Chip Kelly’s second best skill may be always finding a way to land a job after having a miserable season. Kelly was fired by the 49ers after posting a 2-14 record, and he immediately garnered interest from the Jaguars and the Patriots. Nothing materialized for Kelly from his discussions with both teams, but it shows that Kelly’s approach to modern football is something that is respected around the league.
With Kyle Shanahan expected to take the 49ers head coaching job, Chip Kelly is looking to join Dan Quinn as the Falcons offensive coordinator in Atlanta. Falcons fans reading this news will likely panic as the first reaction to Chip Kelly, but here is why Kelly may not be a bad hire as a coordinator. Simply put, he won’t be in control of personnel decisions any more. As a head coach/general manager, Kelly wore too many hats and was doomed to fail trying to manage two positions that are just too demanding for one person. After a successful first year in Philadelphia, Kelly made the mistake of dumping, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin, and DeSean Jackson, his best playmakers.
Basically, ego crazed Head Coach Chip Kelly convinced GM Chip Kelly to get rid of his best players, which is why most team separate those two positions to create the appropriate checks and balances.
If Kelly gets the coordinator role with the Falcons, he won’t command any powers over personnel, and will be able to deploy his innovative offensive schemes that made many consider him an offensive genius when he came out of Oregon.
Kelly would again have a compliment of playmaking weapons at his disposal, and an MVP caliber quarterback at the helm. So Falcons fans shouldn’t lose it too much, as they have the right framework in place to get the most out of Kelly’s offensive mind.