F
flgreen
Guest
What the heck is Chip Kelly doing?
By Danny Kelly @FieldGulls on Mar 11, 2015, 10:33a +
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Chip Kelly has the power in Philadelphia now. Danny Kelly examines just what in the hell he's doing with it.
Day one of the official NFL free agency period was a doozy. A series of signings and trades changed the landscape of division rivalries and the complexions of many teams going into next season, but no moves were met with more intrigue than the agreement between the Eagles and Rams to swap quarterbacks Nick Foles and Sam Bradford (and a few picks). This unexpected and curious trade is just the latest in a flurry by Philadelphia czar Chip Kelly.
I'll get to a dissection of the Foles-Bradford trade and touch on some of Philly's other moves over the past week, but a little background is necessary to set the stage. For Kelly and the Eagles, the writing had been on the wall that major changes were coming. It all started at the end of last season when Kelly executed a coup d'état to take control of personnel from GM Howie Roseman, with whom he's reportedly had a tense relationship.
A little background
Shortly after Chip Kelly took the head coaching position with the Eagles, he hired longtime personnel guru Tom Gamble and the two of them rekindled a close working relationship that had gone back many years. Roseman reportedly viewed their apparent "alliance" as a threat to his job security -- it was widely reported there was tension in the front office and was believed that Kelly simply didn't trust Roseman's football eye, viewing him more as a salary cap expert. After the Eagles finished the season on the outside looking in to the playoffs, Roseman used this failure as leverage and made his move.
He fired Gamble (with consent from owner Jeff Lurie) on New Year's Eve, and it was widely viewed as a victory for the sitting GM. Kelly was furious, and, at the time, it was speculated that the situation would soon deteriorate into something akin to what happened in San Francisco with Jed York, Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh. But, that's when Chip went straight-up Frank Underwood.
The details are murky, but what's important in the end is that Chip Kelly was granted almost complete control of football operations while Roseman was stripped his of powers as general manager. Roseman got a new title -- Executive Vice President of Football Operations -- and a contract extension, but it was clear that Kelly was the new sheriff in town.
He joined the power elite when it comes to head coaches with full power over decision making -- Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll -- and he hasn't let that newfound authority to waste.
The aftermath
"He thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." -- Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight
I'm kidding using that quote as segue. Kind of.
The uproar that Kelly has created with some of his bold and unpredictable moves over the last few weeks -- including the trade of star running back LeSean McCoy, presumptive starting quarterback Nick Foles and the failure to re-sign their best receiver in Jeremy Maclin -- has been nothing short of momentous.
Kelly has turned the Philadelphia faithful on their heads and tested their faith in his methods to the point where the headline at time of this writing over at Bleeding Green Nation is literally: "¯\_(ツ)_/¯."
At this point, Eagles fans may be right in asking themselves whether they're in the middle of a "Josh McDaniels with the Broncos" style fiasco, or perhaps in the infancy of a "Pete Carroll with the Seahawks" style rebirth. Are these death throes or growing pains? I don't know the answer to that -- no one does -- but I'm going to enjoy the hell out of the ride in the meantime, because if nothing else, Chip Kelly as some brass balls.
The moves
The first major dominoes to drop were Kelly's decisions to cut Cary Williams and Trent Cole, both defensible from a cap point of view.
Those minor moves were followed by the jaw-dropping trade of franchise back and 2013 NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy for promising second-year linebacker Kiko Alonso. Now, this trade may have been shocking, but I don't really think it was terribly illogical. McCoy and Kelly reportedly didn't see eye-to-eye on schematics, and McCoy carried a big cap hit going into 2015, both reasons enough to validate the decision to invest money elsewhere. Like, at cornerback, for instance, which is exactly what Kelly did by signing Byron Maxwell for six years, $60 million with $25 million guaranteed. Maybe an overspend, sure, but a good, maybe great, cornerback is a valuable commodity.
These moves -- whether they work out or not -- were aggressive. Taken together, they planted a seed of doubt and set the foundation for Tuesday's freakout.
A few minutes after the Jimmy Graham-to-Seattle trade was reported, all hell broke loose when it was reported that the Eagles would send Nick Foles, a fourth-round pick and a 2016 second-round pick to the Rams in exchange for Sam Bradford and a fifth-round pick.
(It wasn't reported immediately, but if Bradford plays less than 50 percent of the Eagles snaps next year, Philly gets a fourth-round pick from the Rams, and if he misses the year completely, they get a third-round selection.)
The Internet's reaction went a little like this:
So, just what the hell is Chip Kelly doing?
The way that most people seem to see it is that this trade could mean one of two things, and both of them seem pretty far-fetched:
Scenario A: The Eagles genuinely love Sam Bradford
This, of course, is slightly unbelievable in the fact that Bradford, 27, is due $12.985 million in 2015 and is in the last year of the contract. Oh yeah, and he's coming off of two ACL tears, an ankle injury before that and a shoulder injury before that. Even more notable is his mediocre performance thus far in his career. Why give up on Nick Foles, a guy who had a fantastic 2013 before a less exciting 2014 was cut short by injury? Is it worth it?
These questions coupled with the rumors connecting Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota meant that the first thought was that this was just part of an elaborate plan to jump up to grab the Oregon quarterback. A few people in the media quickly dumped cold water on that thought though, including Peter King, who tweeted, "Chip came hard after Bradford. That's why this happened." Um, OK then.
The trade-up theory was further poo-pooed by Dave Spadaro on the Eagles' official website, who wrote, "Sam Bradford is the quarterback Kelly thinks can operate this offense to maximum efficiency. That's why he is an Eagle today."
I mean, that doesn't necessarily end the debate, but it's pretty damning to a bigger plot at hand. I mean, come on, there's no way this is the whole story, right?
Spadaro, via the Eagles' website: "A deal was done on Tuesday, one that brings to Philadelphia the quarterback that head coach Chip Kelly wants. He wanted Sam Bradford. He identified Sam Bradford as a special talent who can make this offense soar... It is a gamble, no question about that. Kelly isn't afraid to make difficult, out-of-the-box decisions. But it is a gamble with a lot of upside because the Eagles think Bradford has the goods to be a franchise-type quarterback."
But what about the idea that Bradford doesn't really fit into Kelly's spread out read-option scheme? Don't the quarterbacks need to run?
Spadaro: "The misconception, perhaps, is that the offense the Eagles is one that we saw at Oregon, where the quarterback was mobile and a running threat. That's not what the Eagles are offensively."
Oh.
And, actually, Spadaro isn't making this up -- he's passing on what Chip's said in the past.
"I've said that since Day 1," Kelly said last year when making the switch to Mark Sanchez at quarterback. "Our offense is directed around our quarterback. So tell me who is playing quarterback, and I'll tell you what our offense is going to be and how it's going to look because we can always cater it to the skills of our offense. That's the beauty of what we're doing here."
Regardless, says Spadaro, "Bradford, the Eagles feel, can do it all."
Kelly has always said that part of the beauty of his offense has been that it's "quarterback-friendly." As Eagles offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, has noted, "We don't bog them down with a lot of silly things, so the ball can come out quicker." Timing and accuracy are the two key attributes they look for in a quarterback, and as long as the quarterback makes sound decisions, he'll be fine. "The No. 1 attribute for a quarterback is being able to make good, solid decisions," he said.
And, Shurmur, who was Bradford's coordinator in St. Louis when Bradford was a rookie, may have a big hand in this. In that system, Bradford hit on 60 percent of his passes and finished with 18 touchdowns to 15 picks, then saw his numbers drop in year two after Shurmur took the head coaching job in Cleveland. Shurmur even tried to trade for Bradford when he was in charge with the Browns.
Additionally, Bradford became the No. 1 overall pick out of Oklahoma running a version of the spread offense, where tempo and accuracy were key.
So, despite initial shock and dismay, there is logic in believing that Bradford is, in fact, the actual endgame here.
SB Nation presents: How will the acquisition of Bradford change the Eagles' plans in the draft?
(Cont)
By Danny Kelly @FieldGulls on Mar 11, 2015, 10:33a +
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Chip Kelly has the power in Philadelphia now. Danny Kelly examines just what in the hell he's doing with it.
Day one of the official NFL free agency period was a doozy. A series of signings and trades changed the landscape of division rivalries and the complexions of many teams going into next season, but no moves were met with more intrigue than the agreement between the Eagles and Rams to swap quarterbacks Nick Foles and Sam Bradford (and a few picks). This unexpected and curious trade is just the latest in a flurry by Philadelphia czar Chip Kelly.
I'll get to a dissection of the Foles-Bradford trade and touch on some of Philly's other moves over the past week, but a little background is necessary to set the stage. For Kelly and the Eagles, the writing had been on the wall that major changes were coming. It all started at the end of last season when Kelly executed a coup d'état to take control of personnel from GM Howie Roseman, with whom he's reportedly had a tense relationship.
A little background
Shortly after Chip Kelly took the head coaching position with the Eagles, he hired longtime personnel guru Tom Gamble and the two of them rekindled a close working relationship that had gone back many years. Roseman reportedly viewed their apparent "alliance" as a threat to his job security -- it was widely reported there was tension in the front office and was believed that Kelly simply didn't trust Roseman's football eye, viewing him more as a salary cap expert. After the Eagles finished the season on the outside looking in to the playoffs, Roseman used this failure as leverage and made his move.
He fired Gamble (with consent from owner Jeff Lurie) on New Year's Eve, and it was widely viewed as a victory for the sitting GM. Kelly was furious, and, at the time, it was speculated that the situation would soon deteriorate into something akin to what happened in San Francisco with Jed York, Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh. But, that's when Chip went straight-up Frank Underwood.
The details are murky, but what's important in the end is that Chip Kelly was granted almost complete control of football operations while Roseman was stripped his of powers as general manager. Roseman got a new title -- Executive Vice President of Football Operations -- and a contract extension, but it was clear that Kelly was the new sheriff in town.
He joined the power elite when it comes to head coaches with full power over decision making -- Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll -- and he hasn't let that newfound authority to waste.
The aftermath
"He thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." -- Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight
I'm kidding using that quote as segue. Kind of.
The uproar that Kelly has created with some of his bold and unpredictable moves over the last few weeks -- including the trade of star running back LeSean McCoy, presumptive starting quarterback Nick Foles and the failure to re-sign their best receiver in Jeremy Maclin -- has been nothing short of momentous.
Kelly has turned the Philadelphia faithful on their heads and tested their faith in his methods to the point where the headline at time of this writing over at Bleeding Green Nation is literally: "¯\_(ツ)_/¯."
At this point, Eagles fans may be right in asking themselves whether they're in the middle of a "Josh McDaniels with the Broncos" style fiasco, or perhaps in the infancy of a "Pete Carroll with the Seahawks" style rebirth. Are these death throes or growing pains? I don't know the answer to that -- no one does -- but I'm going to enjoy the hell out of the ride in the meantime, because if nothing else, Chip Kelly as some brass balls.
The moves
The first major dominoes to drop were Kelly's decisions to cut Cary Williams and Trent Cole, both defensible from a cap point of view.
Those minor moves were followed by the jaw-dropping trade of franchise back and 2013 NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy for promising second-year linebacker Kiko Alonso. Now, this trade may have been shocking, but I don't really think it was terribly illogical. McCoy and Kelly reportedly didn't see eye-to-eye on schematics, and McCoy carried a big cap hit going into 2015, both reasons enough to validate the decision to invest money elsewhere. Like, at cornerback, for instance, which is exactly what Kelly did by signing Byron Maxwell for six years, $60 million with $25 million guaranteed. Maybe an overspend, sure, but a good, maybe great, cornerback is a valuable commodity.
These moves -- whether they work out or not -- were aggressive. Taken together, they planted a seed of doubt and set the foundation for Tuesday's freakout.
A few minutes after the Jimmy Graham-to-Seattle trade was reported, all hell broke loose when it was reported that the Eagles would send Nick Foles, a fourth-round pick and a 2016 second-round pick to the Rams in exchange for Sam Bradford and a fifth-round pick.
(It wasn't reported immediately, but if Bradford plays less than 50 percent of the Eagles snaps next year, Philly gets a fourth-round pick from the Rams, and if he misses the year completely, they get a third-round selection.)
The Internet's reaction went a little like this:
So, just what the hell is Chip Kelly doing?
The way that most people seem to see it is that this trade could mean one of two things, and both of them seem pretty far-fetched:
Scenario A: The Eagles genuinely love Sam Bradford
This, of course, is slightly unbelievable in the fact that Bradford, 27, is due $12.985 million in 2015 and is in the last year of the contract. Oh yeah, and he's coming off of two ACL tears, an ankle injury before that and a shoulder injury before that. Even more notable is his mediocre performance thus far in his career. Why give up on Nick Foles, a guy who had a fantastic 2013 before a less exciting 2014 was cut short by injury? Is it worth it?
These questions coupled with the rumors connecting Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota meant that the first thought was that this was just part of an elaborate plan to jump up to grab the Oregon quarterback. A few people in the media quickly dumped cold water on that thought though, including Peter King, who tweeted, "Chip came hard after Bradford. That's why this happened." Um, OK then.
The trade-up theory was further poo-pooed by Dave Spadaro on the Eagles' official website, who wrote, "Sam Bradford is the quarterback Kelly thinks can operate this offense to maximum efficiency. That's why he is an Eagle today."
I mean, that doesn't necessarily end the debate, but it's pretty damning to a bigger plot at hand. I mean, come on, there's no way this is the whole story, right?
Spadaro, via the Eagles' website: "A deal was done on Tuesday, one that brings to Philadelphia the quarterback that head coach Chip Kelly wants. He wanted Sam Bradford. He identified Sam Bradford as a special talent who can make this offense soar... It is a gamble, no question about that. Kelly isn't afraid to make difficult, out-of-the-box decisions. But it is a gamble with a lot of upside because the Eagles think Bradford has the goods to be a franchise-type quarterback."
But what about the idea that Bradford doesn't really fit into Kelly's spread out read-option scheme? Don't the quarterbacks need to run?
Spadaro: "The misconception, perhaps, is that the offense the Eagles is one that we saw at Oregon, where the quarterback was mobile and a running threat. That's not what the Eagles are offensively."
Oh.
And, actually, Spadaro isn't making this up -- he's passing on what Chip's said in the past.
"I've said that since Day 1," Kelly said last year when making the switch to Mark Sanchez at quarterback. "Our offense is directed around our quarterback. So tell me who is playing quarterback, and I'll tell you what our offense is going to be and how it's going to look because we can always cater it to the skills of our offense. That's the beauty of what we're doing here."
Regardless, says Spadaro, "Bradford, the Eagles feel, can do it all."
Kelly has always said that part of the beauty of his offense has been that it's "quarterback-friendly." As Eagles offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, has noted, "We don't bog them down with a lot of silly things, so the ball can come out quicker." Timing and accuracy are the two key attributes they look for in a quarterback, and as long as the quarterback makes sound decisions, he'll be fine. "The No. 1 attribute for a quarterback is being able to make good, solid decisions," he said.
And, Shurmur, who was Bradford's coordinator in St. Louis when Bradford was a rookie, may have a big hand in this. In that system, Bradford hit on 60 percent of his passes and finished with 18 touchdowns to 15 picks, then saw his numbers drop in year two after Shurmur took the head coaching job in Cleveland. Shurmur even tried to trade for Bradford when he was in charge with the Browns.
Additionally, Bradford became the No. 1 overall pick out of Oklahoma running a version of the spread offense, where tempo and accuracy were key.
So, despite initial shock and dismay, there is logic in believing that Bradford is, in fact, the actual endgame here.
SB Nation presents: How will the acquisition of Bradford change the Eagles' plans in the draft?
(Cont)
