Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly is known for doing things his own way.
He'll trade players - even good players with consistent track records of NFL success - if they don't fit his system to a "T," he'll dispose of personality problems with nary a second thought or even slight concern over replacing their once prodigious production, he carries a deep-seated belief in the health benefits of his revolutionary "sports science" training methods and he's willing to overpay or do deals that don't necessarily maximize value if it means he gets his desired outcome.
Only Kelly may not have come up with these stunning, jaw-dropping ideas entirely of his own accord as many in the media have suggested.
"I really like what I have seen out of Chip Kelly," former Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson said recently, per Peter King of Sports Illustrated. "Chip called me and we visited a couple times, and what I heard from him, I liked. No one can say from the outside-right moves, wrong moves. You gotta let 'em play out. You won't know till you see the results. I felt I was right when I did the things I did, but who knew? I traded away my starting quarterback, Steve Pelluer, to Kansas City. The leading receiver, I don't remember his name [it was Ray Alexander] we got rid of. I talked to Danny White, and he retired. Then I traded Herschel Walker. You can't be afraid to make moves. Chip's not."
Kelly, after two seasons chafing at the restraints of former Eagles GM Howie Roseman, is now fully in control of every facet of team-building for the Eagles and he seems to finally be on the path to constructing the team in his ideal image - he's already traded LeSean McCoy and Nick Foles, jettisoned expensive veterans Todd Herremans, Trent Cole and Cary Williams and acquired Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray and Kiko Alonso this offseason after dumping DeSean Jackson last year.
Upon acquiring absolute power, Kelly made a phone call to Johnson, the two-time Super Bowl-winning coach who entered the NFL with a similar college pedigree and major question marks who eventually built a team that was the envy of the entire league.
Johnson potentially sees that kind of future for Kelly.
"I am a fan of Chip Kelly," said Johnson, "and I will be a fan of Chip Kelly's until he proves me wrong. I love his offense, I love his style, I love the nutrition stuff, love his practice schedule, love how he turns over the roster."
Johnson also revealed that, in his last conversation with Kelly, he got a very good sense that the recent big moves pulled off by Kelly were in store for the Eagles.
"Oh yeah," Johnson said. "The last conversation was over an hour, going over everything. He was loading his guns."
