Nick Piccone
Chip Kelly’s time with the Eagles has been well-documented. He was thought of as a godsend, quickly became Satan, and former players, along with Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman, basically crapped on his existence the last three years.
If every story we’ve heard up to this point is true, then the vitriol coming from former players and Lurie and Roseman kind of makes sense. It’s weird to see them talk about it so publicly, but I can see the reason behind wanting to completely point the finger at Chip so people think he was the problem and nothing else was. Chip’s refusing to take any responsibility of how things played out in Philly, so it’s always going to be a game of semantics.
According to a new report from NJ.com, however, things delved much deeper than we’ve previously heard. With Roseman banished to the other side of the NovaCare Complex, Chip Kelly completely took over the team, from top to bottom. And, according to this report, Roseman and his team of scouts had no say in last year’s draft, and minimal say over the three years Chip was head coach.
Roseman and the Eagles’ scouting department had minimal input over the three drafts during Chip Kelly’s tenure as head coach, according to a former member of the front office who spoke to NJ Advance Media on the condition of anonymity. That person asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to comment on the franchise’s personnel decisions.
“Right before that draft, the scouts set the board,” the person said Tuesday. “Then Chip got a hold of it and totally turned it around. Scouts had no say at all in that draft. Anybody that Chip didn’t want, that player’s card got removed from the board and thrown in the trash. Those guys were never even in the discussion.
“Almost immediately, you had a lot of scouts looking around and wondering, ‘Why am I even working? Why the hell are we even here?’ We put all of this work in, put the information in and Chip changed everything and took whoever he wanted to take.”
The source went on to say that he had Marcus Smith pegged as a third-rounder, not a first-round #26 overall pick. The source also mentioned Kelly’s “unorthodox approach” alienated members of the front office and scouting department.
But that’s not all. When the Eagles brought in Tom Gamble and his group of scouts, Roseman and his scouts were pushed to the side. When Roseman fired Gamble after the 2014 season, Chip was out of town (and left almost immediately after the season ended, according to the report). When Chip found out Gable was fired, he demanded full control. He got it.
Chip’s draft last season doesn’t seem like a huge bust this far, so he might not be the worst decision-maker in a front office setting. But it certainly sounds like he hated everything that was already here and wanted to change it. Whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen, because the Eagles’ front office could be looked at as filled with yes-men. But Chip also could have set the organization back a few years with his decision-making.