The Prosecution of Chip Kelly

Chip Kelly, you are on trial for the murder of the Philadelphia Eagles!

Some damning evidence has been brought before the court that makes you out to be a pretty guilty man Mr. Kelly. Now, I am not the one to cast judgment onto you, instead that is the job of the Philadelphia faithful. I am here however, to closely investigate every piece of evidence and prove as to why you are guilty of this most heinous crime.

I give you exhibit A: The past three drafts.

Good teams are built through the draft. Good teams draft good players, while bad teams draft bad players. That is why the Patriots have won 10 games in 13 straight seasons and the Browns have gone through 20 starting quarterbacks since 1999.

So when a team begins to bottom out, a peak at recent draft history can often to shed some light onto the situation. When you look at the Eagle’s recent draft history you see that they have only drafted four starters over the past three years, and three of those players were Chip Kelly’s first three picks. The best teams manage to find the best players late in the draft, and while he did strike gold on Jordan Hicks, Chip really doesn’t have any late draft gems to his name. When Chip Kelly drafts its like Ryan Howard seeing an offspeed pitch, alotta swings and misses. Honestly, the name Marcus Smith is the only argument I really even need.

Also I hate Oregon players, Chip gets all the wrong ones. Oh sure by all means pass on Jake Fisher twice, but make sure you draft Taylor Hart as early as possible. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed to God thanking him for letting the Dolphins trade up before the Eagles to draft Dion Jordan so Chip couldn’t. Im scared to know where this team would be without Lane Johnson, comments and all.

Not only has Chip drafted poorly, but his draft strategy has been highly questionable. Lane Johnson was the first pick of the Chip Kelly era, a grand total of ZERO draft picks have been used on the Oline since then. Considering that, it’s no wonder the Eagle’s line is a mess. This past draft, Chip decides the Eagles need secondary help, so with three of the Eagles six picks he thinks it’d be best if they draft corners. DUDE! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! Spending half a draft on one position is stupid reckless, especially when you already addressed the position through free agency. If you think about it, the Eagles only really addressed the need at wide receiver in this entire draft. I don’t care how good your team is, no team can go through an entire draft, fill one need, and still expect to have a winning record. When you consider the slow starts to the careers of Nelson Agholor and Eric Rowe, this draft manages to look even worse. Im just thankful Chip took Hicks.

Now things didn’t have to be this bad. This team might of been able to manage with these players, but that brings me into my next piece of evidence.

Exhibit B: Chip Kelly is bad at developing players.

When a player comes into the NFL, he is a marble column for his coaching staff to chisel. More often than not, when a player shows major growth on the field it’s a compliment to his coaching staff. There haven’t been very many compliments for the Eagle’s coaching staff this season, just as their hasn’t been at very much growth on the field. Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor sum up this predicament perfectly. Both have been struggling mightily all season and drops have been a major reason as to why. While these two aren’t the only ones on the team succumb to the drops, they’re the ones most shocking to see drop the football. Drops weren’t ever a real issue for either of these players before this season and the fact that its only gotten worse as the season has worn on shows that Chip hasn’t done much to cure this problem. It’s the job of the coaching staff to fix what a player does poorly on the field and I don’t see much of that going on here.

There’s also the issue of snap count distribution. Chip Kelly’s bad at it. Last year, Marcus Smith played a total of 68 defensive snaps. This year he has played a total of 54 defensive snaps. There was a log jam at the linebacker position last year, but there’s no excuse for Marcus Smith not getting reps this season. I know he has been far from good, but the kid needs to at least touch the field some time, otherwise you’re just going to stunt his growth. It’s pretty hard for a player to develop when he’s riding the bench. The Eagles invested a first round pick in this player, they can’t just give up on a player they’ve barely seen anything of. Eric Rowe has also played just 112 snaps, while it’s an improvement on Smith’s number, it still shows Kelly isn’t playing his early draft picks.

Then there’s Josh Huff, I have no idea if Chip even likes this guy. On Sunday, Huff only caught one pass, took it 39 yards to the house, then kept the bench warm for Miles Austin the rest of the day.  Huff played 17 total snaps and most were played before the touchdown. Huff is the only wide receiver on this team that has shown any explosive ability and yet Chip rarely likes to go to him. He has the fewest amount of snaps among all Eagles wide receivers, I don’t think Huff got shredded and more explosive in the offseason to be out paced by Miles Austin.

Miles Austin brings me to my third point.

Exhibit C: Chip Kelly doesn’t know depth.

When the Eagles lost DeMeco Ryans last year, they had to fill the void with Emmanuel Acho and Casey Matthews. The DeMeco Ryans injury killed the Eagle’s season. It was a fate that could of easily been avoided, Telvin Smith went underrated and Brandon Spikes was available until the start of the season, but Chip thought Casey Matthews and Emmanuel Acho would be enough. We all know how wrong he was.

Going into this season, the Eagle’s need at guard was pretty obvious. But Chip figured we’d be better off rolling with the players we’ve already got, BECAUSE THERE’S NO REASON WHY THESE GUYS WERE BACK UPS IN THE FIRST PLACE OR ANYTHING. For depth, Chip signed an undrafted free agent and a guy who had’t played football in a year, he sure does love those. Neither made the final roster and the Eagles offensive line has been horrendous. Meanwhile, Richie Incognito has been one of the best guards in football for Buffalo after they signed him for next to nothing. It’s times like these that I really wish Chip didn’t exclusively go for the squeaky clean Sunday school student.

While a coach should care a great deal about a player’s character, that doesn’t mean he has turn his back on any player and ever player that has some type of history. Im not saying the Eagles missed out and should of signed Greg Hardy, Im saying Chip just shouldn’t pay as much attention to  that sort of thing because Richie Incognito would of looked great in hunter green. Chip caring less about a player’s character concerns is the difference between Miles Austin lining up on the outside and Michael Crabtree. It would probably also mean that DeSean would still be around so there wouldn’t be much need at WR, but Im getting way too deep into hypotheticals.

I could spend hours listing the names of players Chip Kelly should of gone after instead of the ones he got, but instead here is my final point.

Exhibit D: Andy Reid’s team was the good one.

Chip Kelly may have inherited a 4-12 roster, but it was a 4-12 roster two years removed from a playoff appearance. Chip Kelly’s roster has been talented since the day his pen hit the contract paper. Reid gifted Kelly with a young quarterback, one of the league’s best RBs, WRs, and offensive lines, although it had been heavily beaten up. He was given a foundation of talent most coaching candidate would dream of. And what did Chip do with this collection of talent? HE MURDER IT IN COLD BLOOD!

Sure Chip added a few little pieces here and there, like Lane Johnson and Connor Barwin, but for the most part Andy Reid’s team was what Chip Kelly unveiled in his grand debut on Monday night football. This team brought Kelly within three points of a playoff win. This was the team that Kelly found the most success with and as soon as the season was over, he immediately got to killing it.

It all started with DeSean, he was Kelly’s first victim. It was unnecessary and unjust for Chip to cut DeSean and the Eagles have been much worse in the long run because of it. Chip’s replacement for Desean has yet to come as the team is still looking for help on the outside. Malin filled in nicely, but as soon as he left the Eagles lack of skill at receiver was hard to miss. Not one receiver drafted by Chip Kelly has been anything close to DeSean or Maclin in their first two years. Jordan Matthews was promising, but as of right now, it looks like last year might of been the exception rather than the norm.

The trading of Shady McCoy made things even worse. Not only did the Eagles lose their most dangerous weapon, but they have been struggling to replace him, just as they are with Desean and Maclin. The Eagles lucked into DeMarco Murray, but he’s been on a one man crusade to prove all Cowboys fans right from this offseason. All that Murray has shown me this year, is that all his success belongs to the Cowboy’s offensive line. The interior of the Eagles line has been pretty bad, but Murray’s play sure isn’t doing anyone any favors. I think most coaches recognized this, which is why Murray was available for as long as he was, but like everyone knows, Chip Kelly isn’t most coaches.

Then there’s the Nick Foles trade, this alone is bad enough without taking all the other moves into consideration. Words cannot even begin to describe the ineptitude of Sam Bradford. He can’t move in the pocket, he can’t throw the deep ball, he can’t throw accurate passes, he can’t make good reads, HE CAN’T RUN CHIP KELLY’S OFFENSE. This is the player the Chip Kelly was convinced would be the Eagle’s franchise and future. In hiss defense though, I think by this point in his tenure as GM he was getting so high of the smell of his own farts that he couldn’t even think straight.

All of this just goes to show that Chip Kelly cannot identify talent. He has let players walk and has yet to replace them, he has made lopsided trades that have yet to reap any benefit, he has shown time and time again that he doesn’t know what to look for in a player.

Hey Chip, if you’re curious, everyone thought Eric Mangini was a genius too. He’s not.

The prosecution rests their case.