The Philadelphia Eagles got their man in Chip Kelly and one reason was due to the head coach they fired after the 2012 season.
According to ESPN.com, former Eagles coach Andy Reid spoke to Kelly as well as owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman while the team was conducting its coaching search. Reid was fired after 14 seasons with the franchise and Lurie was looking for a new coach for only the third time since he took over the team.
Kelly spoke about Reid during his introductory news conference.
"One person I want to thank, in terms of advice in this whole thing, is Andy Reid," said Kelly, who decided to leave Oregon after going 46-7 in four seasons. "And the fact that Andy reached out to me and told me about his experience here just told me what this organization is all about. There's not a classier guy. When Andy texted me (Wednesday) when I accepted the job, I told him I had really, really, really big shoes to fill. And in typical Andy fashion he said, 'Just be yourself and you'll be fine.' So I publicly just want to thank Andy, because that really spoke to me about what this organization is all about."
Lurie also mentioned Reid while speaking and said that he still wants the franchise to succeed, despite being the new head coach in Kansas City.
"We have such a close relationship over the years that the trust is all there," Lurie said. "It's a very special rapport we have with Andy. He reached out to most of the top candidates to tell them what it's like to work with myself, with (general manager) Howie (Roseman), with (president) Don (Smolenski), what the organization is all about, how obsessed with winning and doing it the right way."
The Eagles conducted a slow and deliberate search for the next head coach, reportedly interviewing 11 coaching candidates. Lurie said that many of the interviewees wanted to speak to Reid about the organization and how it operated.
"If I'm a head-coaching candidate, the one person I really want to talk to is Andy Reid," Lurie said. "Most of them did their due diligence and reached out to Andy. In that sense, it was an important part of the process that they would reach out to them. I have a close enough relationship with Andy where I can probably eliminate some candidates if Andy felt that they weren't good enough in that sense. That's how close we are. I know what he feels about Chip Kelly and it's outstanding."
During his time with the Eagles, Reid was one of the most successful coaches in the NFL. He went 130-93-1 and won 10 postseason games while going to the playoffs nine times. He led the team to five NFC championship games, including four consecutive appearances from 2001-2004, and to Super Bowl XXXIX in 2004.
Before he was fired, Reid was the longest tenured head coach in the NFL since joining the Eagles in 1999. This year's 4-12 record was the worst for Reid since his first year with the team and ended on a sour note after a 42-7 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday in Week 17.
The Eagles lost 11 of the last 12 games of the season, winning 23-21 against Tampa Bay on Dec. 9 for the lone victory during that span. The Eagles dealt with mediocre play and injuries all season, including to quarterback Michael Vick, who threw for 2,362 yards and 12 touchdowns with 10 interceptions in 10 games played.
LeSean McCoy dealt with a concussion and DeSean Jackson was forced to go on injured reserve after suffering a rib injury. The Eagles started 3-1 this season, but lost the following eight games in a row, including a 31-6 defeat against the Washington Redskins. Vick suffered a concussion during the streak and was benched for rookie Nick Foles.
Philadelphia had issues on both sides of the ball this season and finished ranked 23rd in the league in rushing defense while allowing 27 points per game.
Kelly will be looked at to overhaul the offense after being so successful at Oregon. Kelly has been courted by the NFL for multiple years, including last season when he was seemingly set to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job. Over four years with Oregon, Kelly has developed a high-scoring and wide open offense that has started to make its way into the NFL.
Kelly has not coached in the NFL and many have wondered if his scheme can work in the pros. This past offseason Kelly met with New England coach Bill Belichick and helped add some facets of his offense to the Patriots' system, which has paid off greatly as the team is ranked first in the league in scoring with 34 points per game.
"The perception is that we run our quarterback all the time," Kelly said to ESPN.com. "The reality is, that's not the case. Our offense is always going to be tailored to who's playing. The way I put it is, I'm an equal-opportunity scorer. We'll score any way we can. I'm not married to taking a quarterback who can't run and making him run, or taking a quarterback who can't throw and making him throw. It's not about style. It's about substance. And it's 'How are we going to score points?'"
This season Oregon was ranked second in the nation in scoring with over 50 points per game and gained over 550 yards per game on offense, ranked fourth in the country. The Ducks scored at least 40 points in every game this season, apart from the 17-14 loss to Stanford in overtime, which was Oregon's only defeat of the year.
The Ducks would likely be playing in the national championship this season had they not lost to Stanford, but they have a great matchup against Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks won their first 10 games of the season by wide margins, including a 59-17 win over California. The previous week Oregon got into a shootout with USC, winning 62-51 on the road.
Kelly favors speed on both sides of the ball and the Eagles have that in full supply with burners like DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. The defense is likely to be overhauled after performing poorly last season and could see a number of young players on the field after Kelly goes into his first NFL draft.
"We're going to be an attacking-style defense," Kelly said, without committing to a 4-3 or a 3-4 alignment. "A group of people that dictates the tempo of the game."
At Oregon, Kelly was able to tap into a prime crop of high-talent recruits, but in the NFL he will need to find other ways to bring in quality players. Kelly is not the general manager, but Roseman said that he would be involved in the shaping of the team.
The quarterback options include Michael Vick and Nick Foles, but it is likely that the team will part ways with Vick soon. Foles was solid for the Eagles towards the end of the season, but he doesn't truly fit into Kelly's system. The coach praised the quarterback, who he played against while at Oregon.
"I'm a huge fan of his," Kelly said of Foles. "He's tough. He's a competitor. He's accurate. And I'm excited about that."
