NJ.com published a report Wednesday quoting an anonymous former member of the front office who said the way Kelly handled the 2014 NFL Draft started a destructive path that ultimately led to his firing.
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The most damning part of the report is this excerpt:
Had Kelly’s strategy worked out, he would have looked like a mad genius. The team might have been willing to put up with his antics had they worked out. But they didn’t. The Eagles came away with a poor draft class, including first-round linebacker Marcus Smith who didn’t even record a single tackle his rookie season.
“Almost immediately, you had a lot of scouts looking around and wondering, ‘Why am I even working? Why the hell are we even here?’ We put all of this work in, put the information in and Chip changed everything and took whoever he wanted to take.”
The Eagles continued with the Kelly experiment into 2015 before eventually firing the coach before the season ended. He’s now in San Francisco, and the 49ers should hope he learned a few lessons from his time in Philly.
