Really? Why wouldn't he play the field a bit before settling on Cleveland? I thought Philly was interested. At least there, he'd have a base to work with. He's got nothing in Cleveland. The offense is terrible. The defense is decent enough, but they're in a division with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cincy. I think the NFC East is highly overrated and he could have done more with what he had available in Philly.
He's the golden boy right now why not take advantage? His stock would only get higher with a national championship, but not by much -- so why wait and risk it?
I meant from the standpoint of an NFL team. Unlike at Oregon, he won't have 2-3 guys on offense that are threats to run/catch/pass for a TD on any given play. For Chip Kelly, now is definitely the time to sell. The iron is very hot.
Chip Kelly will get a boat load of money and if fails in a few years he will still get a boat load of money at a good college job.
Philly had a few pieces in place to run his style of offense. Vick, Mcoy and Brown....The Browns are starting to collect some good talent though. The all pro left tackle, Haden (CB), Trent Rich, Josh Gordon. They have a long way to go but at least they're not the raiders.
I think the appeal is that he's proven an ability to win without better talent than everyone else. People point to Spurrier and company and say college coaches fail in the NFL; and I agree - if those college coaches win simply by having more talent than the teams they play. Many of the "hot" college coaches do exactly that. But Chip Kelly (and guys like Harbaugh) are different in that they outscheme their opponents. He has a bunch of 3-star recruits beating the 5-stars at USC. That's appealing to a team like Cleveland - or really any NFL team - because you're not going to outrecruit everyone in the NFL. Whether it works, I have no idea. But if you're going to take a college coach, someone like him makes more sense than an Urban Meyer or Jim Tressel or Bob Stoops or other coaches that consistently out-talent their opposition.
To be fair, somehow Pete Carroll is finally making it work this go round in Seattle. At least so far..
To put it lightly, I think you underestimate Oregon's talent. When they didn't have a talent advantage, UO struggled. Regarding scheme, the most unique thing Kelly brought to the table was tempo, which can be labeled a gimmick. He won't be able to gain the same edge using that gimmick in the NFL and his skill players on offense won't be ridiculously faster than opposing defenses. Their core offense involved running defenses into the ground using read options and misdirection. It was very simple actually. The exteme tempo aspect of it added exhaustion and confusion. Again, this won't work as well in the NFL. Chip Kelly wasn't a unique play-caller.
Agreed on the offense - that's why I think there's risk there. But recruiting-wise, Oregon is often ranked in teens or worse in terms of recruiting classes. I don't think he's ever had a top 10 class. In terms of pure talent, they have never had the quality of talent other teams with their success have had (USC, Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc).
Not sure if srs. Trent Richardson looks lost in Chip Kelly's typical offense. Richarson is a standard I Form power back not a speedy back that Kelly normally uses.
Can't wait to see Wheeden running a speed option/QB keeper against an NFL defense. Wonder if he could make it to the edge before he gets killed?
