New Eagles coach Chip Kelly has reached into the college ranks to hire his offensive line coach, and it’s a coach who comes from a very different system than the one Kelly ran at Oregon.
Jeff Stoutland, who was the offensive line coach for Nick Saban at Alabama the last two seasons, has been hired as the Eagles’ offensive line coach, CSNPhilly.com reports.
Like Kelly, Stoutland has no NFL experience at all. But Stoutland ran an offensive line that did a phenomenal job in a pro-style offense as the Crimson Tide won the national championship in both of his seasons with the team.
Three Alabama offensive linemen -- guard Chance Warmack, tackle D.J. Fluker and center Barrett Jones -- are among the best prospects at their respective positions in April’s NFL draft. It will be interesting to see whether the Eagles draft any of them. Warmack is such an elite prospect that he could be a candidate to go to the Eagles in the first round with the fourth overall pick, while Fluker and Jones could both be second-day targets for the Eagles.
Prior to coaching at Alabama, Stoutland had stints as an assistant at Syracuse, Southern Connecticut, Cornell, Michigan State and Miami, and he was also the interim head coach at Miami for one game.