Eagles Owner Jeffery Lurie's Biggest Regret Involves Chip Kelly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – One of Jeffery Lurie's biggest regrets in his 25 seasons owning the Philadelphia Eagles involves Chip Kelly. Lurie told The Athletic on Thursday that handing Kelly full control of the Eagles' personnel decisions in 2015 is among them.
"I don't regret the hiring of him because it was done with a really good thought process," Lurie told The Athletic. "But, yes, I would say I regret giving him the kind of authority I gave him, yeah. That's an easy one."
After Kelly led the Birds to back-to-back 10-win seasons in his first two years in Philadelphia, Lurie added head of football operations to Kelly's title in 2015 and stripped Howie Roseman's duties within the organization to negotiating contracts on the other side of the NovaCare Complex.
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Kelly carved up the Eagles' roster with decisions that proved to be disastrous.
Among the decisions Kelly made were trading LeSean McCoy for Kiko Alonso (yikes), cutting DeSean Jackson (double yikes) and trading Nick Foles for Sam Bradford. Kelly also signed DeMarco Murray as a free agent and then, he didn't utilize the running back properly.
The Kelly as czar experiment didn't last long. Following one anarchic 6-9 season, Lurie pulled the plug, firing Kelly before the final game of the 2015 season.
Lurie dusted Roseman off from the forgotten hallways of the NovaCare Complex and elevated him back to the head of football operations.
Long story short, three years later the Birds won Super Bowl LII with Foles earning Super Bowl MVP honors and folk hero status in his first season back in Philly.
Foles, who's now with the Jaguars, was just the first Kelly wrongs Roseman has undone as the Eagles acquired Jackson from Tampa Bay this offseason.
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The Eagles are hoping Jackson will be the deep threat they've been missing since … DeSean Jackson.
Meanwhile, after failing as San Francisco 49ers head coach, Kelly returned to college in 2018, withering away at UCLA.
He went 3-9 in his first season in Southern California. It was the Bruins' worst record since 1971.