Getty Image / Mitchell Leff
Hopes were high for the Philadelphia Eagles when they brought Chip Kelly in to be their head coach back in 2013.
The team had struggled the season before, going 4-12 in Andy Reid’s last season in charge, but Chip Kelly was one of the hottest names in coaching.
He was coming off of 4 extremely successful seasons with the Oregon Ducks that saw them appear in 3 New Year’s 6 Bowl Games, winning 2 of them, and appear in the national title game once.
Kelly lived up to the hype early on in the NFL. The Eagles won 10 games in his first season in charge despite an injury that cost Mike Vick most of the season thanks to the best season of Nick Foles’ career.
He followed it up with another 10 wins in year 2, but those 10 wins weren’t enough to make the playoffs the second time around.
Then things fell apart in year 3. The team started the year 6-9 and Kelly was fired before the last game of the season.
The quick decline came as a result of some questionable moves Kelly made during the offseason.
The Philadelphia Eagles let DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, their two best receivers, leave in free agency in back to back offseasons. They also traded star running back LeSean McCoy and let Vick leave in free agency.
Jackson recently discussed those Eagles teams and revealed that he doesn’t respect Chip Kelly.
DeSean Jackson: “I don’t respect Chip Kelly.”
DJAX says Chip Kelly broke up potential Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl team. pic.twitter.com/VcwnExHE7a
— DIE-HARD 🦅 Fans (@Eaglesfans9) June 30, 2023
“I don’t respect Chip Kelly. What he did, you can ask any Eagles fan ever, They’ll tell you the same thing,” Jackson said. “He dismantled our team. There’s no way you get rid of DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Mike Vick, Jeremy Maclin. We were Philadelphia.”
Chip Kelly’s NFL career definitely didn’t live up to the hype, but he has managed to land on his feet back at the college level.
He has coached UCLA for the last 5 years and has gotten them to bowl games each of the last 2 seasons.
It may not help change Jackson’s opinion of him, but it at least seems he has learned that letting all of your offensive talent leave over the course of a couple of years isn’t the best way to win.