The former head coach of the Eagles, Chip Kelly, has reportedly met with the 49ers on Thursday, January 7th 2016. Chip Kelly was fired before the last game of the season for the Eagles. Kelly first coached for Oregon Ducks from 2009-2012.  Kelly began coaching the Eagles on January 16th, 2013, and fired on December 29th, 2015. In his three seasons with the Eagles, Kelly had a 26-21 record. In his first season he led the Eagles to a 10-6 record, over twice as many wins as their previous 4-12 year. They were NFC East champions, a feat only achieved once before by a coach in his first season in the NFL. They went to the playoffs for the first time in three years, but lost their first game on a last second field goal, heartbreakingly, 26-24 to the New Orleans Saints. The following season they ended 10-6 again, even with injuries to important players, specifically Nick Foles. They did not make the playoffs.
Things started going awry this past season, as Chip Kelly began making trades as he was promoted to personnel director in in January of 2015. These were perceived as ridiculous by most of the Eagle’s fanbase. Specifically trading Nick Foles for Sam Bradford, Lesean McCoy for Kiko Alonso, straight up releasing Desean Jackson, and not re signing Jeremy Maclin. Although he added a great running back in Demarco Murray, people were simply not satisfied and left scratching their heads after some of these moves. This left backlash with certain players as well, specifically McCoy, who hung up on Kelly after he attempted to contact him over the phone. He said that Kelly “removed all the good players”(from the Eagles) and “doesn’t respect stars”. Chip Kelly is now a joke on multiple NFL forums, and the Eagles will have to look to build back up from an alright but disappointing 7-9 season, and another missed appearance in the playoffs. The reports of him interviewing with the 49ers validate the idea that Kelly still has value as a head coach. There’s also rumors of a possible reuniting between Kelly and Marcus Mariota on the Titans. Kelly coached Mariota during his time at Oregon. Whatever the story line may be, the same idea remains: Chip isn’t done.