Chip Kelly Emerges as Lead Candidate for Philadelphia Eagles
By Brian Spaen
Chip Kelly will not be the head coach of the Cleveland Browns or Buffalo Bills, and the Philadelphia Eagles become the only known destination left after they met with Kelly on Saturday night in Arizona.
Jan 3, 2013; Glendale, AZ, USA; Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly reacts after the 2013 Fiesta Bowl against the Kansas State Wildcats at University of Phoenix Stadium. Oregon defeated Kansas 35-17. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports
According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Cleveland will “reboot their coaching search” after two of their highest candidates, Kelly and Syracuse’s Doug Marrone, didn’t work out. Marrone interviewed with Buffalo and agreed to take the head coaching job there, which was also another destination for Kelly.
Unless there are more teams that Kelly is going to interview for, that leaves the NFL opportunity to Philadelphia. They still aren’t done with their coaching search, still on their list to interview is Denver Broncos’ offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy, today and is still getting permission from the Cincinnati Bengals to interview their offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden.
The Eagles seemed to be the second-best fit for Kelly as we broke down a few days ago. Now with the Bills job gone, and reports that talking with the Eagles lasted for nine hours on Saturday, it’s no wonder that Kelly is the lead candidate for Philadelphia.
Slight hope emerges for Kelly to return to Oregon, but on top of not working out with two NFL teams that he became a lead candidate with, he could be receving NCAA sanctions with loss of scholarships and/or a postseason ban if returns.
It’s still fully expected to see Kelly jump to the NFL, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take the job at Philadelphia later today or early in the upcoming week.
Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Autzen Zoo and Clones Confidential. Follow more Oregon Ducks coverage with the zoo on Twitter.