Chip Kelly’s high-wire act puts him in a very vulnerable spot
Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly is trying out something new in the NFL: winning by eliminating many of his best players from the roster.
Cutting unhappy guard Evan Mathis came out of the blue, though at least it might show some critics that Kelly isn’t racist. Kelly doesn’t seem to care about a player’s skin color, just if they’re entirely bought into what he’s selling. Or, cynically, he cares if he hand-picked each player, because his ego wouldn’t allow anyone to get the credit when he wins.
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Not everyone agrees with the Pro Football Focus grades and rankings, but here are Mathis’ rankings among all NFL guards the past four seasons: No. 1, No. 1, No. 1 and No. 2 in about half of a season. He’s aging (33 years old), he gets paid a lot ($5.5 million this year, $6 million in 2016), he probably is best finding a zone-based offense that suits his relatively undersized 298-pound frame, but he’s clearly one of the best guards in football. And Kelly cut him for the crime of wanting a better contract.
Although Mathis will get plenty of interest as a free agent, Kelly couldn’t find a team to swap him a draft pick for Mathis. Or, he simply didn’t have the patience to wait it out. Last year the Patriots got a fourth-round pick and young tight end Tim Wright (released this week) for guard Logan Mankins, a comparable player to Mathis. The Eagles got nothing for Mathis. The entire way it was handled seems foolish. The Eagles didn’t exactly seem prepared for this; Philly.com pointed out the Eagles are the only team in the NFL to not draft an offensive lineman in 2014 or 2015. Kelly seemingly just got frustrated and did it.
“We’re going to release you so you can see if you can get what you want,” Mathis said, recalling what Kelly told him, according to Philly.com.
When Kelly was hired, it was the most off-the-path hiring the NFL had made since Steve Spurrier to the Washington Redskins in 2002. The NFL is a conservative league, and it was unusual to hire a college coach who ran a very college-based offense. Kelly had no NFL experience and his best job as recently as 2006 was as New Hampshire’s offensive coordinator. The NFL doesn’t make hires like that. So everything Kelly does will be either a validation of a radical hire or a reminder to the NFL to never, ever try that again. And Kelly hasn’t spent a moment worrying about what the rest of the NFL thinks of him.
A lot of people want Kelly to fail, because again, the NFL is a conservative league and many who follow it are scared by change. Kelly somehow hasn’t gotten enough credit for how good he has been. He took over a four-win team and won the NFC East with 10 wins in 2013. Last season he won 10 games despite having to play with his backup quarterback more than half the season, which is a pretty good accomplishment. Those who say Kelly will be back in college soon ignore that.
But the personnel decisions by Kelly have put him in a vulnerable position. Either he wins big, and soon, or the entire NFL world will be calling for him to go back to coaching on Saturdays.
That’s what happens when you let your best talent leave. DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, Todd Herremans, Trent Cole, Cary Williams and now Mathis are among the players who were either allowed to leave, cut or traded. In almost all of those cases the Eagles got nothing back in return. They got linebacker Kiko Alonso for McCoy, but that trade was considered controversial. So was a trade of quarterback Nick Foles and a second-round pick to the Rams for oft-injured quarterback Sam Bradford. Many of those moves invite easy criticism. If the Eagles start backsliding, the criticism could be justified, too.
The old thought is that beating an opponent through scheme superiority might work in college but not in the NFL. The NFL is too good for that; you need talent on the roster. That’s not to say the Eagles have no talent. But it’s also hard to argue they have so much that they can let someone like Mathis, perhaps the best guard in football, go without any compensation. All because he was unhappy with his contract. It’s not rare for an NFL player to be unhappy with his contract. But you don’t act upon that unhappiness in Kelly’s world.
It was and still is a fascinating experiment in Philadelphia, the college coach doing things in a way that defies how the NFL usually operates. Things like schemes and an innovative sports science program appear to mean more to Kelly than talented players, especially if those talented players haven’t completely bought into the program. And Kelly has been relatively successful through two years. But the way he’s operating, his plan better work. And soon.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
