Eagles All-In on Chip Kelly; Pressure Now at All-Time High for Head Coach

The underlying message of the Philadelphia Eagles changes to their front office structure seems relatively clear: the team is all-in on Chip Kelly, giving him total control over player personnel.

Howie Roseman remained with the organization, earning a promotion in title (from General Manager to Executive Vice President of Football Operations) but demotion in responsibility, which on the surface seems to be contract negotiations and salary cap management.

The restructuring appears to be a continuation of a front office power struggle, as the firing of Tom Gamble, former Vice President of Player Personnel, earlier this week apparently was not well received by Kelly, according Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com.

Moreover, there was rampant speculation that Kelly would leave the Eagles “sooner rather than later” as a result, wrote Shorr-Parks. Kelly and Gamble were described as good friends in multiple media reports, and whether Kelly was using the firing as leverage for increased control is not known yet he seems to be the clear winner following these structural changes.      

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So Kelly, with two years of NFL coaching experience and no playoff wins to his credit, now has equal control over his franchise as coaches such as Jeff Fisher (Rams), Lovie Smith (Buccaneers) and Bill Belichick (Patriots), and more than coaches like Pete Carroll (Seahawks), Sean Payton (Saints) and Bill O’Brien (Texans).

Curiously, after Andy Reid—who, with the Eagles, had as much control as any head coach in the league—was fired following the 2012 season, an NFC executive told NFL Network’s Albert Breer the Eagles had hit the reset button but Roseman and Kelly would likely be on the same page.

Eagles fans seem to be split over the final decision, though most acknowledge it was necessary if the alternative involved losing him to another NFL team. The takeaway here is the increase in power results in an increase in job security, with no motivation to jump ship to go elsewhere.

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Kelly is clearly a good head coach, reaching 10 wins in each of his first two seasons there, but now the pressure—to get back to, and win in, the playoffs—is really on. If he does well, he deserves the credit for assembling the roster of players it took to do so. And if it goes poorly, he won’t be able to point fingers at anyone else, having no one to blame but himself.

In the event of the latter, Kelly can no longer deflect the blame elsewhere. Up until now, player personnel had been part of Roseman’s job description. So the pressure to win now falls squarely on Kelly’s shoulders, as the one making the decisions and the one who will feel the heat if the team fails to live up to expectations.

So Kelly has proven he’s the real deal as a head coach in the NFL, but is he also the real deal as a talent evaluator? It will take a while to reach that conclusion and to see exactly what he is able to accomplish with control over personnel.

The Eagles’ 2014 draft seems to have Kelly’s fingerprints all over it—aside from first-rounder Marcus Smith, who was on the field for all of 68 defensive snaps this season—selecting wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a pair of Oregon players. Aside from Matthews, the early results on that draft have not been promising despite it being touted as the best draft class in years.

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So did Roseman have a say on the first round selection and defer to Kelly the rest of the way?

The Eagles made several other surprising moves last offseason, from the decision to cut DeSean Jackson and the contract extension given to Riley Cooper. What we do not know is how much those moves fall on Roseman’s shoulders or how much they were influenced by Kelly.

And cherry-picking aside, Roseman’s body of work with the Eagles was that of a good general manager, but he now concedes that power to Kelly to handpick his players. So the Eagles will live and die by his decisions—the roster being assembled the way he wants it.

Warren McCarty of the National Football Post analyzed whether NFL coaches should be granted full control of player personnel, cautioning against it aside from a few notable exceptions: “First round draft picks, free agent acquisitions, and trades should all have multiple eyes (Owner, GM, Personnel Director, Head Coach) and a system of checks and balances to ensure that the best decisions are made...We should consider the history of that (complete control) arrangement in the NFL. It generally doesn’t end well.”

It remains to be seen how the situation will play out for the Eagles, though every move they make will be scrutinized with great interest. Now Kelly needs to defy those odds and get his team over the hump and assemble a Super Bowl roster.

It’s up to him to go out there and do it. Because if he fails, he's the one who will be held accountable, and he won't be able to blame anyone but himself.