Chip Kelly either destroyed the Eagles or is brilliant like Belichick...

Five days following their regular-season finale — a 34-26 win that dragged them to 10-6 — the Eagles sent out a press release about a shakeup in their front office. It was accompanied by a statement from owner Jeffrey Lurie detailing the foundational change that was coming. Howie Roseman, after five seasons on the job, was moving out of his role as general manager and ceding control of personnel decisions. Roseman was named executive vice-president of football operations and actually got a raise, but in practice, the Eagles were handing Kelly the keys.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane wrote an excellent rundown of the reasoning behind the changes and what the new front office might look like, but the past few weeks have been the first glimpse of what they actually mean. Save for maybe the 49ers, no team in the NFL has seen more turnover with its stars this month than Philadelphia. Trent Cole is gone after 10 seasons. McCoy is off to Buffalo, 13 months removed from being named offensive player of the year. Fresh off an 85-catch, 1,300-yard, 10-touchdown season, Jeremy Maclin is now a Chief.

Bill Belichick has defined his career by unemotionally moving on from stars in pursuit of rosters that better fit his plan; he also won a Super Bowl in his second season with New England. Like Belichick, Kelly is now the man behind the curtain. Without question, the Eagles are his team, and that means that responsibility for this season is his too.

Both the 49ers and Eagles are in a major rebuild after losing many key players. 

The biggest difference is, the Eagles have Chip Kelly.

Bill Barnwell on the Chip Kelly gamble:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-chip-kelly-gamble-philadelphia-eagles/