Chip Kelly's Philadelphia Eagles Still Building on Andy Reid's Foundation

Finally, heading into his third season as head coach, the Philadelphia Eagles are truly a team built in Chip Kelly's vision. After wresting control of personnel decisions away from Howie Roseman, Kelly overhauled the roster in a way that's seldom seen in the NFL, with as many as 12 new starters projected on offense and defense.

In particular, what do Nick Foles, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and Evan Mathis all have in common? All came to the Eagles under the regime of Roseman and former head coach Andy Reid. All were Pro Bowl players. And all were sent packing this offseason.

Offense		Defense
Nick Foles	Traded	Trent Cole	Released
LeSean McCoy	Traded	Nate Allen	Free Agent
Jeremy Maclin	Free Agent
Evan Mathis	Released
Todd Herremans	Released

The gutting of Reid's former players from the roster has become as much a part of the narrative as the changes themselves. Despite winning 10 games each of the past two seasons with the previous head coach's talent, it's clear Chip wants his guys who fit his schemes and culture.

Yet in the process, Kelly has adopted many of Reid's guys as his own, despite the running theme that he is jettisoning anybody and everybody with ties to the old guard. Quite the contrary, Kelly has done quite a bit of building upon the foundation that was left behind, specifically with regard to six starters—not a small number when you consider the ages of some of these athletes.

On offense, Jason Peters, Jason Kelce and Brent Celek still play prominent roles. On defense, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and DeMeco Ryans are considered key contributors. All six arrived before Kelly, and all six have become favorites of a coach who has proved to be extremely fickle.

In fact, not only have those six survived the massive renovations, but all except Celek have also received contract extensions since Kelly has been in Philadelphia.

That's not a slight against Celek, who still has two years remaining on his current deal at a comfortable wage ($4.9 million annual average). Kelly has often suggested the second-longest-tenured Eagle, taken in the 2007 draft, is perhaps the best blocking tight end in the league—praise that's only been one-upped by the insistence that Celek embodies what it means to be a member of this team.

"When you talk about what a Philadelphia Eagle looks like," Kelly told Zach Berman for the Philadelphia Inquirer back in October, "Brent Celek is what a Philadelphia Eagle looks like."

Meanwhile, it isn't difficult to see why Kelly has taken such a liking to Peters and Kelce, two more holdovers from the Reid era. Peters, in particular, is a seven-time Pro Bowler at left tackle and strong candidate for the Hall of Fame when his playing days are over. Acquired from the Buffalo Bills for a first-round pick in 2009, he truly is a rare talent, something Kelly made a note of when Peters signed his four-year extension last offseason.

"There aren't many people cut from the same cloth as Jason Peters," said Kelly via Bo Wulf of PhiladelphiaEagles.com. "Having him at left tackle provides a lot of comfort to our quarterback and to our entire offense. He's a guy that many players look up to in our locker room."

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Kelce has developed into a fine center himself, receiving an invitation to his first Pro Bowl in 2014. He's also been one of Kelly's staunchest advocates ever since the coach's arrival. Nobody on the roster has been more outspoken about buying into the culture in Philadelphia than the 2011 sixth-round pick.

"We do things a different way than most NFL teams do them," Kelce told Reuben Frank of CSN Philly at minicamp. "He has a clear, direct vision. A clear, direct idea of what he wants to get done.

"Obviously, we all have a tremendous amount of trust in what Chip is doing and the way this organization is headed."

Of course, keeping and rewarding selfless stars like Peters and Kelce are relatively easy decisions. Kelly had a much harder decision to make with Ryans this offseason.

	Acquired	Age	Years w/ PHI	Signed Through
TE B. Celek	Draft	30	9	2016
LT J. Peters	Trade	33	6	2018
C J. Kelce	Draft	27	5	2021
DE F. Cox	Draft	24	4	2016
OLB B. Graham	Draft	27	6	2018
ILB D. Ryans	Trade	31	4	2016

Ryans is coming off his second Achilles injury in five seasons. He turns 31 this summer. He's a questionable fit as an every-down linebacker in a 3-4 defense to begin with. And he was set to earn nearly $7 million in salary. So what did Kelly do? He extended Ryans' contract, lessening the cap hit in '15 and ensuring one of the team leaders would stay.

Why? Kelly claimed his defense "needs" the declining interior linebacker, who arrived in a trade with the Houston Texans in 2012.

"We need DeMeco; I'm a big DeMeco fan," Kelly insisted to Frank. "As a group, he really sets the tone for everybody on the defense side of the ball."

While Ryans has always been a favorite of Kelly, who gave him the nickname "Mufasa," Graham's climb has been much more difficult. His career under the new coach began the same way it had gone under Reid—on the bench. Finally, the 2010 first-round pick reached free agency this offseason and was given the opportunity to bolt.

Yet in a surprising development, Graham re-signed and will now start at outside linebacker this season. What's more surprising is how much he bought in despite spending those first two seasons on the bench.

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

"I know there's some crazy things going on, but I trust him," Graham said to Matt Lombardo of NJ.com. "When Chip first came in, we first talked about establishing trust. I feel like the past two years we've been winning 10 games and he gained my trust. What he's doing now, people might question, but I really feel like he's doing what he thinks is best for the team."

Finally, there's Cox, the lone member of a strong 2012 draft class to receive any type of extension from the Eagles. Technically, all the team did was exercise his option for 2016, but that's more that can be said for Foles, Mychal Kendricks, Vinny Curry and Brandon Boykin, all of whom were solid contributors.

Of course, another year for Cox wasn't a big deal. After all, Kelly gushed last year that the defensive end and first-round pick was probably the club's most valuable player in '14.

"I think he's been our top player. He's been really unblockable at times. I think he's a very disruptive force," Kelly said via PhiladelphiaEagles.com. "I know he may be our most valuable player overall to be honest with you."

Cox, like Graham and Ryans, was brought in under the watch of Reid and Roseman. Yet now all three are considered core members of an improving defense.

Despite the appearance that Kelly is ridding himself of the past regime's players, he's actually taken a sizable handful under his wing. Yes, Kelly is out there handpicking his own guys, too, but he certainly isn't getting rid of players simply based on who acquired them.