The pattern has become predictable. Players who, for whatever reason, don’t fit within the Chip Kelly system point to something other than their failure to fit within the Chip Kelly system when dismissed from it.
It’s easy for some, and a little lazy, to suggest that Kelly makes decisions based in whole or in part on race. But that’s what cornerback Brandon Boykin did after being traded to the Steelers. While Boykin stopped short of echoing the kind of inflammatory remarks previously made by former Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, Boykin told Derrick Gunn of CSN Philly that Kelly is “uncomfortable around grown men of our culture.”
Quarterback Mark Sanchez has sounded off in response to the suggestion that Kelly has any sort of racial bias.
“That’s nuts,” Sanchez said, via Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post. "[During stretching today], guys were like, ‘Sanchez, ain’t you Mexican? And Bradford, aren’t you Native-American? And Kiko [Alonso] is Colombian. We’ve got black guys, white guys, Polynesian guys. C’mon, that’s crazy. It’s not even worth talking about. Stop asking the players about it. It’s getting old.”
It may be getting old, but it becomes news whenever a newly old Eagles player dusts off that narrative.
The real narrative is that Chip Kelly is committed to putting together the best team he can, without special treatment for players with big names or big contracts. Everyone is replaceable, regardless of what he has done. And if anyone doesn’t like that, he’ll soon be gone.
Actually, Kelly’s approach gives players a convenient path out of Philly. By not buying in, privately or publicly, Kelly eventually will cut a guy loose, regardless of the precedent it sets. A decade ago, that mindset would have saved the Eagles plenty of stress and strain during an pay-me-trade-me-or-cut-me extended showdown with receiver Terrell Owens.
Kelly ultimately wants guys who want to be there, and who want to do things the way he wants them to be done. While that mentality won’t guarantee a guy special treatment, either, it gives every player a fair chance to make the team and to get onto the field.