Chip Kelly's Depth Chart Is 'Written In Sand'
By Joseph Santoliquito
Philadelphia, PA (CBS) — Chip Kelly is willing to be patient. He's going to have to be. The Eagles' coach knows he's going to be in a teaching mode as his young team grasps his system. There is going to be a lot of trial and error, and it's why Kelly is slowing things down.
Yes, the fast, fast, fast guy was very deliberate during his first day of his first NFL training camp.
"It was good. We knew we had to slow things down from a teaching standpoint," Kelly said. "You've only got a couple of kids at certain positions: you have one inside linebacker, one outside linebacker, two corners, one safety. So our plan was, as the coaching staff, to get out here for about an hour. Really technique-oriented, get guys back, and just spend some time, because sometimes once you get to Friday and you're back into scheme and everything's happening and there are 90 guys running around and everybody's flying around, these young guys can use as much practice time as they can. We haven't been with them since June, so it was good to get back out here.
"I'm pleased with how they came back, for the most part, in shape and ready to go. We had a good day of meetings and we'll finish up. We've got more meeting time tonight. Really, we're using just these two days as just a way to get a little bit of a jump-start before we really start. For us, the official start of camp is probably Friday."
One thing Kelly stressed is what Nick Foles, Matt Barkley and Michael Vick have been hearing and that's the quarterback position is wide open.
"Everybody gets a chance, and everybody has an opportunity to show us what their resume is, and your resume is what you put on tape every day," Kelly said. "If somebody continues to make plays and someone doesn't make plays, that guy is going to move up and the other one's going to move down. Our depth chart is written in sand right now.
"I was joking. I said it's written in sand. Did you get that? It's all the same. I'm just trying to say it a million different ways so we can get our point across. It is an open competition and somebody is going to rise to the top and we'll have a starter named before our first game."
Joseph Santoliquito is a contributing sports blogger for CBS Philly.
