Vince Papale: Players Criticizing Chip Kelly Should Keep Their Mouths Shut

Vince Papale is a Philadelphia legend. So when he speaks, people tend to listen. Let’s see if people will listen to him on this one.

Chip Kelly’s tenure as Eagles head coach ended unceremoniously as he was fired before the last week of the season. Players began to call out Chip for the way he coached. Lane Johnson did. Jason Peters recently did. Cary Williams did while he was still on the team. Jason Kelce was a guy who actually tried standing up for Chip. It was great for us to talk about, but for the football team, it was a stigma surrounding them that came to a head last season.

Papale was a guest recently on FOX Sports 920 The Jersey with Zach Gelb, and he talked about how Chip was great to him while he was here and says players who criticize him should keep their mouths shut. Listen below. [Anti-Chip bashing begins around the 2-minute mark.]

“It sort of disheartens me. You know, I think some guys oughtta just keep their mouths shut. It is what it was last year. A lot of the players – in spite of all the things that went on and people were saying negative [things] about Chip Kelly – if players executed and did the job and made the tackle, didn’t make the mental error, made the catch, did what they were supposed to do, they would’ve been in the playoffs. They were only a couple, three plays away from the playoffs. I think the best thing for players to do is keep your mouth shut. Someday, he might wind up becoming your boss again, you know, the way that things are in the NFL. It’s sad to see.”

Papale would go on to not give a huge ringing endorsement to Doug Pederson. Basically, he just said Pederson’s a player’s coach and hopefully that translates into wins.

Papale also talks about the upcoming Eagles season, the quarterback situation, and more on Pederson among other things. You can listen to the entire interview below.