Nick Piccone
The consensus is pretty obvious – Chip Kelly the general manager has let down Chip Kelly the head coach this season. As it stands, the guys Kelly brought in this past offseason were generally looked at as good moves – even the trade of LeSean McCoy for Kiko Alonso.
However, what we’ve come to learn this season is that Kelly either completely overestimated the guys he brought in, or the quarterback he really needs to run this offense is nowhere to be found. There were rumors running rampant before and during the NFL draft this past year that the Eagles were going to sell half the franchise for Marcus Mariota – who, at the present time, may have been the best quarterback to put in this offense. Sure, the offensive line has certainly done Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez no favors, nor has it done any favors for DeMarco Murray. Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles? Eh, they’ve done OK.
For what it’s worth, there were many who questioned Kelly’s offseason moves in his first go as general manager. There were some, like myself, who automatically thought he knew what he was doing since he had complete control. I mean, the dude who coaches the team is making the decisions, and I would think with the track record of Howie Roseman, they couldn’t be worse than they were last season.
Welp, they are. They’re really, really bad. So, it gives us an opportunity to look back at when Kelly was hired by Jeffrey Lurie, and his introductory press conference. At that point, Kelly wanted no parts of making personnel decisions off the field – he said he was a football coach. That was it. Glen Macnow and Ray Didinger mentioned it on WIP this afternoon, so people aren’t forgetting… anymore, at least. Transcription below.
“My role right now is clearly defining what we want. What is a cornerback, what are we looking for? What’s the height, what’s the weight, what’s the speed, what’s the makeup of each individual position here? And then, in collaboration with everybody. Not one person can do it all. I’ve heard questions about whether I want control over this or control over that–that’s never been and issue and never is an issue for me. I’m a football coach. I’m not a general manager, I’m not a salary cap guy. I coach football. I need people that can go out there and say ‘Hey, this is what you want? These are the people.’ And it’s going to be a collaboration. We’re all going to be on the same page. I’ve got no delusion of saying that I want all these different titles. I just want to coach football.”
Video below of the entire press conference, but we started it at the beginning of this quote.
One interesting thing Chip says: “I enjoy the process. I embrace the process.” THE PROCESS!
Obviously, things change. Chip changed his mind. Lurie definitely changed his mind. It just has not worked out at all, but it’s fair to question whether one year is really enough time for Chip to get his guys in here. He did re-construct the defense, which has been a high point of the team this season, with the exception of the last two weeks. However, the offense has really done the defense no favors, and we’ve been saying that the last two plus seasons. Chip’s offense, so far, has left the defense hanging a lot. But, he did make the defense better, so there’s that.
Now, it’s interesting to look back and hear what he had to say and wonder if he really did hold up Lurie in order to gain more power after two years. Now, it’s very viable to question whether Lurie made the right move, especially with various reports that the players have quit on him.