Philadelphia Eagles Fire Chip Kelly Loses Players’ Respect and his Job After Disastrous Roster Moves Implode
Well, we all knew it was coming. Although he may be an offensive genius and a fantastic college coach, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly clearly isn’t the best personnel evaluator.
The Eagles have officially parted ways with the former Oregon Ducks coach after consistently poor performances by quarterback Sam Bradford, running back DeMarco Murray, and others such as first-round draft pick Nelson Agholor—all players whom Kelly brought in during the offseason in an attempt to leave his mark on the franchise—caused the Eagles to stumble to a mere six ugly wins in the even uglier NFC East division.
Kelly may have finished at 10-6 the last two seasons, but bringing expensive, under-performing players to Philly and missing the playoffs again isn’t exactly the best way to keep your job. To make matters worse, he’s completely lost the respect of the locker room.
“Players don’t like him!” said Hall of Fame wide receiver and former Eagle Cris Carter during his interview on Mike and Mike. “They can’t say anything. They do not like Chip Kelly. They don’t like playing in his system. Ultimately, the players are going to win out when you can’t get players to come there. I kind of feel not this year, but next year, Chip Kelly is going to be back in college football.”
And maybe that’s for the best. Some people just aren’t cut out for coaching in the NFL. I mean, if Nick Saban can’t do it you know it’s not an easy transition. Jim Harbaugh struggled with controlling the locker room in San Francisco toward the end of his tenure there as well.
Harbaugh and Kelly are both great coaches, but both had trouble dealing with the egos of the professional athletes. There’s a big difference. In college, the toughest part is managing the superstars. In the NFL, you have an entire locker room of those college standouts.
Some people got it, some people don’t. That’s okay. The world needs great college coaches too. Besides, even if the college kids hate Kelly’s system or Harbaugh’s over-competitiveness, they’ll be out in a year or too, and the coaches will have another team of wide-eyed players with big time dreams.
Unfortunately for Kelly, he’ll be joining the ever-expanding list of college coaches chewed up and spit right back by the big leagues.
He made this final statement:
“I’m am deeply grateful to [owner] Jeffrey Lurie for allowing me to coach his Philadelphia Eagles for the past three seasons,” Kelly said in a statement. “I deeply regret that we did not bring this great city and its fans the championship they deserve. I was blessed to work with a gifted and hard-working coaching staff every day, and they will succeed wherever they go.”
Kelly wished the Eagles well moving forward.
“My players mean the world to me,” he said. “I will miss them very much, and I will be rooting for them to achieve their dreams. Life is all about responding to challenges and seizing opportunities.”