Peter King's take

[L.Freamon]

"1. Tennessee, with Marcus Mariota, was not in play for Kelly. I talked to someone with knowledge of the Titans’ thinking Tuesday night who said the team “absolutely” was not waiting for Kelly, and had not been actively discussing acquiring Kelly from the Eagles for a high draft choice. One reason: Marcus Mariota likes Kelly but is not dependent on him for NFL success. Now, that doesn't mean the Titans won't sniff around Kelly now that he is a free agent. But the Titans weren’t waiting for him to be free.

2. Owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted to reshape the front office, and Kelly didn't want to give up any personnel freedom. Lurie saw some of the wasted money and cap space and figured he had to do something about it. Kelly disagreed. That was the crux of the issue—Lurie wanted to change course with personnel, which makes sense, and Kelly did not.

3. Lurie wanted to do this now, so he could be in play for some of the top coordinators who will be coaching candidates. Interesting what the source with Tennessee knowledge said to me: “If Lurie fires Chip now, obviously it means he wasn't going to be able to get something going with the Titans.” Right. And that's a big deal. Everyone will ask today, “Why didn't the Eagles try to get something from Tennessee if they knew they were dumping Kelly?” And they could have gotten something minor for Kelly—but would it have been worth the sideshow? No. With the Titans not in play for Kelly, Lurie simply had to do what he felt was best for his team, which started with firing Kelly and starting over with a full cadre of candidates for the job from around the NFL."

Jeffrey Lurie has been the poster boy for patience in the NFL. He kept an ill-equipped Ray Rhodes after a four-win season*, and he kept Andy Reid for 14 years, and Reid never won a Super Bowl. Lurie is a patient man. But he wasn't patient with Kelly. Lurie knew something. Something happened that was untenable, and Lurie acted.

*we were actually 6-9-1 that year

Chip Kelly firing is missed opportunity for Philadelphia Eagles | The MMQB with Peter King

 

[Iggloo]

Good takes.

 

[Screamin Eagle]

Like I said, there was something behind closed doors that forced Lurie to act that and the fact that anyone who knew football knew Kelly was a colossal bust that would continue to denigrate the Eagles from the fan base and the players. Lurie wanted to get out in front of this disaster in order to let the players and the world know he was taking control in order to right the ship. He now has a good front row position for hiring the next guy while at the same time throwing Kelly under the bus which is what he deserved. Any time a HC is fired this close to the end of the season speaks volumes about discord and with $13M still owed it is screaming GET THE FK OUTTA HERE!!! Makes me smile.

 

[ctc]

Clearly king hasn't been watching the team on a regular basis. More like from afar with an old-fashioned telescope.

 

[L.Freamon]

That's what happens with national guys.

 

[deerpathdave]

More from Peter King. I thin he pretty much nails this one. We are really supposed to fire the coach because of a Christmas Party? Really?....


A year too soon
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, on coach Chip Kelly, on Sept. 11: “He's an excellent coach in this league, and there’s no question about it. He doesn’t need to prove anything. He’s a builder of a roster, a culture-builder. He’s everything that we all thought when we all interviewed him and more … I watch him relate to players. His door is always open. I’ve never even seen that before. He cares about the people, the players. I am just very proud and have complete respect for him as a person and as a coach.”

Lurie, on firing Kelly, on Dec. 30: “It was a clear and important decision that had to be made … This was a three-year evaluation of where we are heading, what is the trajectory, what is the progress or lack thereof and what did I anticipate for the foreseeable future … The end result was mediocrity.”

That first quote was Sept. 11, 2015. Sixteen weeks ago. In those four months, Kelly must have installed a dungeon in the Eagles’ NovaCare training complex in South Philly.

Three years ago today, Lurie and the Eagles management team fell in love with Kelly. Do you remember how hard the Eagles worked to get him? Lurie and his team spent nine hours with Kelly the day after Oregon’s Fiesta Bowl rout of Kansas State. Oregon was the second-ranked team in the country, and Kelly was the rising star. But Kelly didn’t take the Philly job, nor did he take the Cleveland job after a seven-hour interview with the Browns. Instead, Kelly went back to Oregon, said he was staying in college, and went back on the recruiting trail. It wasn’t until 10 days later that he began to waffle, and the Eagles, willing to let other candidates slip through their grasp, decided to wait until Kelly told them no again. At the opening press conference, Lurie talked about Kelly as if he was a combination of Bills—Walsh and Belichick. He was a coach ahead of his time.

And so last Tuesday—48 games into the Kelly Era, 23 days after Kelly and the Eagles went to Foxboro and shocked the world-champion Patriots (and the world) with a 35-28 win—Lurie fired Kelly.

I’ve heard there were three key reasons why he did so: the downward trajectory of the team in 2015 (duh), the lousy personnel moves, and how Kelly buried Lurie favorite son Howie Roseman, removing him from any football authority after last season. (To a lesser degree, Lurie disliked that there wasn’t harmony in the building. He likes harmony. There are huge posters of Mother Teresa, Dr. Jonas Salk and Martin Luther King Jr., in the lobby; Lurie likes to remind players and visitors that there’s another world out there, and that employees need to be good and harmonious people too. But the fact that the building was disconnected from Kelly wasn’t a big reason for the firing.)

Three interesting things I can confirm. One: Kelly had no idea this was coming. He was shocked. He figured the organization would rally at the end of the season and make a plan for 2016 that he hoped would include signing quarterback Sam Bradford long-term. Two: Lurie never offered him a chance to stay if he ceded personnel control. Lurie wanted Kelly out. Now. Three: Bradford won’t be motivated to return to Philadelphia over any other team now that free agency looms. His agent, Tom Condon, is a get-the-most-you-can-regardless-of-team guy, and Bradford isn’t crazy about Philadelphia the city anyway. He probably wishes there was a team in his favorite place, Oklahoma City. And who’s to say the next coach—current offensive coordinators Adam Gase of Chicago and Doug Pederson of Kansas City are popular early names—will want Bradford at $18 million a year or more?

I get the personnel thing. It’s valid. Kelly went 10-6 in each of his first two seasons while running off some of his team’s best players (some because of the cap, some because they wouldn’t get in line with The Kelly Way), and this year he went all in on a cadre of new guys—quarterback Sam Bradford, running back DeMarco Murray, cornerback Byron Maxwell and middle linebacker Kiko Alonso. Bradford has been a C player. The other moves have been disastrous. Kelly as personnel czar had an awful year. There were other problems, namely rebellion. All-Pro tackle Jason Peters left last week’s game against Washington, and there were reports that Peters physically could have played but chose not to because of the lost Eagles season. Not good. None of it good.

For 14 years, Lurie stuck with Andy Reid, and the Eagles went to one Super Bowl and won none. Lurie went all-in before the 13th year, when the Eagles spent a jillion dollars in the Nnamdi Asomugha/Dream Team free-agency season, and the season was an unmitigated disaster at 8-8. Lurie kept the faith. Reid stayed. Then Reid went 4-12 and got fired. Lurie once had Steelers-like patience. Now? Less than four months after talking about Kelly like he was a young Paul Brown, saying he’s a “culture-builder” and an “excellent coach” whose “door is always open” and he is “everything we all thought when we interviewed him and more,” Kelly is a culture-wrecker, a bad coach, a poor communicator and showed sides they never saw in the interview. Interesting how none of those things surfaced in his first 31 months on the job. Only in his last four.

Owning an NFL franchise is tough when the team’s losing. It’s a cauldron of hate in Philadelphia when the Eagles are down. It’s tough to get slapped in the face, day after day, by fan and media anger with a disappointing team. But this move is so 2016 NFL. So precipitous. So impatient. So unlike the 2010 Lurie. He succumbed to pitchforks instead of ignoring them. Even the trigger-happy Art Modell kept Bill Belichick (20-28 in his first three years) after Belichick fired the beloved Bernie Kosar in year three. And Kelly (26-21) gets fired?

I can see Lurie this season questioning, deep down, the Kelly hire. I can see him quietly telling his close friends, Maybe I made a mistake. But there should have been someone in the building or in his life to tell him to buck up, go one more year with a man in whom he’d invested so much. There’s no guarantee it would have worked and that Kelly would have won. But firing a coach with a different philosophy struggling with a different program but beating the Super Bowl champion on the road during that struggle? I don’t like it. I just think it’s wrong.

* * *

 

[old duke]

From what we've heard, Kelly wouldn't have stayed on without personnel control.

 

[deerpathdave]

From what we've heard, Kelly wouldn't have stayed on without personnel control.

Its been reported that that option didn't even come up in conversation. Lurie had decided to fire the guy and didn't have any you can stay if as part of the conversation.

 

[mrwallace2ku]

Eaglets still owe Kelly 12 mil?


wow

 

[DutchBird]

Usually King comes up with a lot of valid points, but - based on what has been coming out, including the way the players played yesterday and various (post-game) comments, he is pretty much wrong.

 

[deerpathdave]

Usually King comes up with a lot of valid points, but - based on what has been coming out, including the way the players played yesterday and various (post-game) comments, he is pretty much wrong.

How do you explain the difference between Lurie's comments on Sept 11 and Dec 30 AFTER working with Kelly for over two years? Frankly Lurie seems all ffed up here to me. Its hard to believe that Kelly suddenly had a personality transplant. More likely that he just pissed off Lurie.

 

[L.Freamon]

I like Peter King, but he's national, and i don't know who his reliable local source is. In that regard, i've yet to see him "scoop" anyone local here. I think the thing King got most accurately was how much Lurie had grown to dislike Chip. But as i told you, you could pick that up in Lurie's presser last week.

I'll go with the people closest to the team, including the players. The fact that Chip couldn't sense this was coming and the subsequent celebration by the players at his departure speaks volumes. Now Chip is out begging teams for an interview (SF and TN) and nobody is biting. He hasn't learned a damn thing abou why he was fired in the last 6 days and teams see that. Belechick took 4-5 years to regroup and improve his coaching. Chip would be wise to take at least 1/2 that.

 

[L.Freamon]

How do you explain the difference between Lurie's comments on Sept 11 and Dec 30 AFTER working with Kelly for over two years? Frankly Lurie seems all ffed up here to me. Its hard to believe that Kelly suddenly had a personality transplant. More likely that he just pissed off Lurie.

Because Kelly was a dick to everyone in the organization. We already told you that in the other thread! This is exactly why i rip you so frequently:
1)A poster posts up solid information
2) dpd doesn't like it.
3) dpd ignores it and tries to discredit it
4) dpd scours the net trying to find information he does like. It loosely makes sense but ultimately falls apart upon further examination
5) dpd posts that shit anyway
6) dpd gets ripped/placed on ignore for posting dumb shit and not paying attention to #1

wash. rinse. repeat

 

[deerpathdave]

Because Kelly was a dick to everyone in the organization. We already told you that in the other thread! This is exactly why i rip you so frequently:
1)A poster posts up solid information
2) dpd doesn't like it.
3) dpd ignores it and tries to discredit it
4) dpd scours the net trying to find information he does like. It loosely makes sense but ultimately falls apart upon further examination
5) dpd posts that shit anyway
6) dpd gets ripped/placed on ignore for posting dumb shit and not paying attention to #1

wash. rinse. repeat

lol. It actually goes more like this....

1) dpd posts up solid information
2) Freamon doesn't like it.
3) Freamon tries to discredit it
5) After miserably failing to make sense, Freamon commences an attack on dpd.

 

[L.Freamon]

lol. It actually goes more like this....

1) dpd posts up solid information
2) Freamon doesn't like it.
3) Freamon tries to discredit it
5) After miserably failing to make sense, Freamon commences an attack on dpd.

dude, you make it so easy to pick on you. You can't even count. Stop it!

 

[WIZ]

I've heard from several people that Kelly was hated inside the complex by nearly everyone. Janitors on up stuff. That said I think Lurie canned him a year too early. Now the billionaire has a huge risk in nailing the next hire while New York and Andrew Luck are looking for leaders at the same time. This could seriously backfire.

 

[PhillyGreen]

I've heard from several people that Kelly was hated inside the complex by nearly everyone. Janitors on up stuff. That said I think Lurie canned him a year too early. Now the billionaire has a huge risk in nailing the next hire while New York and Andrew Luck are looking for leaders at the same time. This could seriously backfire.

I would have agreed with you if not for what happened against the Redskins. I just can't see any reason to justify giving CK one more year.

 

[L.Freamon]

How do you explain the difference between Lurie's comments on Sept 11 and Dec 30 AFTER working with Kelly for over two years? Frankly Lurie seems all ffed up here to me. Its hard to believe that Kelly suddenly had a personality transplant. More likely that he just pissed off Lurie.

NFL owners think Chip Kelly is begging for a job

"In talking to two NFL owners over the weekend, the impression that they gave is they were simply not that impressed with former Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly and the work that he did. It was not so much the X’s and O’s part, those owners talked about, it is the executive function Kelly seemed to lack.

And one of the things that they came away with was that the statement from Kelly last week, where he talked about how much he loved his players, was a clear indication of how he didn’t understand it. It came off as basically Kelly having to beg for a job to tell owners ‘Oh, I really do know how to handle this.’

In other words, what they see is a coach who does not know how to relate to players at the professional level, does not understand how to motivate players at the professional level, and ultimately might be a better fit back at the college ranks.

So right now Chip Kelly is in some dire straits if he really does intend to stay at the NFL.”

Pfft. What do i know?

 

[deerpathdave]

NFL owners think Chip Kelly is begging for a job

"In talking to two NFL owners over the weekend, the impression that they gave is they were simply not that impressed with former Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly and the work that he did. It was not so much the X’s and O’s part, those owners talked about, it is the executive function Kelly seemed to lack.

And one of the things that they came away with was that the statement from Kelly last week, where he talked about how much he loved his players, was a clear indication of how he didn’t understand it. It came off as basically Kelly having to beg for a job to tell owners ‘Oh, I really do know how to handle this.’

In other words, what they see is a coach who does not know how to relate to players at the professional level, does not understand how to motivate players at the professional level, and ultimately might be a better fit back at the college ranks.

So right now Chip Kelly is in some dire straits if he really does intend to stay at the NFL.”

Pfft. What do i know?

Its rumor time in the NFL and for every article you find like that, there is another with the opposite story....

Report: Giants among teams interested in Chip Kelly

Neither article has any merit at this point.

 

[L.Freamon]

Its rumor time in the NFL and for every article you find like that, there is another with the opposite story....

Report: Giants among teams interested in Chip Kelly

Neither article has any merit at this point.

Chips agent put out the giants story. They aren't interested. Neither is anyone else.