Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Report: Kelly balked when Lurie asked him to give up personnel

Philadelphia Eagles v Washington Redskins

LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 09: Owner Jeffrey Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles and head coach Chip Kelly shake hands before the game at FedEx Field on September 9, 2013 in Landover, Maryland. The Eagles won 33-27. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Philadelphia Eagles/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeffrey Lurie;Chip Kelly

Drew Hallowell

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie recognized that Chip Kelly wasn’t getting the job done as a personnel man, and tried to fix that problem. But Kelly resisted.

Sal Paolantonio of ESPN reports that Lurie has been considering changes to the structure of the Eagles franchise for weeks, and one of those changes Lurie considered was keeping Kelly but stripping him of personnel control. But when Lurie proposed that to Kelly during a recent meeting, Kelly balked at the idea.

When Kelly wouldn’t agree to give up personnel and focus only on coaching, that’s when Lurie decided it just wasn’t working with Kelly. According to Paolantonio, Lurie decided to fire Kelly now, rather than waiting until after Week 17, because he figured it would give the Eagles a jump on attracting some of the best candidates to replace him.

So because Kelly wanted to be both the coach and the head of personnel, he’s now neither.