Chip Kelly is a Genius…But That Didn’t Matter

Chip Kelly is a football genius. He knows more about football and what it takes to win football games than just about any person alive. Here’s the problem: The same could be said about Matt Millen.

If you don’t recall, Matt Millen is the former CEO and general manager of the Detroit Lions. Before his hire, he was a respected television analyst who played 12 years in the NFL. There was little doubt that Millen “knew his football,” and there was a lot of confidence that he would be successful.

These days, Millen’s tenure is considered one of the worst in NFL history. His eight-year stint as GM resulted in a 31-84 record, zero playoff appearances, and an 0-16 season in 2008.

You don’t get to be an NFL coach or executive without knowing a lot about football. Every person working as a GM could be considered a genius. Jerry Jones may have run the Cowboys franchise into the ground, but he is still far more capable of running an NFL team than most people.

Last off-season, I criticized some of Kelly’s moves. With each criticism, I received a healthy amount of backlash from some Eagles fans. I came across a lot of people who told me that, “I shouldn’t criticize Chip because he knows a lot more about football than I do.”

I argued that according to that logic, Ruben Amaro should have been offered the same amount of trust. The Chip supporters countered that “Chip Kelly has proven he’s a good coach, while Amaro proved to be an idiot.” I pointed out that Amaro’s first few years at the helm were very successful – actually more successful than Kelly’s first two years.

Besides, I pointed out that Kelly had been successful as a head coach, but there’s a big difference between being a good NFL head coach and a good NFL general manager. (Even though he claimed that he wasn’t really the GM.) Kelly may know how to draw up an offensive game plan, but that doesn’t mean he should be responsible for selecting players in the draft or deciding to jettison players for “football reasons.”

The Kelly saga should be proof that giving a head coach increased power over personnel decisions is a bad idea. And of all people, Jeffrey Lurie should have known better.

In 1996, another Eagles head coach was coming off an impressive first two years. Like Kelly, Ray Rhodes won 10 games in each of his first two seasons, largely on the backs of players the previous coach had left behind. (The big difference being that Rhodes actually won a playoff game.) After that early success, Rhodes pushed for more control over personnel. That resulted in stellar draft picks like Jon “Too Tall” Harris, a defensive end who makes Marcus Smith look like a successful pick. (Just kidding – nothing could make Smith look successful! But Harris really sucked too.)

Rhodes was deservedly fired after the 1998 season, and with Andy Reid (another man who has been hailed as a genius at times) working under general manager Tom Modrak, the Eagles built up a solid base of talent that resulted in a successful run.

Throughout Reid’s tenure, he slowly gained more personnel power. Unfortunately, as his reign progressed into the later years, the team’s talent – and amount of success – began to decrease. At least Reid still had Joe Banner around for most of that time to provide a voice of dissent. It wasn’t until Banner left that the truly bad moves began. (Nnamdi Asomugha and Juan Castillo, anyone?)

When Reid was fired and moved to Kansas City, he sounded almost relieved that he would be concentrating only on coaching. Apparently he realizes that the jobs require different skill sets, or that it may be too much work for one man to handle.

I realize this sounds like an almost gleeful exercise in “I told you so,” but I assure you, I take very little joy in being proven right for questioning those off-season decisions. I would have rather seen Kiko Alonso earn Comeback Player of the Year honors, or for DeMarco Murray to have won a rushing title en route to leading the Eagles to the NFC East title.

The most frustrating thing is that I actually liked Kelly as head coach. After years of watching Reid under-utilize his running backs, it was refreshing to see a coach emphasize the run. After countless wasted timeouts under Reid, it was great to see the Eagles’ offense move with such efficiency.

Unfortunately, his genius doesn’t seem to apply to the duties of a general manager. He doesn’t seem to grasp that a talented player who isn’t a perfect fit for your system is better than a marginal player who may line up more with your expectations. He also didn’t seem to understand that NFL players come with huge paychecks and egos, and if you want to work at this level, they have to be dealt with. You can’t just get rid of good players who don’t completely toe the company line.

I was hoping that Kelly would learn from his mistakes and that this season would only be a minor setback. Unfortunately, if Kelly has indeed learned from his time here, it will be another team’s fans who get to reap the benefits.

It sounds like Kelly won’t be unemployed for long, and I have a suspicion that he’ll be even more successful at his next stop. After all, the man is a football genius.