Chip Kelly's reputation as an unconventional and unapologetic coach is not without merit. The pacing of his offense, his approach to practice and the Philadelphia Eagles' bold personnel moves during his tenure have predictably made waves around the NFL.
"I just think he doesn't give a s--- what other people think, and he has his beliefs, he is outside the box and he is true to himself," one general manager from another team told me for a 2014 Insider piece evaluating all 32 NFL head coaches.
After releasing top receiver DeSean Jackson in 2014, the Eagles this offseason have traded starting quarterback Nick Foles, traded starting running back LeSean McCoy, invested heavily in running back DeMarco Murray, released starting guard Evan Mathis and traded nickel cornerback Brandon Boykin. Teams typically don't make so many major transactions in rapid succession when coming off successive 10-6 seasons, but let's resist the natural temptation to cast these moves as outside the box simply because Kelly was the driving force behind them.
While roster churn is part of life in the NFL for every team, Kelly isn't conventional. He's more fearless than most, and his theory on past injuries not being an indicator of future ones flouts established thought (Travis Long's situation notwithstanding). But if you can set aside your own NFL worldview and piece together where Kelly might be coming from, he isn't necessarily as unorthodox as his moves make him out to be. In reality, when you analyze the more notable moves individually, you see a pattern of, well, logical decisions. Let's take a look.
