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It’s a mad, mad, mad, Chip Kelly world, but it also might be brilliant

By Andrew Garda

Dec 14, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly before the start of the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 14, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly before the start of the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly is either crazy or a genius. It’s a thin line between the two, which might be why Eagles fans are a bit nervous.

One week into free agency, and we’re all still trying to figure out what the Philadelphia Eagles are doing. Or really, what head coach/GM/Mad Genius Chip Kelly is doing because it’s all about Chip.

He traded LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills (per NJ.com). He traded Nick Foles, a 2015 fourth round pick and a 2016 second-round pick to the St. Louis Rams for Sam Bradford, as reported by NFL.com. He let Jeremy Maclin, Trent Cole, Todd Herremans, Nate Allen and Cary Williams go in free agency as well.

Meanwhile, Kelly added oft-injured running back Ryan Mathews, and up-until-last-season injured back DeMarco Murray, the aforementioned Bradford along with cornerbacks Walter Thurmond and Byron Maxwell.

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To most eyes, it doesn’t look like the Eagles are better right now. In point of fact, it looks a lot like this team has become more injury-prone and, bluntly, worse than it was before.

The problem is, we’ve never really seen anything quite like what Kelly is doing. Oh, we’ve seen coaches take on the general manager duties and blow teams up before, just not quite like this, not against expectations.

For example, you can see where he was going with Murray, who led the NFL with 1845 yards and a career-high 13 touchdowns. You add a back like Murray, you’re hoping you just got him at the start of something, not a freak year. But given how he played in 2014, you can tell yourself ‘yes, this was at least an even swap with LeSean McCoy.’

Where people get hung up is on contracts. McCoy was in the middle of a five-year, $45 million contract with three years left per Spotrac.com. Murray has now signed a brand new five-year, $40 million contract with $21 million guaranteed, again per Spotrac.com.

Sure, Murray is getting paid just $1 million this year, but he’s getting over $7 million the rest of the way. McCoy was getting paid $9.75 this season, but it went down to $6.9 million in 2016 and then finished at $7.6 million in 2017.

Here’s where Kelly and the Eagles were genius though—$18 million of Murray’s Dead Cap Space hits this year, with $13 million due next year. And then it drops to $5 million and falls further from there. McCoy had a $20 million cap hit in 2015, which became $18.5 and $13.5 the next two years and then you were negotiating with him again just as he hit 30.

The deal is a very good one for both parties, but especially the Eagles who are gambling that Murray will be good enough to have around in three years. McCoy, on the other hand, struggled badly in 2014, even after the offensive line played better.

That cap money will help continue to sign players as time goes on. And having Mathews in the house on a cheap deal allows them to protect themselves from Murray’s pre-2014 injury history as well.

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What about Bradford you ask? Hasn’t he been the walking wounded for pretty much his career?

Sure, there is a huge risk there and I am far from Bradford’s biggest advocate. However, he has experience in a similar offense to what Kelly runs from his Oklahoma days and this could be a good spot for him to regain his composure and reboot his career.

And let’s face it—Nick Foles was never who people wanted him to be in that one, flukey season where he almost went the season without an interception. As much as I am not a ‘Bradford Boy’ and am really not a ‘Foles Flunky’ in any respect. I hope he does well in St. Louis but I don’t expect much.

What rankles people with this deal are the extra picks the Eagles thrown in. You’re telling me you acquired a quarterback with multiple ACL surgeries in return for Nick Foles and you had to pay extra picks to get him?

I really don’t have an explanation for that, save that Kelly really loves Bradford. Maybe he is sure someone will flip a first for Bradford (NJ.com and many other outlets have reported Kelly said they had someone already offer a first rounder for Bradford) and that will get him Marcus Mariota.

Kelly has said that he ‘won’t mortgage the future’ (per ESPN) for Mariota and sources have said to me that the team has taken great pains to explain how expensive the move would be, which is what led Kelly to make his statement.

However, if he could flip Bradford to one of the top five teams, it would go a long way towards getting Mariota. Certainly there remains an awful lot of smoke for there to be no fire.

So that could be the purpose in moving picks now—to acquire a player they could potentially get more value for during the 2015 NFL Draft.

See, there are machinations here that we are not aware of and Kelly seems adept in keeping the media guessing. We think we know what we’re seeing but we don’t, we can’t because this Eagles team is better at hiding its secrets.

Certainly, Kelly is not above reproach. Losing DeSean Jackson hurt more than the team expected it to, though everyone else seemed to know immediately that the team would suffer. Watching Maclin leave is scary in that same vein, because right now the Eagles’ number one receiver is Riley Cooper, a role he is not well-suited for and the receiver free agents consist of Michael Crabtree, Dwayne Bows and Greg Jennings.

That’s an area of concern for sure, as the Eagles need sure-handed receivers to make this offense run, though the two backs they have might carry the ball a lot more than expected.

One thing about Kelly is—and you have to respect this—he’s all in. He has his vision, whatever it is, and he is totally behind it, no hesitation. That was a factor in the departure of McCoy and several others. Kelly is looking for guys who buy into his vision as well. If you don’t, pack your bags.

It’s Kelly’s way or the highway.

It’s an all-in way to go about things and it is risky because if this implodes, it will happen quickly. I’ve seen Eagles fans and pundits say that Kelly will either win the Super Bowl in a few years or be gone.

That may seem frightening to fans but in reality you should applaud it. Because you’ll know very soon whether Kelly is a genius or insane and if his vision implodes, you will not waste five or ten years waiting for the vision to reveal itself, but know early on if this works and move on if it doesn’t.

If you’re an Eagles fan, we hear your pain, but we want you to step backwards, far back from the ledge—no, further back—and take a deep breath.

Maybe Kelly is a genius. Maybe he’s insane. Maybe he’s both.

Let’s wait until we see the team on the field before we meltdown and chase him with pitchforks and torches.

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