Jeffrey Lurie
In 2013, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie made a splash when he went to the the college ranks to find his next head coach. After four years at the University of Oregon, Chip Kelly decided to take his fast paced, spread offense to the National Football League when he agreed to become the head coach of the Eagles. Kelly had his fair share of skeptics as far as him being able to succeed in the NFL due to the fact that his spread offense was a bit unconventional. Kelly would have immediate success in 2013 as he led the Eagles to the NFC East Title with a record of 10-6. The Eagles would once again go 10-6 last year, but this time around they would fail to make the postseason. However things are a little bit different for Kelly and the Eagles this time around as after four games in 2015, they are 1-3 and still searching for answers.
Lurie has not only made Kelly the Eagles head coach, but he has also made him the team’s de facto general manager as he now oversees all of the team’s personnel decisions. And now that Kelly has the keys to the car, he is attempting to build the Eagles in his own image, but is it working?
Chip Kelly
When Kelly became the Eagles head coach in 2013, he inherited a team that had talent at the offensive skill positions, but he has decided to part with it. In 2014, the Eagles released wide receiver DeSean Jackson who would ultimately sign with the Washington Redskins. Jackson’s departure from Philadelphia was rather controversial due to the fact that he claimed that someone within the Eagles organization began to spread rumors about him having gang affiliations. This past off-season, the Eagles decided to trade running LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills while allowing wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to leave as a free agent as he would go on to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs. McCoy left Philadelphia as the Eagles all-time leading rusher and he is in the prime of his football career at the age of 27 which made his departure so surprising. After trading McCoy, Kelly decided to sign running back DeMarco Murray who led the National Football League in rushing last year as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. But through four games this season, Murray only has 11 yards on the ground which has led to a frustrated and irate running back who sounded off during the Eagles 20-3 home loss in Week 2 to the Dallas Cowboys as Kelly must realize that he is not in college anymore and his spread offense isn’t guaranteed to succeed.
By Lurie making Kelly the de facto general manager, he has only fed the ego of his head coach. One of the biggest differences in the college game as opposed to the pros is that the coach has all of the power collegiately being that he possesses total control over the student-atheletes. But in the pro ranks it is totally different as players make more money that their head coaches and in the National Football League, you need stars to win. Kelly has decided to part with the star players such as Jackson, McCoy, and Maclin while relying on his system alone which won’t amount to too many victories in the NFL.
Kelly’s system philosophy is also visible at the most important position on the football field which is quarterback. Since 2013, the Eagles have had four different starting quarterbacks with none of them being able to last a whole season due to injury. Kelly’s quarterbacks tend to get injured because of the system that they are playing in which has them carrying the ball as if they are running backs. Quarterbacks in the Eagles system take unnecessary hits, and unlike the college game, linebackers and defensive lineman are equally as fast as the signal callers. And when they hit quarterbacks outside of the pocket, they are free meat.
Sam Bradford is the latest contestant on wheel of quarterbacks with the Eagles. Bradford was acquired by the Eagles this past off-season from the St. Louis Rams. Bradford was the first overall pick of the 2010 National Football League Draft by the Rams. Bradford’s career record as a starting quarterback is only 19-33-1 and he has only been able to make all 16 regular season starts twice in his NFL career while failing to play a full season since 2012. Through four games this season, Bradford has completed 62.4 percent of his passes, but he’s already thrown 4 interceptions to just a pair of touchdown passes which has already brought jeers and angst in Philadelphia.
DeMarco Murray
When Murray led the National Football League in rushing last season as a member of the Cowboys, he played behind one of the best offensive lines in football. And like Bradford, Murray has had durability issues as well being that 2014 was the only year in which he made all 16 regular season starts. In Dallas, Murray also had the luxury of playing with Pro Bowl caliber talent at the skill positions in quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten, and wide receiver Dez Bryant. Now with the Eagles, Murray is just another guy that Kelly will look to fit into his system instead of him adjusting his system to his personnel. Murray is not a running back that will benefit from the spread offense, but at the same time he knew what he was getting into when he sought out the payday that the Eagles were offering him. And to make matters worse for Murray and the Eagles, he is currently nursing a hamstring injury.
Since Kelly came to Philadelphia, he has gone with an undersized defense that is predicated on speed. The Eagles currently only have five defensive players that tip the scales at 300 lbs. or higher. The lighter defense hasn’t helped the Eagles as they are currently 23rd in total defense in the National Football League while being 29th in 2013, and 28th in 2014 which isn’t going to get it done in the professional ranks. And as the season progresses, the Eagles defense tends to wear down due to the fact that they are giving up size; especially in their front seven.
When the Eagles won the NFC East in 2013, Kelly was the talk of the National Football League as he and Lurie appeared to be geniuses. But a head coach in the NFL cannot solely rely on his system as it is also about the players there as well. When Kelly was hired, the Eagles were riding the trend of NFL teams hiring college head coaches after seeing the success of Pete Carroll with the Seattle Seahawks and Jim Harbaugh who was formerly of the San Francisco 49ers. But unlike Carroll who had previously coached in the NFL with the New York Jets and New England Patriots, and Harbaugh who had played in the league as a quarterback, Kelly didn’t have prior experience in the pro ranks which appears to be hurting Philadelphia. By the looks of things the NFC East will be weak this year and a record of 8-8 or 9-7 might win it. But even with that, the Eagles could be the odd team out in the race and if Kelly wants to have a long tenure in the NFL, it might be time to made some adjustments to his philosophy.
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