The Philadelphia Eagles Set Chip Kelly Up To Fail

Was the ultimate plan to run Chip Kelly out of town? Two 10-6 seasons qualified Kelly to coach in the NFL, but NOT to GM

From the moment Chip Kelly arrived to the Philadelphia Eagles, he began to change the process of the National Football League. From sleep, to nutrients, from snap counts to biochemistry, Kelly seemed to have an answer for everything.  Well ALMOST everything.

You see, when his personnel counterpart – Tom Gamble – was fired, Chip Kelly was placed into a situation that he did not sign up for.  Howie Roseman had just taken a coup on the personnel decisions of the team.   A hand in the cookie jar that had been in place during the NFL draft of 2010 and 2011.   2012 was good, but was it good due to Howie Roseman, or did Andy Reid take extra precautions to ensure his sinking ship would not be capsized by more of Howie’s “help”.

In any case, the new structure was intended to be “collaberative”.  Chip defined the player sought, Howie would identify that player and present Chip Kelly with final sign off before signing.  Except for one teeny tiny matter:

"“I haven’t had final say [in the draft] in the last 2 years,” – Chip Kelly"

The 2013 NFL draft was not bad.  Again, it was a new head coach who was content to contribute insight, and the collaborative effort.  But 2014’s first round draft pick of outside linebacker Marcus Smith had Howie Roseman written all over it. Smith never earned playing time on a team desperate to rotate guys on a depleted linebacking squad.

But whomever ultimately made the call in 2014, the team changed abruptly.   When the team’s “vision” fell to a cross roads of either Chip Kelly or Howie Roseman, the perception was that Chip Kelly had won over Jeff Lurie and had assumed the “power”.   But this isn’t a political office, this is the Philadelphia Eagles.   At the moment the team’s owner appointed Kelly as the final voice in the say of who gets hired, the dice were cast and the fate’s were sealed.

When former head coach Andy Reid was fired, the team responded to help out Howie Roseman by bringing in highly respected Tom Gamble to help judge available NFL prospects.

"“At the end of the day, it’s what kind of players you get on your roster and what your record’s going to be, and the more good people you have to help that, the more successful you’re going to be. It never made sense to me to think that hiring good people is going to hurt you personally. I always said that when I had an opportunity like this I would try to surround myself with great people, people that you think can do the job in the league, so I think that we’re doing that here. We have a lot of good people and I really think that’s going to serve us well in the future.” – Roseman discusses hiring Tom Gamble"

Everybody knows the NFL is a battle on two fronts:  Teams battle one another for success on the field.  But when the day is over, each player competes with one another for playing time, salary consideration, box scored, contract extensions, roster spots.   The NFL is not the same game it was when I grew up.  Now, an NFL team is part stage to showcase a player’s talents for their free agency.  Chip Kelly, having come from the college ranks, had no way of anticipating the problems that go with the general manager role.   But more importantly, Jeff Lurie DID know what to expect and DID NOTHING to help out his head coach.

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