Stephen A. Smith Floats out the Race Card to Explain Chip Kelly's Roster Moves

No one knows what the hell Chip Kelly is up to these days.

The only person who fully understands why the Philadelphia Eagles continue to ship off their greatest offensive assets for anything resembling a former Oregon Duck is Kelly, and even that's up for debate at this point.

Over the last seven days, the Eagles dealt away running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills and gave emerging star receiver Jeremy Maclin permission to parlay with the Kansas City Chiefs, per ESPN.com's Chris Mortensen. These are big moves, and CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora speculates Philadelphia's biggest are yet to come.

So naturally, experts are scrambling to find the rationale in it all—to pick out and explain the wheels of genius ostensibly turning behind that Cheshire gremlin smirk of Kelly's.

Some pin the moves on his obsession with collecting former Oregon players. Others think he's getting overly cute. The hottest opinion of all, however, comes from an old and reliable font of molten takery: ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

Appearing alongside Ryan Clark, Cari Champion and Skip Bayless on Monday's First Take, the pundit expressed concern over Kelly parting ways with dynamic playmakers while keeping Riley Cooper on the roster. 

Smith said that Kelly is continuing to make decisions that make "brothers" uncomfortable:

"

Chip Kelly makes decisions over the last couple of years that, dare I say, leave a few brothers feeling uncomfortable. ... I think that's fair to say. We're sitting there looking at some of the decisions that Chip Kelly makes, and I'm like, "What's up with that?" It's like you have to be his kind of guy, and I'm like, "Well, Riley Cooper is your kind of guy?" ... You got brothers walking the streets [of Philadelphia] going like this: "What's up with Chip? I don't understand."

"

This is one hot potato even for a king hell takesman like Smith, who's among the many to not understand Kelly's recent decisions but the first to publicly float the specter of race into these recent transactions.

UPDATE: March 9

On The Stephen A. Smith Show Monday afternoon, Smith addressed his remarks regarding Chip Kelly and his team management.

Smith says his words are being misconstrued and that he does not think the Eagles head coach made racially motivated roster moves:

"

A bunch of idiots in the world of Twitter and beyond saw me on First Take today speaking about Chip Kelly...and essentially are trying to create storylines and headlines accusing me of calling Chip Kelly a racist. Ladies and gentlemen, I did no such thing. But if you are uncomfortable with what I had to say...let me say this to you. I don't give a damn. ... What I said was, to be specific...was that I'm very uncomfortable with what I'm seeing from Chip Kelly...the reasons why I did not elaborate extensively...[was] because I don't know. What I said, however, was that I'm uncomfortable. And dammit, I'm not taking it back...there's plenty of black players on the Philadelphia Eagles...who the hell is saying something about black and white? Nobody was talking about that. What I'm talking about is the Chip Kelly culture. And how there's a certain type of individual that he apparently likes and doesn't like.

"

---End of Update---

Just when you think you were beginning to unravel the Gordian knot of Kelly's roster moves, Smith hits you with a take that changes the narrative without actually accusing anyone of anything.

We'll see how this plays out, but rest assured: The conversation over the Eagles' wild offseason just shifted.

Dan is on Twitter, warming his hands by the glow of the takes.