Five potential new jobs for Chip Kelly

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The San Francisco 49ers are likely to fire head coach Chip Kelly at the end of the year. Here are five teams that could make sense for Kelly going forward.

The Chip Kelly era of San Francisco 49ers football might be only a one-year thing. According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the 49ers “are expected to fire HC Chip Kelly and GM Trent Baalke.”

Should 49ers owner Jed York fire Kelly, that would mean that the 49ers would have their fourth head coach in four seasons. York and Baalke ran Jim Harbaugh out of town in 2014. He immediately found work leading his alma mater at the University of Michigan. The 49ers promoted defensive line coach Jim Tomsula in 2015 and he was grossly not qualified for the job.

If Kelly is on his way out of the Bay Area, here are five potential head coaching jobs Kelly could have either in 2017 or 2018.

Dec 18, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles (5) looks up after a play during the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

52. . AFC. South. Jacksonville Jaguars. 5. player

The Jacksonville Jaguars fired former head coach Gus Bradley after Week 15’s loss to the division rival Houston Texans. Bradley was a nice guy but won only 14 games as an NFL head coach in almost four seasons in North Florida.

Jacksonville is retaining general manager David Caldwell and owner Shahid Khan wants to get this hire right. The Jaguars need an offensive-minded head coach to get franchise quarterback Blake Bortles back on track. Bortles regressed catastrophically in his third season out of Central Florida. He could be benched as early as September 2017 if he doesn’t get his mechanics under control.

Kelly does fit the build of an offensive-first football coach. He really doesn’t care about defense, but will need to bring a solid defensive coordinator with him to North Florida should he even get offered the Jacksonville job.

The Jaguars have been utterly toothless for a decade. Frankly, so has Kelly’s NFL offense the last two years split between the 2016 49ers and the 2015 Philadelphia Eagles. Odds are that Jacksonville won’t hire Kelly, but he could blow them away with one magnificent interview. He’ll get an interview with the Jaguars simply out of respect. Not sure he’s the best fit here, but let Khan and Caldwell be the judge of that.