The Philadelphia Eagles and their fans may hate the ground that Chip Kelly walks on but without his roster tear down the team would not be 3-0, nor would they have Carson Wentz.
They can go into denial all they want and come out with a list of what if’s and try to find other scenarios but the truth is the Eagles owe their hot start to the man they ran out of town last season. In all honesty, he had no idea what he was doing. Kelly came in with his own agenda and wanted to blow up the team others created to mirror what he had in College.
To say he failed in Philadelphia would be an understatement if you’re looking from a win/loss viewpoint. But, with what Kelly did, from a player standpoint, you must dig a little deeper.
It started with the Nick Foles for Sam Bradford deal. Then it moved to the big pieces that turned into smaller pieces that formed a puzzle no one saw coming until Week 1 of the 2016-17 season. After Kelly put the do not want sign on Jackson he then turned his attention to All-Pro RB, LeSean McCoy. Kelly traded McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for LB, Kiko Alonzo. Kelly also tried to upgrade their secondary with former-Legion of Boom player, Byron Maxwell.
But here’s where Eagles fans began to want the head of Kelly, until this year. The team signed ex-Cowboys and NFL leading rusher DeMarco Murray, but his season was just as bad as Kelly’s last season. But in the end it may have been Foles that was the main link to Wentz. Here’s how.
After Kelly left, Howie Roseman was left to pick up the pieces of a shattered team. At first, it looked as if Roseman was in over his head as he made decisions that looked and very well may have been personal. Roseman decided to pull the trigger on a trade that would send Alonzo and Maxwell to the Dolphins for the No.8 pick, then turned around and shipped Murray to the Tennessee Titans for a 4th round pick.
[embedit snippet=”2″]
Yes, it was a busy offseason for the Eagles but it was about to be worth the hassle come Draft Day. After the deal with the Titans and Dolphins, Roseman made one last deal that would put the Eagles in the 3-0 position they’re in now. Roseman made a call to the Cleveland Browns which resulted in a deal that would give the Eagles the No.2 pick for their 8th overall pick, a 3rd round draft choice, a 4th round draft choice, a 2017 1st round draft choice and a 2018 2nd round draft choice.
A bit confusing at first glance but let’s make it simple. It started with the Foles and Bradford trade where the Eagles got the 5th round pick they gave to the Dolphins along with Alonzo and Maxwell. Then they took that 8th overall selection they got from Miami, coupled with the 4th round pick from the Murray deal with Tennessee and shipped all of that to the Brown which resulted in Wentz.
There were no high draft picks they received for the Kelly’s tenure. This was Roseman being the best at what he does. He took all Kelly’s mistakes and turned them into the Eagles future. It was a gamble but it was one that needed to be taken. While the Eagles faithful may hate Kelly, they also must be thankful for the bad decisions he made. Without Kelly, there is no Wentz, and without Wentz, there’s no future.