Chip Kelly was fired by the Philadelphia Eagles in shocking fashion and there have been many around the league that were surprised as well. Count New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick as one of the coaches that are surprised and disappointed with the news that Kelly was fired.
During a recent interview, Belichick said that he was disappointed that Kelly was fired by the Eagles.
“I mean Chip Kelly to me is a really good football coach,” Belichick said. “I think he does a great job. I think he’s done a good job with that team. It’s disappointing to see. Or Josh [McDaniels] in Denver — there are a lot of examples, but pretty much everybody is on a one-year contract in this league. I don’t know how you build a program in one year. Chip is a great coach. He’ll end up somewhere and he’ll do a great job there. I’d say a lot of the players that were on the Eagles that are no longer on the Eagles aren’t really doing too much for anybody else, either.”
Those are glowing comments from a coach that many believe is the best in the league. Belichick obviously believes that Kelly has a future at the NFL level if he wants it.
It seemed that the beginning of the end was the roster overhaul that the Eagles underwent this past offseason. Fans didn’t like it and the moves didn’t end up working out either. None of that is necessarily Kelly’s fault, but the coach is usually the first one to be blamed for a teams poor play.
There is no question that Kelly will find another head coaching job soon. Rumors are already flying around about other teams in the NFL that could have room for a new head coach this coming offseason.
Perhaps bringing him on board as just a coach and not a GM would be smart for the time being, but Kelly certainly can succeed at the NFL level.
