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  • More on Chip's personnel decisions

    The Assembly Line Approach
    Posted: August 6th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 300 Comments


    Chip Kelly doesn’t want talent. He doesn’t want good football players. He wants talented players who fit his criteria. He wants good players who fit his system. Kelly has very specific ideas when it comes to building a team.

    I think this is a very smart approach to football. Scouts know what to look for. Coaches know how to deal with those players. Everyone is on the same page.

    As with any set of rules, there have to be exceptions. I cannot stand the Dallas Cowboys or their fans, but do you think for a minute that I would turn down Jenna Fischer if she wanted to get together and discuss the theory behind the 46 Defense?
    So while Chip Kelly has very distinct ideas on what he wants, there have to be some players he is willing to make exceptions for. Right?

    Clearly Brandon Boykin did not fit into his Jenna Fischer category.

    Kelly has said that there are exceptions. He then also pointed out that if you make too many of them, you end up with a team full of exceptions and not the group you wanted. I think Boykin was tough for Kelly. Boykin is 5-9, 183. He has a small frame, but is incredibly muscular. Kelly would prefer a CB that is 6-1, 200. We’re not talking about an inch or 5 pounds. That’s a big difference.

    And Boykin is in the league at the worst possible time. Every year it seems another crop of really talented receivers come out, with many of them being big. Some absolutely huge. Here are some of the top guys from the 2015 draft class.

    Kevin White 6-3, 215
    Amari Cooper 6-1, 211
    DeVante Parker 6-3, 209
    Breshad Perriman 6-2, 212
    Jaelen Strong 6-2, 220
    Dorial Green-Beckham 6-5, 237

    Do you really want the 5-9, 183 guy covering those players? That’s far from ideal, to put it mildly.

    But the Steelers are willing to play Boykin outside! What gives?

    They are going to use the Cover 2 system quite a bit this year. There have been some smaller corners who thrived in that system. Ronde Barber listed at 5-10, 185 and had a Hall of Fame type career. Tim Jennings is only 5-8, 185, but was a terrific playmaker. Boykin can start in the Cover 2. He can succeed in that scheme.

    Kelly prefers bigger DBs because that’s part of the scheme he runs. This isn’t about right and wrong. One scheme isn’t better than the other. This is about knowing your scheme and finding the players who can execute it. I don’t know if Boykin could have been a successful starter on the outside in the Eagles defense. Kelly obviously felt that wasn’t going to happen.

    While I think Kelly made the right decision in trading Boykin, I am frustrated that Kelly didn’t give Boykin a chance to play on the outside. The defense was really struggling last year. Why not give Boykin a shot? Even if you just mix him in here and there. Find out for sure.

    Those critical of Kelly for dealing Boykin do have to realize that while he never got a fair chance to play outside in Philly, that doesn’t mean Kelly’s judgment was wrong. Boykin might prove to be in over his head when going up against A.J. Green twice a year. The frustration lies in the fact we didn’t get to find out for sure here in Philly.

    Kelly’s thinking in terms of size goes beyond just wanting key players to fit a certain mold. He wants his whole team to fit those guidelines. Tim McManus had a piece on this recently.

    One thing Kelly mentioned is that the Eagles want their backups to look like their starters.

    That’s something Kelly expanded on when we spoke with him.

    “I think that just shows you have a plan,” Kelly said. “I think some people just grasp at straws when all of a sudden you have a 6-6, 250-pound quarterback backed up by a 5-10, 175-pound kid that’s a run-around guy. I think you’re trying to get people that fit into your system, and that’s why you have height and weight and speed parameters that fit your system.”

    And this.

    “A two-gap defensive lineman looks different than a one-gap defensive lineman,” Kelly continued. “That’s just kind of how it is. We want taller, longer guys with longer levers that can two-gap. And if you look at our D-Line, they’re taller and longer than when we first got here. That’s because we went from a 4-3 Wide-9 to a 3-4. You had to make that adjustment along the way. You couldn’t do it in one fell swoop. We did the same thing when I was at Oregon. The kid who got picked in the first round this year, Arik Armstead, most people were recruiting him as an offensive tackle coming out of high school. We recruited him as a defensive lineman. He got picked in the first round. Probably a first-round pick next year will be DeForest Buckner, who was kind of a carbon copy of what Arik is.

    “But that’s what we’re looking for. When you kind of have those height/weight/speed parameters by position, it narrows it down, narrows the pool down in terms of what you’re looking for. But that’s what you play with. It’s tough to play with a 6-foot, 290-pound guy who’s not gonna be a good two-gapper. It doesn’t mean he’s not gonna be a good football player. It just means he doesn’t fit in terms of what we’re trying to get accomplished.”

    There is a great deal of logic in Kelly’s approach. And he’s done a very good job of explaining himself.

    Let’s go back to the subject of exceptions. I think a better case than Boykin is going to be Vinny Curry. As good as Boykin was, he was the Nickelback. The best Nickelback in the league isn’t going to make or break a team.

    Curry is an impact pass rusher. Those guys can be hard to find. Curry lacks the size Kelly wants in a DE, but because of all the sub packages used, Curry has added value. He can play DT or DE. He can play the left or right side. The Eagles are experimenting with him playing some OLB. Curry was second on the team with 9 sacks and tied for the team lead with 4 FFs, despite not playing as many snaps as other defenders.

    I can’t promise you the Eagles will keep Curry because some other team may offer him a mega-deal (pass rushers are coveted). I want to see if the Eagles try to keep Curry, and if so…how aggressively they go about it. I think he is the kind of player you need to keep. He might never become a full-time starter in the 3-4, but you don’t want to let good pass rushers go.

    If the Eagles let him walk without much of an effort to keep him, that will be another lesson in the exception situation.

    It would be great if Kelly would tell us about some players already on the roster. Does he consider Jason Kelce an exception because he’s only about 290 pounds? Is Josh Huff an exception because he’s only 5-11?

    Brandon Graham at 6-1 is definitely an exception. And the Eagles just paid him big money to stick around. Maybe there are more exceptions than we realize.

    Mychal Kendricks is going to be a very interesting case. He is a good starting ILB, but lacks the frame Kelly prefers. Will the team let him walk in free agency or make an effort to keep him? Making his situation more complex is the presence of DeMeco Ryans, Kiko Alonso and Jordan Hicks. Many thought Kendricks would be trade bait this spring/summer, but Kelly was recently adamant that he’s not going anywhere. Kelly’s words didn’t address the future. That’s a complete mystery.

    Kelly wants a roster full of his kind of players. He has detailed thoughts on the players he wants and why he wants them. This isn’t a random philosophy. You can argue that he’s being too stringent, but Kelly would likely tell you he’s more open-minded than you realize. That said, he’s never going to worry about perception. He believes in his ideas and is going to build the roster the way he wants it.

    While some are frustrated because of the limitations Kelly’s ideas can place on the roster, I fully support a coach with a defined philosophy. Bill Parcells did some of this with the teams he built. Ron Wolf had certain kinds of players he wanted in Green Bay.

    Of course, having the philosophy means nothing if you don’t find the right players. Wolf and Parcells won big because they could build terrific teams. Chip Kelly has to prove he can do that.
    "Hey Giants, who's your Daddy?"

  • #2
    Good piece. Sounds accurate to me ad I understand why he is doing what he is doing. Doesn't mean I think he is right. That will be determined by wins and losses. But.....I am willing to extend some faith to coach Kelly and will remain hopeful that his formula will work in the NFL.
    http://shop.cafepress.com/content/global/img/spacer.gifOK, let's try this again...

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by FRESH View Post
      Good piece. Sounds accurate to me ad I understand why he is doing what he is doing. Doesn't mean I think he is right. That will be determined by wins and losses. But.....I am willing to extend some faith to coach Kelly and will remain hopeful that his formula will work in the NFL.
      It works great in theory, but I have doubts about how realistic it is to carry out, especially in the era of free agency. There were quite a few exceptions to the rule listed, and one of them got a huge contract (Graham) this year.
      "Hey Giants, who's your Daddy?"

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Eagle60 View Post
        It works great in theory, but I have doubts about how realistic it is to carry out, especially in the era of free agency. There were quite a few exceptions to the rule listed, and one of them got a huge contract (Graham) this year.
        Nothing else has worked here, why not this? He's a different kind of coach trying to implement a unique model to building an NFL team, I'm intrigued and more than willing to buy to his mad genius.
        Stand for the flag you assholes!

        Eagles, Flyers Phillies fan since 1977. GO O'S!!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Zepster View Post
          Nothing else has worked here, why not this? He's a different kind of coach trying to implement a unique model to building an NFL team, I'm intrigued and more than willing to buy to his mad genius.
          Me too! That was no slap at Chip, just pointing out that it's tough to stick to.
          "Hey Giants, who's your Daddy?"

          Comment


          • #6
            hopefully we win 3-5 SBs in a row and the NFL is trying to catch up to Chip
            We're looking for people that are fundamentally different,” vice president of player personnel Andy Weidl said Saturday night. “The love and passion for football, it's non-negotiable. They're caring, their character, they do the right thing persistently, and they have a relentless playing style that you can see on tape. The motor, it burns hot. You see them finishing plays. They have a team-first mentality. They're selfless individuals.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by musicman View Post
              hopefully we win 3-5 SBs in a row and the NFL is trying to catch up to Chip
              How about ONE BEFORE I DIE? If we don't do it with Chip we never will.
              "Hey Giants, who's your Daddy?"

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Eagle60 View Post
                How about ONE BEFORE I DIE? If we don't do it with Chip we never will.
                What's your rush, you've got till 2050 ?
                We're looking for people that are fundamentally different,” vice president of player personnel Andy Weidl said Saturday night. “The love and passion for football, it's non-negotiable. They're caring, their character, they do the right thing persistently, and they have a relentless playing style that you can see on tape. The motor, it burns hot. You see them finishing plays. They have a team-first mentality. They're selfless individuals.

                Comment

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