Offseason workouts got underway for the Eagles this week and Eagles players are already seeing how the presence of Chip Kelly will change things.
Kelly’s Oregon teams were always known for doing things at a faster pace than others and moving to the NFL doesn’t seem to have slowed Kelly down at all. His first week working with Eagles players since taking over as head coach has set a tone for how the tempo will be moving forward and the Eagles haven’t even started working on the field yet.
“I mean, the workout today was up-tempo, a lot of drills and different stuff we don’t normally do. I’m sure it’s going to be real up-tempo,” tackle Jason Peters told Mike Garafolo of USA Today. “They just got after us. Everything is just quick, a lot of reps, quick pace ... 40 (yard dash), hurdles, ladders, stuff like that. Working the quick feet, the quick movements, the up-tempo pace, that’s the stuff we worked on today.”
Wide receiver DeSean Jackson said that “you could sense the urgency” when the Eagles were working on learning Kelly’s offense and told Garafolo that he thinks Kelly may also be moving at a high pace to start the process of seeing who will be able to handle working at that pace. The changes extend beyond pace -- special teams coach Dave Fipp is opening “neurological pathways” with rap music during morning meetings -- and sound like the polar opposite of life under Andy Reid.
For the first time in a long time, there’s a new way of doing business in Philadelphia and the Eagles aren’t wasting any time learning what that means.