When Chip Kelly was first given full control of personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles, confusion ensued as to who agents and players were meant to talk to when it came to salary and contract issues.
Some suggested it was still former GM Howie Roseman, others suggested it was the man himself.
Now that things have settled into place at One Novacare Way, it seems we finally have a firm answer.
"There is no gray area anymore. Kelly has totalitarian rule after owner Jeffrey Lurie handed him the reins in January," reports Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Roseman was to remain in charge of contracts and the salary cap, per the Eagles' news release at the time, but his authority is window dressing, according to multiple NFL and team sources."
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie announced in January that Roseman would be moved from the personnel side of Philly operations to the business end and that Kelly would take over full control of the draft, free agency and general roster construction.
What was supposedly made clear at the time was that Roseman would remain in charge of any and all contract negotiations and salary cap issues, but this report from McLane alleges that is no longer - and may have never actually been - the case.
The most interesting aspect of all of this though, is the fact that Kelly is reportedly still using Roseman as something of a buffer when it comes to current contract talks.
"That hasn't stopped Kelly from taking a neutral stance with players," writes McLane. "When some Eagles have attempted to talk about their deals with him this offseason, the coach has answered that he has no authority over contracts, sources familiar with the conversations said."
And it's not new vice president of player personnel Ed Marynowitz who is handling them either. Per McLane, Marynowtiz deals with agents, but "it's been made clear decisions aren't coming from his desk."
It seems a little - ok, a lot, it seems a lot - dishonest for Kelly to outright lie about his power to players he's meant to protect and look after and whom he asks a lot of.
Then again, this could simply be a shrewd move by an intelligent head coach who wants to milk this current situation for all its worth - why tell players and agents the whole truth right away and lose yourself a few extra months of peace and quiet?
Of course, Kelly will be forced to actually deal with said players and agents at some point as not every unhappy camper can simply be jettisoned like Evan Mathis.
What this all means for the Eagles is likely little and, probably more accurately, nothing. But eventually Kelly is going to have to hand out a new contract to someone and it will be interesting to see how that scenario plays out.
If Kelly is really as hell-bent on mimicking the "evil genius" aura cultivated by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, he's certainly well on his way.
