Everything is still up in the air regarding Chip Kelly's coaching staff although it seems to be that the final spot (defensive coordinator) will come from on of the teams playing in this Sunday's Super Bowl. Kelly won't officially name his staff until he has all spots filled rumors have former Brown's head coach Pat Shumur taking the offensive coordinator job, Dave Flipp coming from Miami to turn around the Eagles abysmal special teams, and supposedly Ed Donatell moving from the 49ers to defensive coordinator position. Kelly has apparently filled the coaching jobs on the offensive side of the ball (i.e. WR coach, RB coach, etc..). The defensive positions coaching staff has not had so much news. This is a good thing though because it would seem that Kelly is waiting to have his coordinator before making position coaching decisions which will allow the coordinator to have a say in who he is going to be working with. Fans should be happy as this should prevent another Washburn/Castillo disaster.
Since the defensive coaching staff has yet to take shape and there is a debate as to whether the team will switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 and what roster moves that will entail I'll be focusing on the offensive side of the ball, specifically the biggest need for the Eagles, the quarterback.
Kelly's hiring has brought many to believe that Mike Vick will have one last season in Eagles green, stating that his speed will be a perfect fit for Kelly's high paced offense. I disagree. He has too many question marks in my mind for the paycheck he is getting this season. The ball security, the injuries, and trying to hard to make a play are just a few. It is time to move forward... without #7.
So who fills the starting spot. Kelly currently has Nick Foles who has shown that he has the skills to play in the league. The questions with Foles is can he be consistent? and will he fit into Kelly's offensive scheme? I'm not completely sold as many people shouldn't be. It was hard to tell how good Foles was last season because the team as a whole was so bad. I think moving forward he is the starter until someone else takes it from him. That being said I would be in Kelly's best interest to bring in a group of QB's this offseason and have an open competition for the starting job.
There are some intriguing names out there who could push Foles into that starting job or even make a statement in Kelly's offense and take the reigns. Some would like to see Alex Smith come over from the 49ers seeing as he has proven he can lead a team and has lost his job to Colin Kaepernick. Losing the starting gig all but guarantees that Smith will be throwing for a different franchise next season. This is only going to happen via a trade and their a plenty of teams in the league, besides the Eagles, that have question marks at their starting signal caller spot. That means a trade for Smith could be a bit pricey, which I don't like.
I see there are some cheaper alternatives who could surprise, Joe Webb and Dennis Dixon. Seems crazy at first but Webb is a taller guy who posses similar skills to Vick at a fraction of the price. So for everyone who says Vick will thrive under Kelly's system, I say Webb (a guy who beat the Eagles before) should be able to do the same, and if he fails then it's safe to say Vick wouldn't have fared all that well either.
Dixon is a guy who is on the Raven's practice squad right now and was a back up for the Steelers for three years. Before that he was an Oregon Duck and played for Chip Kelly. Could Dixon be the answer as a starter, probably not but Dixon gives Kelly a familiar face to work with which could come with positive results.
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