Report: Chip Kelly alienated scouts while with the Eagles
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Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly alienated scouts while with the team, reports NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo.
According to an anonymous former member of Philadelphia’s front office, Eagles vice president of football operations Howie Roseman and the team’s scouting department had little input in the three NFL drafts Kelly participated in.
“Right before that draft, the scouts set the board,” the source said of the 2014 draft, during which Philadelphia chose linebacker Marcus Smith in the first round. “Then Chip got a hold of it and totally turned it around. Scouts had no say at all in that draft. Anybody that Chip didn’t want, that player’s card got removed from the board and thrown in the trash. Those guys were never even in the discussion.
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“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.”
Smith has so far been a bust for the Eagles, playing in 21 games and recording seven combined tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Kelly was fired on Dec. 29 ahead of Philadelphia’s final game of the season against the New York Giants.
He has since been hired as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
