In an absolutely stunning move, the Philadelphia Eagles announced that they have released head coach Chip Kelly, following one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. A wild day for the Eagles also saw the firing of Ed Marynowitz, the Vice President of Player Personnel. Tom Donahoe, the Senior Football Advisor for the Eagles since 2012, will assume the role of Senior Director of Player Personnel.
The Eagles are just 6-9 following a dominant preseason that saw experts such as Adam Schefter and Joe Banner predict the first-ever Super Bowl title in Philadelphia.
Instead, the Eagles dropped their first two games and haven’t posted a winning record at any point during the season. The low point came in Weeks 11 and 12 when the Eagles lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions by a combined 59 points.
Frequent reports have surfaced throughout the season highlighting Chip Kelly’s inability to get along with his players. The turning point may have been future Hall of Fame left tackle Jason Peters removing himself from the game in the Week 16 loss to the Washington Redskins and refusing to re-enter, saying, “I’m not going to get hurt for this.”
With Kelly gone, rumors will begin regarding Chip Kelly, Marcus Mariota and the head coach opening with the Tennessee Titans. For the Eagles and Jeffrey Lurie, a search begins for a new head coach after the shortest stint by an Eagles head coach since Mike McCormack from 1973 to 1975.
Below I will highlight five reasons why the Philadelphia Eagles, mainly Chip Kelly, failed in 2015.
1 – Chip Kelly demanded full control of the Eagles, and Jeffrey Lurie gave it to him.
It was almost one calendar year ago when Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie handed complete control of the franchise to Chip Kelly, a questionable move for a head coach who had failed to win a playoff game in each of his first two seasons. Although Kelly’s success as a head coach was evident when he took a 4-12 Eagles team from 2012 to the playoffs within one season, the difference between a head coach and a head coach who also assumes general manager responsibilities is monumental. Unless you’re Bill Belichick, it’s hard to oversee all player duties while also coaching the team on Sundays.
Kelly found out the hard way that he wasn’t equipped to monitor all player changes on the roster. Look at the five biggest names Kelly brought in this offseason: quarterback Sam Bradford, running back DeMarco Murray, wide receiver Nelson Agholor, linebacker Kiko Alonso and cornerback Byron Maxwell. Every single one of those players was a disappointment this season. Bradford was the most successful, but after the hype and rave surrounding the former number one overall pick during the preseason, it’s safe to say more was expected than 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Murray has looked like a shell of the player who won the Offensive Player of the Year last season. Agholor, despite every opportunity to help a depleted receiving corps, struggled with drops and a high-ankle sprain. Alonso may have been the worst, as he sprained his knee in Week 2 and has been arguably the worst player on the defense since his midseason return. And Maxwell has been frustratingly inconsistent, looking much more like a number two cornerback than the $63 million man signed in free agency.
Other moves by Kelly the general manager have included releasing All-Pro guard Evan Mathis, allowing Pro Bowl receiver Jeremy Maclin to leave in free agency and failing to draft an offensive lineman for the second straight season. The end result? A 6-9 record and an opening at both the head coach and general manager position.
2 – Chip Kelly failed in his quest to acquire Marcus Mariota.
You want to pretend that Chip Kelly didn’t go all-in in an attempt to acquire his former college quarterback, Heisman winner Marcus Mariota? Fine. But he did, and he basically admitted to it when he used this analogy. In reality, the Eagles just didn’t have what it takes to move up from the 20th pick to the 2nd pick. We’ll probably never know exactly what Kelly offered to acquire Mariota, but a realistic guess, and this is just a guess, is any combination of Sam Bradford, Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks, Brandon Boykin and multiple high draft picks. In the end, Kelly missed out on Mariota, the Tennessee Titans acquired their quarterback of the future, and the Eagles were left with Bradford and no second-round pick. It’s impossible to know what what the Eagles’ record would have been if they had managed to trade up for Mariota, but it’s not out of the question to think they could have won nine games and an NFC East title. Oh, and Kelly would still be here. Then again, maybe Mariota would have turned into the next Robert Griffin III. We’ll never know how Mariota would have done with Kelly… well, at least in Philadelphia.
3 – Chip Kelly drastically underrated talent and overrated scheme.
We all know the quote. Scheme over talent. That was one of Chip Kelly’s sayings and it worked like a charm during his first season when the Eagles scored the fourth-most points in the NFL. Third-round pick Nick Foles threw for 27 touchdowns against just two interceptions and the Eagles looked like they had their head coach and quarterback locked up for the next several seasons. A step back in 2014 still resulted in Kelly earning full control of all personnel moves. And that’s when disaster struck. Look at the holes on the current Eagles roster. The Eagles are extremely weak at wide receiver and along the offensive line. They lack an elite pass-rusher. They desperately need help in one of the league’s worst secondaries. How many players on the Eagles could start for more than half the teams in the league? Maybe 10? These moves fall on Chip Kelly, and only Chip Kelly. The talent that Kelly shed in the past two offseasons is simply mind-boggling. From Nick Foles to LeSean McCoy to DeSean Jackson to Jeremy Maclin to Evan Mathis, it’s amazing that the Eagles managed to win even six games in 2015. When Kelly did bring in what he thought was talent, like DeMarco Murray and Kiko Alonso, it didn’t pan out. It’s really that simple. You can win games at the University of Oregon with scheme over talent. You can’t win games in the National Football League against quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Russell Wilson with scheme over talent.
4 – Chip Kelly tried to plug too many holes through free agency.
There’s an old saying that says you build your team through the draft, not through free agency. The great ones, like Bill Belichick in New England and Ted Thompson in Green Bay, follow this philosophy. Then there’s the case of Dan Snyder, who ruined the Washington Redskins in the early 2000s by attempting to overhaul the team with a slew of high-priced free agents. What Kelly did to the Eagles isn’t on the Snyder level, but it was one of the biggest reasons for the downfall of the Eagles in 2015. It was Howie Roseman who added a piece here and a piece there for the Eagles during the 2013 and 2014 offseasons. Some of his top signings include Connor Barwin and Malcolm Jenkins, two of the defensive leaders on the current team. But Kelly, in typical Kelly fashion, spent big during his first offseason as the team’s general manager. He added rushing champion DeMarco Murray on a five-year, $40 million deal, including $21 million in guaranteed money, despite a well-publicized study on the dangers of trusting a running back the year after he received a workload like Murray. That move worked out so poorly that Murray was finally benched in late November, an obvious admission from Kelly that he had made a major mistake. Kelly’s other big signing was former Seahawks cornerback Byron Maxwell, who inked a six-year, $63 million deal. This year, Maxwell has allowed a 100.7 passer rating with a ridiculous 15 missed tackles. Both players are locked in their deals for at least one more seasons, which cripples the Eagles at a pair of crucial positions.
5 – Chip Kelly’s draft class failed to produce for a second straight season.
The downfall of the end of the Andy Reid era was his 2010 and 2011 draft classes, with players like Brandon Graham, Danny Watkins and Jaiquawn Jarrett who failed to make the necessary contribution early in their career to save Reid’s job. Likewise, Kelly’s last two draft classes helped lead to his demise in Philadelphia. His last two first-round picks, Marcus Smith and Nelson Agholor, have combined to produce maybe three good plays in three combined seasons. Smith has been so awful, so putrid, so invisible that it wouldn’t be a shock to see the new Eagles regime flat-out release him this offseason. Agholor, along with players like Josh Huff, still have a chance to develop, but the bottom line is that they didn’t do enough in their early years. Compare those two draft classes to the ones in 2012 and 2013, when the Eagles added players like Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson, Mychal Kendricks, Bennie Logan, Zach Ertz and Brandon Boykin.
