinating and intriguing for the simple fact that no one knows what he is doing. Fans, former football players, and anonymous coaches and general managers have all been completely flabbergasted by each and every move that Chip has made.
Each and EVERY ONE.
Pundits have even taken one of two sides to his moves, either stating that he must be a mastermind that is hell-bent on proving the establishment wrong or he is a mad-genius that cooked up a dream in his head that he could never accomplish in a league he does not have that much experience in. The question is very simple though.
Which one is he closer to?
No coach in NFL history has jettisoned his top two receivers, his top rusher, and his starting quarterback in the span of two years like Chip has, not to mention he has dropped four defensive starters and a starting offensive lineman (which actually isn’t all that surprising). The problem with the question of whether he has gone mad or displayed true genius cannot be answered before the end of the 2016 season. We simply do not know whether this new team can’t put it all together and realize their potential. It has always been known that the prodigy known as Chip Kelly has a certain vision of what he wants and needs his team to be like in order to obtain the success he is looking for and, following his recent ascent to having complete roster control, Jeffrey Lurie is convinced that his vision MUST be realized.
It actually makes complete sense too. The owner of the Eagles had Chip Kelly marked as his first choice to be head coach of the ball club after Andy Reid’s tenure had ran its course and he rewarded that choice by taking Andy Reid’s team and flipping them from a 4-12 bottom feeder to a respectable 10-6 up-and-coming team. It only makes sense for an owner to go all in and support a coach he hand picked himself, especially after witnessing the genius he has to offer when given the correct pieces to work with. Still, not even Lurie would have expected Chip to trade or release his four greatest offensive weapons in two short seasons.
I don’t think Chip Kelly expected that one.
On the other hand, to grade a coach by the players he has shipped off is like grading a receiver by the number of balls he drops. It only tells a quarter of the story. More importantly, the reason Chip Kelly is being lauded as either a forward thinking genius or a fool is based solely on the team’s lost contributors. The players that he has chosen to be their successors aren’t considered bad. They just raise more questions than answers.
| Key Losses | Key Acquisitions |
| LeSean McCoy (trade), RB | Kiko Alonzo (trade), LB |
| Nick Foles (trade), QB | Byron Maxwell, CB |
| Todd Herremans (released), OG | Demarco Murray, RB |
| Cary Williams (released), CB | Ryan Matthews, RB |
| Jeremy Maclin, WR | Brad Jones, LB |
| Trent Cole (released), LB/DE | Walter Thurmond, CB |
| Nate Allen, SS | Sam Bradford (trade), QB |
| Bradley Fletcher, CB | Mark Sanchez, QB |
Defensively, the releasing of Cary Williams and the expiring contracts of Bradley Fletcher and Nate Allen, it can almost be considered a net addition (by subtraction). The Eagles pass defense ranked in the bottom five of the league and they allowed more 20 and 40 yard passes than every other team in the league by a mile, which led many analysts and fans to believe that the Eagles would draft defensive backs in the upcoming draft. However, with the additions of Maxwell and Thurmond to the defensive backfield, defensive back may not be as pressing a need as was previously believed (although the team could still use more safety talent on the roster).
In particular, the Eagles have filled needs at inside linebacker and cornerback. Still, depth at every defensive position is required in a league with so many injuries so the draft will still prove to be very necessary in order to keep a strong roster foundation. Questions at outside linebacker and safety will be the reason why skeptics still doubt the unit next season.
On the offensive side of the ball, the team looks to be returning all but one of its five offensive lineman (so far), but Chip Kelly has chosen to change the starters at all the offensive skill positions for this upcoming season, as the leader of all the main offensive statistics the Eagles had last season is now gone (passing, receiving, rushing, touchdowns).
At the end of the day, it’s not possible to say whether Chip Kelly is an unidentified mastermind or a mad scientist turned buffoon. We aren’t even a week into the free agency period! On the bright side, it’s definitely better to know that he isn’t afraid to put his mark on the team and go get the players he wants, instead of taking the more passive/less aggressive approach to acquiring players. No one knows what Kelly’s plan is or whether he has a plan at all. It would not be the first time we questioned an offseason strategy by a team, but Kelly is changing the perception of how an offseason plan should be put together or he is confirming why the league is so confused.
Either way, do not expect the media NOT to watch the unexpected ascension or the complete failure of the vaunted Chip Kelly.
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