Chip Kelly - Head Coach, Philadelphia Eagles

[rjs246]

It's true. I'm nothing if not blindly committed to my lord and master, Chip Kelly. If he had a line of kale smoothy cologne I would bathe in that shtein.

[General_Failure]

He does, in fact. He gives it to players at the end of the season. Well, most of the players. The black guys get Axed.

[hbionic]

He does, in fact. He gives it to players at the end of the season. Well, most of the players. The black guys get Axed.

Not laugh out loud funny, but 4.5 out of 5 overall funny. Well done!

[PhillyPhreak54]

I love how sarcastic he is with the reporters when they ask dumb questions or keep asking the same.

About the two vs three QBs on the roster he kept trying to say it doesn't matter if a guy is on the 53 or PS because they could activate the PS guy during the week of need be but he kept getting questions. So with an exasperated "I don't know why this is so hard for you guys..." He shut that down

[Rome]

Chip Kelly's overhaul has upgraded Eagles across the board

September 6, 2015, 11:00 am

It's impossible to look at this final roster and not marvel at Chip Kelly's handiwork as GM.

Forget Chip the coach for a moment. Let's talk about Chip the general manager.

How do you cut ties with Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy, Trent Cole, Nick Foles and Evan Mathis –- five Pro Bowlers –- not to mention Todd Herremans, Brandon Boykin, Chris Polk and everybody else who was shown the door and come back with a better team?

Because that's what I see. More talent. More players who fit Kelly's culture in the locker room. A superior coaching staff. More depth. Way more depth. A team better equipped for a deep postseason run than Kelly's first two teams.

It takes some guts to tear apart a 10-6 team. Most coaches, most general managers, would have tweaked the roster, rebuilt the overmatched secondary, and tried again.

And why not? Going into Week 14, the Eagles shared the best record in the NFL at 9-3. They had just destroyed the Cowboys in Dallas. We were all thinking first-round bye. And maybe more.

It's easy to start rebuilding a bad team. But rebuilding a good one? That's tricky. Especially for a guy in his first months as a general manager just two years after his first day on an NFL payroll.

But when you sit down and examine the team that the Eagles will take down to Atlanta next weekend, you have to be impressed.

Yes, there are a higher-than-normal number of guys coming off serious injuries, but all of them seem OK and they don't appear to be at any more of a risk than anybody else in the league at this point.

There are still a few glaring questions facing the Eagles nine days before the opener.

Who's the third outside linebacker? Who's the nickel slot? Is there any quality depth on the offensive line? Can Sam Bradford build on his eye-opening preseason performances once opposing defenses start blitzing and gameplanning? Can the rebuilt secondary really slow down elite quarterbacks so they're not picking apart the Eagles down the field like last year?

But it's hard to look at this 53-man roster and not see upgrades across the board.

Defensive line? Same guys, but one of the best in the biz, and another year playing together should elevate their level of performance.

Linebacker? Gain Kiko Alonso and lose an aging Trent Cole? I'll take that.

Secondary? Younger, faster. Better at corner, better at safety, better coach.

Offensive line? Not better than last year but not worse. Solid group.

Running back? Cut ties with LeSean McCoy and Chris Polk and add DeMarco Murray, Ryan Mathews and Kenjon Barner? A ridiculously talented bunch.

Receiver? Lose Jeremy Maclin and add Nelson Agholor and hope for big improvement from Josh Huff and the usual Year 2 jump from Jordan Matthews? We'll say push for now, with the chance of a net improvement in time.

And quarterback? I'm still a Nick Foles fan. I've seen him win games in the NFL. No matter how much you can't stand Foles, you can't argue with 14-4. And Bradford still has a lot to prove. But he has looked awfully sharp. I'll say push again, but Bradford with these weapons does look intriguing. I just need to see him do it consistently in regular-season games.

In all, there are 18 players on the roster who weren't here on opening day last year, and that's not an inordinately huge number. But what's significant is how much talent Kelly shed in order to bring those guys in.

The big question about overhauling the roster of a winning team is whether all the changes will mean it takes some time for the whole thing to come together, for all the new parts to function as a single efficient unit.

And honestly, from what we saw in the preseason, that won't be an issue.

We can re-visit this in 17 weeks, but for now, I give Chip a solid A-minus for his first offseason as general manager, and the only thing keeping him from an A is the Boykin move. I like trading a non-starter for a conditional fourth-round pick, but I'm not sure there's a capable replacement on the roster right now.

This is a talented football team, a dangerous football team and in most areas a deep football team.

The whole Chip-as-GM thing was a leap of faith for owner Jeff Lurie. Unprecedented in NFL history for a guy with such little NFL experience to be granted final say over all personnel decisions. But Kelly has such a knack for not only evaluating talent but evaluating whether talent will fit seamlessly into his program that it really does make perfect sense.

In the span of eight months, Kelly has rid the roster of a number of very accomplished players and replaced them with a bunch of guys who are probably just as talented but also truly fit Kelly's vision of what he wants in a football player on the field, in the locker room and outside the NovaCare Complex.

A lot of coaches would be thrilled to go 10-6 every year and be in the mix. The fact that 10-6 convinced Chip to tear apart his roster and start over should be incredibly encouraging for Eagles fans.

He wants it all. Just like you do. And this offseason was a major step in that direction.

Hmmm...

[QB Eagles]

Let me guess, igy wrote that.

[Rome]

Close.  Reuben Frank.

http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/chip-kellys-overhaul-has-upgraded-eagles-across-board

[ice grillin you]

chip bot lil guy will be by soon enough to rip roob the homer and irony gigacounters everywhere will explode

i love his smile

[PhillyPhreak54]

chip bot lil guy will be by soon enough to rip roob the homer and irony gigacounters everywhere will explode

i love his smile

Lolol whose smile do I love? Yours, lil guys or Chips?

[MDS]

if one thing is certain its that the eagles will go 2-14 because chip kelly is a college coach failure loser disgrace

[General_Failure]

Well that and their quarterback is made of peanut shells and desperation.

[QB Eagles]

chip bot lil guy will be by soon enough to rip roob the homer and irony gigacounters everywhere will explode

i love his smile

Lolol whose smile do I love? Yours, lil guys or Chips?

[PhillyPhreak54]

Bonus props for posting one of him in a black jersey

[Don Ho]

I love how sarcastic he is with the reporters when they ask dumb questions or keep asking the same.

About the two vs three QBs on the roster he kept trying to say it doesn't matter if a guy is on the 53 or PS because they could activate the PS guy during the week of need be but he kept getting questions. So with an exasperated "I don't know why this is so hard for you guys..." He shut that down

My buddies, whom none are birds fans by any means, love how Chip just gives the press shtein.  They love it and his smirky "are you serious?" looks and responses.

[PhillyPhreak54]

It's great because some of the reporters ask some really stupid questions.