What will the outcome of the Eagles front office power struggle mean for the franchise?

What are we going to do going forward to take the next step?

One, Year, Later…

Well here we are again; the wild-card round of the National Football League annual postseason tournament has just ended and the Philadelphia Eagles are no longer playing football. Only this year, there was no home playoff game, the season ended in a disastrous 1-3 December, and the Dallas Cowboys were instead crowned NFC East champions. To further the discontent in the Philly, we just witnessed a significant upheaval in the front office that resulted in our former GM back in a bean counter role and Tom Gamble being escorted out of the team’s facilities. Chip Kelly now holds much of the power that the aforementioned general manager was relieved of. We are far removed from 27 touchdowns and 2 interceptions from Nick Foles.

This season ended unceremoniously for the Philadelphia faithful, and the offseason has continued that somber tone. But, to accurately sum up how this year has fallen short of expectations, we must remember how we felt one year ago. We had just discovered a diamond in the rough at quarterback, Chip Kelly was the most prolific mind in the NFL, and we were moving on up the NFC totem pole. Twelve short months later, we as fans have had the rug pulled out from under us. We are left with an injured Nick Foles whose play this year was, simply put, just not good enough despite the bevy of injuries up front. Despite achieving the same number of wins (10) as last year, and beating Vegas’ projected win total for the year (9 to 9.5), this season felt very much like a disappointment.

Time to let Chip, be Chip

So how do we pick up the pieces and move forward? The answer to that: Chip Kelly. When we were all ecstatic that the biggest name in Oregon football history (to that point) had decided to transfer coasts and become our head coach, we knew what we were getting. Chip has always been the boss. He essentially put New Hampshire and Oregon on the map in their respective conferences, with a little help from Phil Knight’s design teams at Nike. He has always bucked trends and done things his way. He has always been a sink or swim, my way or the highway type of guy, and his coaching prowess hasn’t failed him yet.

The world will never know who was really responsible for what picks in the last two drafts, which is why it would be erroneous to anoint Chip a genius for the 2013 draft or a goat for 2014. I, personally, do not think that last year’s draft was nearly as disastrous as many will tell you. We were able to acquire a solid receiver in Jordan Matthews, I believe Josh Huff will contribute going forward, the jury is still out on Jaylen Watkins, Taylor Hart, and Ed Reynolds, but Beau Allen was an absolute steal in the seventh round. Admittedly, I hated the Marcus Smith selection as soon as it was announced. The draft would have actually been a resounding success if we picked the player selected directly after Smith, a hard hitting safety out of Washington State, Deone Bucannon, who is now part of the vaunted Cardinal defense.

The year before was about as good as it gets from a drafting standpoint. Lane Johnson looks like the heir-apparent to Jason Peters at LT, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them flip positions soon, possibly as early as next season. Zach Ertz could easily be a perennial Pro Bowl tight end. Bennie Logan is a beast. Matt Barkley might not be a professional quarterback, just as Earl Wolff, Jordan Poyer, and Joe Kruger may not be pros either. But to net three potential Pro Bowlers is an absolute WIN any year.

But I digress; the point of that exercise was the same as Aaron Rodgers’s September 24 interview on his Milwaukee based ESPN radio show: R-E-L-A-X, relax. It is now time to see what Chipper is made of. I firmly believe in his ability to choose talent, and then make the best of it with a combination of motivation, proper scheme and sports science. After all, he put together a championship caliber roster at Oregon year after year. Furthermore, how far removed are we really from a 4-12 season under a lame duck Andy Reid. The roster has not changed maybe enough as it should have. It could very well be the case that Tom Gamble and Chip Kelly had a radically different vision for how the roster should look than Howie Roseman did. They may have clashed over types of players that needed to be brought in, and how the players should be brought in. If that were true, it would mean there were too many chips in the cookie.

Kelly vs. Roseman: Round 1

Howie Roseman is a very smart man and this is not meant to disparage him, let me start with that. With that being said, this is the NFL and that stands for ‘Not For Long’ when you aren’t getting results. Howie began his career by mailing letters to all 32 teams in the league in high school, looking for any job openings. He was rewarded with an internship with the New York Jets in 1999. His effort was further rewarded when he was brought on by the Eagles in 2000 for salary cap support. He spent the next 15+ years toiling to move up the ladder and eventually ascended to the role of GM after Jeffrey Lurie surprisingly sided with him over Joe Banner in 2012. Howie is, and was, a worker bee, tirelessly trying to get the next promotion.

That might be what ultimately undid his short-lived promotion. In the recent days, reports have come out that Roseman was insecure; distrustful of his subordinates, and that was especially so in times of adversity (good reading here on the subject, courtesy of Bleeding Green Nation). It is easy to connect the dots and believe that he saw his own demise in everyone that worked under him, that they had similar aspirations of the coveted GM title. This could simply explain the untimely firing of Gamble, who became a confidant for Chip Kelly.

All of this culminated in Kelly grabbing power in a coup that this franchise, one of the beacons of stability in the NFL, had not witnessed since perhaps the Buddy Ryan era abruptly ended. Chip talks a lot about culture, and maybe that’s what this was all about. After all, front office culture has a trickle-down effect, and if you don’t believe this just check out Washington or Oakland. Even those who do not like Chip have to be pleased, as he now has just enough rope to hang himself with, or as I’d like to think, enough wingspan to finally soar as high as he’d like.

So now what?

Very good question. I would be lying if I said I could venture a guess as to what the working relationship between Kelly and Roseman is, forget the yet to be named GM. My guess however, is tense to say the least. I do see some problems here with the power structure established by Lurie. For example, Kelly decides he wants Player X in free agency this coming spring. Player X has received a lot of interest from various teams and is considered overvalued. Nonetheless, Kelly tells Howie to get the deal done regardless of how much it costs. Roseman now has a conflict of interest. On one hand, he must keep the Eagles solvent and under the cap to maintain flexibility. But, on the other, his job title is not to decide what players should be on the team, just what to pay them. Therefore, I can see Howie being put in a lose-lose situation that may ultimately lead to his exit from the franchise.

 I could see him sticking tough this year, but ultimately, I believe you can set a countdown on your smartphone to the end of next season and put ‘Howie Roseman’s Last Day’ in the title. I just don’t believe that in his heart of hearts that he wants to be a glorified cap manager and oversee the medical staff. The reports that he was petty and insecure would only further the theory that he would be gone after next year. He can likely find a landing spot with another franchise, and we would wish him the best; unless of course it’s in the NFC East.

That brings up the point of the now vacant GM position. While it is true that Kelly will retain ultimate say in who to bring in, I honestly doubt that he wants a yes-man.  I (hope) think he knows that no good can come of that. There have been a number of names brought up, such as Eliot Wolf from Green Bay, Chris Grier of the Miami Dolphins, and Chris Polian of the Jacksonville Jaguars, among a few others. Of these few candidates, you can see several common threads. For instance, all of these guys are relatively young and are extremely familiar with scouting. Wolf and Polian both have legendary fathers in the GM/Front Office world and have been around football their entire life.

Regardless of who they bring in, they are going to have a much bigger responsibility than many are giving them credit for. They will have to be in charge of scouting at least from August through January, and they will likely run the show most of the year. The only way this will differ from a ‘typical’ GM role is that they will not pull the trigger on the draft or free agent picks and will not negotiate contracts. While that may sound like a diminished role, consider only 32 people in the world get to do those jobs, and they often overlap.

In conclusion, we are entering into a world of change. A new era in the Philadelphia Eagles storied history. For better or for worse, we are officially off the map, exploring uncharted territory. We are in the lands of the Bill Belichick’s of the world, the regions of all-powerful head coaches.

Frankly, I am looking forward to it.