Are Chip Kelly's personnel changes at Philadelphia Eagles Boom or Bust?

At the end of the 2012-2013 season, the Philadelphia Eagles fired longtime coach Andy Reid after his team won a paltry four games. When the Philadelphia Eagles hired Chip Kelly as their new head coach, he was a breath of fresh air. He was going to bring about new changes and a high powered offense. He achieved success on the collegiate level with his style of offense and some questioned whether or not his system would translate to the professional level.

Kelly believes in moving the ball as quickly as possible down the field, rarely letting the play clock run down. His philosophy is meant to keep the opposing defense on the field as long as possible leaving them too tired to properly defend. In his first two seasons, he led the team to a 10-6 record both times, making it to the playoffs in his first season but lost to the New Orleans Saints. Chip seemed to have silenced the doubters because his offense ranked second and fifth in the league respectively in his first two seasons.

During this offseason, Chip Kelly made what some would call highly questionable personnel changes in the offseason. He traded running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills. During his tenure under Chip, McCoy ranked in the top five in terms of rushing yards. At the age of 27, McCoy is considered to be entering the downside of his career as most running backs’ careers last an average of 3 years. Trading McCoy cleared room in the salary cap leaving the opportunity to either keep current talent or acquire new players. Then, he traded quarterback Nick Foles for Sam Bradford. This move was peculiar because Bradford has a history of serious knee injuries and didn’t play at all last season. Along with Foles and McCoy, efficient wide receiver Jeremy Maclin was sent packing to a new home. In one of the splashiest moves, the Eagles acquired leading rusher DeMarco Murray after the Dallas Cowboys did not meet his salary demands.

So far this year, the once high-powered offense has been replaced with one that struggles to score. The Eagles are last in the league in total rushing yards. Last season, DeMarco was the league’s leading rusher and thus far has been a shell of himself and his fellow running back Ryan Matthews hasn’t fared much better. Sam Bradford shows the signs of a person who has not played for a full season. The passing game has suffered because of Bradford’s lack of comfort in a new system and no firepower at the wide receiver position. These woes have left the Eagles winless at 0-2 and wondering if Chip Kelly is the offensive savant that he wants everyone to believe he is.