By Kaleb Page

March 16, 2015

Chip Kelly is the mad scientist. The man who crafted an offensive barrage at Oregon that to this day is still taking flight. His genius at the highest level of college football gained the recognition of those in the NFL, and in 2013 the Philadelphia Eagles came after him (eventually landing him).

Well it has only been two seasons in ‘the city of brotherly love,’ and right now there could be an interesting question to ask the Eagles faithful.

Feeling some buyer’s remorse?

How could a coach who went back to back seasons with a 10-6 record get the feeling of being ousted by his own fan base? As they say it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and only seconds to ruin it. Well, I guess the same could be said about perceive coaching knowledge or even grasp of what makes a great team.

You could say it all started with the head scratching move to trade one of the top running backs in the league (LeSean McCoy) for a young talented linebacker named Kiko Alonso. Now the interesting thing about this is how Alonso once was an Oregon Duck. The roster now consists of seven former Ducks who played under Kelly at Oregon.

While allegiance is a good quality in some aspects, it can be a problem when it comes at the expense of talent in a bottom line league like the NFL. If you don’t pay attention you could be packing your bags fairly soon.

Oh but wait there’s more!

Tuesday, when free agency officially began in the NFL, a move was made by Kelly that was the pièce de résistance on the head scratching display.

Kelly put in the trade with the St. Louis for Sam Bradford. Who are they giving up in return for Bradford? None other than their starting quarterback Nick Foles.

Foles in 2013 had an amazing year at quarterback, throwing for 27 touchdowns and only two interceptions. That year was a pleasant surprise as Foles was a mid-round selection by the team in 2012 and didn’t have high expectations coming out of Arizona. While Foles battled with injuries just like Bradford, Foles had much more success that showed promise for more seasons like the one in 2013.

Trading for a quarterback that in his five-year career has had multiple knee surgeries and only a record of 18-30-1 as a starter, while giving up on a young prospect that has real promise; definitely is a head scratching move put on by Kelly.

Whether you look on ESPN, Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, etc. there are plenty that are sharing the sentiment of: Does this guy know what he’s doing?

Even Stephen A. Smith going as far to say racism played a factor in these moves by Kelly to get rid of guys like Trent Cole, Jeremy Maclin, Cary Williams and LeSean McCoy. All of which are black athletes that were not signed back with the team. Essentially marked as not fitting the scheme or direction just like when the team released Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson in previous years. Something Smith finds quite suspect.

While I won’t go that extreme as Mr. Smith to say Kelly is being racist, I will say that Kelly better know what he is doing with these questionable moves. As I said before in this post, the NFL is a bottom line league and if Kelly isn’t careful this whole image of a genius can be tarnished. It could very well lead to Kelly seeing his way out of the league.

I guess only time will tell if these moves are good and will actually make for a successful Eagles squad in 2015.

As for now hang in there Eagles fans, it could be much worse.