The San Francisco 49ers' newly acquired head coach Chip Kelly took the league by storm in his first two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles finishing in the top five in both yards and points per game. After posting 10-6 records in his first two seasons in Philadelphia, he struggled in his third season with a 6-9 record and was ultimately fired before the team's season finale against the New York Giants.
Player personnel questions surrounded Kelly in Philadelphia, and the 49ers' new head coach has some major decisions to make heading into the 2016 season. San Francisco finished dead last in the NFL last season in terms of points per game by a significant margin, but Kelly believes the 49ers have a strong roster in place.
"There's good depth there, without seeing them all run around physically," said Kelly. "Obviously, you look at what Carlos Hyde can do. He's one of the really good young running backs. There's a bunch of guys at receiver, led by Torrey, and Torrey really has a skill-set because he can run. He's kind of a matchup problem for people."
While Kelly is not incorrect in the fact that San Francisco has some solid offensive weapons, he still has some major issues that need to be resolved before the beginning of the 2016 season, in particular the quarterback position. The 49ers chose not to cut quarterback Colin Kaepernick before Thursday's deadline, which makes his $11.9 million salary for 2016 season fully guaranteed.
The 49ers' quarterback has been at the center of multiple trade rumors and reports this offseason and is expected to continue to be the topic of trade discussions as it gets closer to the 2016 NFL draft. Kaepernick was benched last season after starting with a 2-6 record and struggled passing the ball, throwing six touchdowns to five interceptions.
San Francisco also has quarterback Blaine Gabbert on its roster, who proved to be a viable option down the stretch of last season with a 3-5 record. While the 49ers have two potential starters on their roster many think they will look to acquire the future of the franchise with the seventh overall pick in the draft in either California's Jared Goff or North Dakota State's Carson Wentz.
With less than a month until the draft, expect the 49ers to continue to be at the front of headlines, as they may have depth in their roster but lack a definitive starting quarterback.
