In a surprising move, Chip Kelly was swiftly fired as head coach and head of football ops of the Philadelphia Eagles before the team’s final game of the regular season this week. Though it was pretty unexpected, it seems as though it may have been warranted, as several Eagles players seem to be less than broken up about Kelly’s dismissal.
One of the first players to openly come forward to voice complaints about the former coach was Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson, who was Kelly’s first-ever draft pick in Philly. Johnson unloaded on the former coach shortly after his firing, opening up to the media to provide some details into why the team may have parted ways with the man they put so much trust into.
“Maybe the ego got in the way,” Johnson said. “Too much power. Control. Not being human about things; not working together, with the team, instead of being a dictator.”
Johnson said Kelly’s assumption of general-manager duties in January after his successful “power struggle” with former GM Howie Roseman created anxiety felt from the front office through the locker room.
“Just a lot of tension up there that didn’t need to happen,” Johnson said, “because when you throw it up there, it does trickle down to the team, and the team knows what’s going on . . . We always knew there was a little bit of tension — knew it wasn’t just sunshine and rainbows.”
An anonymous Eagles player also cited Kelly’s inflexibility and refusal to listen to others as a huge issue, a sentiment which Johnson echoed. According to Philly.com’s Marcus Hayes, Johnson believes that Kelly created “a locker room where criticism and complaint would be met with the punishment of marginalization and, eventually, unemployment.” Players didn’t dare question Kelly’s decisions and tactics, otherwise they would be sent packing like former players, including DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.
Combine that culture of fear with the Eagles’ struggles on the field (they’re just 6-9 this season) and it becomes less shocking that the team decided to part ways with Kelly so suddenly, and even less shocking that his former players aren’t very upset about it. Those players have to be hoping that the team’s owner, Jeffrey Lurie, follows through on his promise to hire “somebody that’s willing to collaborate with the players.”
(Via Philly.com)
