Philadelphia Eagles Won’t Fire Chip Kelly, But Chip Could Walk Away On His Own
By Ryan Quigley
Everyone’s favorite head coach of all time, Chip Kelly, will not be fired by the Philadelphia Eagles, but could walk away at the drop of a hat.
Much to the chagrin of just about every individual reading this article (unless your name is Chip Kelly and, for whatever strange reason, you care about my opinion), the Philadelphia Eagles are not going to fire their head honcho.
You can shout, cry and pout all you want, but there is no situation in which firing Chip Kelly would even be a remotely logical decision.
First of all, Chip is far too expensive to fire. He and the Eagles agreed to a five-year, $32.5 million deal back when he initially chose to become Andy Reid‘s successor. If the Eagles were to end the Chip Kelly project prematurely, they’d essentially be throwing $13 million out the window, which obviously isn’t a very excellent situation to be in.
More from Inside the Iggles
- Eagles captains earn high praise on roster blending veteran leadership, youth
- How former Eagles star Cre’Von LeBlanc helped Renegades upstage Cowboys
- Eagles 2023 schedule: Every WR duo Darius Slay, James Bradberry will battle
- Imagining better names for Jason Kelce’s Good Guy Award
- Bold predictions for the Philadelphia Eagles offense in 2023
The way I look at it, Chip has one year to get the Eagles back on track. If Philadelphia remains the repulsive football team it currently is by the end of next season, then it will definitely be time to kick Chip to the curb, but, for right now, I believe the Eagles are still very much entrenched in Chip Kelly’s vision.
Also, coaches take time to develop. Look at Ron Rivera of the Carolina Panthers. In his first two seasons at the helm, he had a record of 13-19 and narrowly avoided being fired after his second year with Carolina. Then 2013 happened and he helped the Panthers go 12-4 before they went one and done against the San Francisco 49ers. In 2014, the Panthers went 7-8-1, which was somehow good enough to win them the division. However, the Panthers would lose once again in the Divisional round to the Seattle Seahawks. Again, Rivera was on the hot seat and, again, he made it through the offseason with his job. Now look at the Panthers. 11-0 and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down.
Moral of the story here is that coaches can turn themselves around. Does this mean that Chip is going to help the Eagles go 16-0 and win the Super Bowl next season? No. Does that mean that the Eagles will even have a winning record next season? No, but the unknowns of the Chip Kelly saga are aplenty and it would be unwise to assume that he himself can’t turn things around.
Plus, who would the Eagles hire to take over for Chip if they were to fire him? Tom Cable?
Not happening.
But what certainly could happen is the scenario in which Chip decides that he doesn’t want to coach in Philadelphia anymore. Now that’s something to think about.
Philadelphia is a tough town and it would make complete sense for a guy who is hated by the city’s entire 1.553 million-person population to try and get out without having his house set on fire by some crazy fan named Vinny who just got out of jail for revealing himself on a city bus.
It’s also entirely possible that Chip could return to college. The USC head coaching job is now filled, but that doesn’t mean that Chip wouldn’t make a run at a different school. And, heck, how do we know Chip wouldn’t leave the Eagles to join the Tennessee Titans to join his beloved college QB Marcus Mariota?
Chip’s future lies in Chip’s hands. I expect him to be the Eagles’ coach in 2016, but strange things happen in the NFL. See Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban. I will be surprised if the Eagles decide to pull the plug on Chip, but I would not be even sort of surprised to see Chip go elsewhere on his own.