Chip Kelly took the college football world by storm once upon a time at Oregon with his uptempo spread offense. He then carried over some of that success to the NFL for his first couple seasons as Philadelphia Eagles head coach. Alas, an alienating/abrasive personality, an ill-advised power grab to have final say over all personnel/roster decisions, and decline in on-field results led to Kelly wearing out his welcome fast in Philly.
On the heels of a middling tenure at UCLA, Kelly is now the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, with the chance to perhaps weasel his way back into the NFL. If what retired Eagles stars DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy had to say about Kelly on their The 25/10 Show podcast has any influence, the market for Kelly outside of Columbus might be a little chilly.
While it’s possible that Kelly has evolved since getting fired by the Eagles back in 2015, followed by an awful 2-14 2016 campaign with the San Francisco 49ers, he doesn’t strike me as a guy who’s terribly self-aware, never mind self-critical. Whether Kelly continues on with this sort of jerk behavior or not, McCoy and Jackson were eager to sound off on just how bad things got when they played for him.
To kick things off in the first of multiple noteworthy segments, check out how Jackson describes his unceremonious departure in 2014 from the only NFL team he’d played for to that point in his career.
It’s wild that Jackson was cut right after the Eagles posted consecutive 10-win seasons on the basis of something that had nothing to do with his personal conduct, and turned out to be a big nothing burger.
Would the average outsider say Chip Kelly is racist based solely on that situation involving Jackson? Perhaps. Another former Eagle the The 25/10 Show spoke with, Roc Carmichael, had some even more damning testimony about his experience with Kelly.
If you don’t take anything that Jackson, McCoy or Carmichael say about Kelly at face value, how about several other respected veterans who chimed in? Stud left tackle Jason Peters, longtime cornerstone defensive end Brandon Graham, and dynamic wideout Jeremy Maclin had nothing kind to say about their ex-coach.
During a promo that mixes in some bits from the clips already featured herein, McCoy talks about how Kelly didn’t trade him to Buffalo for the betterment of the Eagles’ team, but rather, Kelly sent him there “to die.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen any players come out this hard, this publicly against a former coach of theirs in the history of sports. Has there ever been anything quite like this? I can’t recall.
Good thing Kelly is old chums with Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day. There’s no way he’ll be on the chopping block at Ohio State in spite of this embarrassing dress down. Kelly will have to follow Day wherever he goes as an assistant.
Given how much of a disaster he was as a de facto GM for the Eagles — Howie Roseman must’ve been coming out of his skull at the time — his horrendous one-year stint with the 49ers, and how hated he his by former NFL players, the best Kelly can likely do is an OC job beneath Day at the collegiate level. That, or a second-tier NCAA head coaching gig. Can’t imagine an NFL team letting Kelly into their building after this.
Cook that fraud, DJax and Shady!
