2013 NFL Mock Draft: Mel Kiper has Cleveland selecting Bjoern Werner
January 16, 2013Browns fan and media reaction to Chip Kelly news is all over the map
January 16, 2013A shocker today from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen-
Chip Kelly is the new coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, according to league sources. No announcement yet.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) January 16, 2013
The Browns of course were in on the Chip Kelly circus immediately after Oregon’s win over Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl. Following a weekend of wining and dining from the Browns, Eagles and Bills, Chip Kelly announced he was staying at Oregon.
So what changed? And could the Browns have approached Kelly one last time before giving the keys to Berea to Rob Chudzinski?
You can be sure there is more to this story to eventually come out.
57 Comments
Did he wake up and find a horse head in his bed?
my guess is that after interviewing a few more candidates the Eagles decided that whatever Chip asked for was worth it.
With all due respect, I really really hope this doesn’t set off another round of debacle talk.
BTW, this is a good thing. I will be fun to watch Kelly try to run some other team rather than ours. Added bonus: he’ll be doing it in the toxic Philly atmosphere in front of a surly press corps.
I’m guessing it was in Phil Knight’s bed. Chipper is the Tony Bennett-like singer.
Which probably was final say on the roster. I’m fine with Banner being our personnel guy, but that it’s already clearly costing us other top talent, we should be concerned.
I think this further points to the ‘debacle’ that wasn’t being much more about Chip Kelly than about the Cleveland Browns.
I interpret this as MAJOR sanctions are coming.
No worries. Kelly seems like a total head-case. Don’t need any more indecisiveness at that position, already had it for years.
agreed…get out before it’s too late
Fly like a eagle douchebag!
He left when the interest from the NFL really couldn’t be much higher. Teams were begging for him.
lotsa sour grapes in here.
I, for one, hope he implodes in Philly. I hope he is an embarrassment to the city and to the profession. i hoep he loses because I am not a Philly fan, but also because it seems that he thought the Philly job was better, and/or because I don’t like missing out on things I want.
It will be interesting to see what information comes out, but I think this development makes Haslam’s story that “we walked away from Kelly” (rather than Kelly walked away from the Browns) more believable.
It seems like Kelly was really torn and indecisive, and continuing to pursue him would have required taking on a huge risk of losing other quality candidate that were on the market. I personally am glad the Browns did not wait around for Kelly.
Let’s hope Chud turns out to be the right guy.
League sources confirm that the Eagles are close to trading for Robert Griffin The Third, Merciful and Mighty, so that the Eagles can shove in the face of the Browns the guys “they failed to get” (but didn’t really).
“Lotsa sour grapes in here”
Absolutely. I’ll root against him to the extent I want the Browns to be better than the Eagles. But I don’t see the need to hold ill will against someone who looked up and down this organization and realized he wanted no part of this mess.
agree, with all. I was all for his hire, and think his changing everything here would have been electrifying, either in a good way or as in Old Smokey the electric chair.
If this starts another round of “debacle” I’ll test my willpower and try to check out of this site for a little while.
I think it’s evidence that Kelly walked away from the Browns. He clearly had other offers on the table that he preferred.
WHAT!?!
This sounds crazy. Kinda glad we didn’t end up with him if this is the status quo.
perhaps he preferred Philly, but Chip had no reason to walk away from the table with the Browns even if he were merely using us as leverage.
Interesting take. The odd thing is that he apparently decided he was going back to Oregon a couple weeks ago. If he preferred the Eagles offer all along, he wouldn’t have done that. It is a PR disaster for him.
I think all of the evidence taken together suggests he was very indecisive and torn.
And your evidence is what, exactly?
What a narcissistic punk Chip Kelly is. If he’s giving teams the run around then I’m glad we didn’t land him. GO BROWNS!!
I think that Kelly had been planning to play the Eagles and Browns off each other, and the Browns made the decision not to play that game. Kelly then had to fall back on Oregon as his leverage although it didn’t look good for him. It took some time, but ended up either working out for him, or he ended up caving.
Sure he did. He had X demands, and proved to the rest of the league that he would be willing to walk away if he didn’t get them.
There have been reports of an ongoing investigation.
I think this is the most likely scenario. No way he disengages either team (Oregon included) while he is trying to negotiate.
… and your proof is what, exactly?
This will explode and end horribly, and we would look smart out of the whole thing. New Browns?!?!
even accepting your scenario that is the Browns walking away from Chip. “I will take the job if you give me X” and the Browns saying no.
When does the Browns play the Eagles again? That will be the true test to see which organization made the right choice.
Maybe it’s a cost-savings move on the part of the Eagles. They needed another big fat fatty to fill Reid’s clothes. In all seriousness, would have been interesting to get him, but his diva indecisiveness was worrisome and sent red flags.
I know it doesn’t exactly fit, but I’m just going to say Randy Lerner is Fredo.
does that mean Nick Saban will be his DC, Ngata at DT, Julio Jones is coming on as WR, and Adrian Peterson at RB (for the 5% that still preferred him to JoeT)?
like it.
“What about what I want, Michael? I’m smart, not like everyone says.”
I think the big draw here was Vick. Think the Eagles will now target/try to move up to get Geno Smith in the draft?
I don’t think anyone is saying the Browns didn’t want Kelly. Its clear we did. But I think its also clear we wanted him only under certain conditions. Given how this all played out, I think it is very likely that the Browns walked away because Kelly wouldn’t take their conditions.
It is semantics whether we describe that as Kelly rebuffing the Browns or the Browns rebuffing Kelly is beside the point. The overarching point, though is the Browns likely made an AFFIRMATIVE decision to move on. I think that shows leadership and a commitment to their plan. Now we just have to hope that their plan is successful.
If Chip Kelly, with full control of an NFL roster, marches to 4 Super Bowls, Haslam and Banner’s insistence on keeping partial roster control will look bad. If Kelly struggles, they will look good.
Or we said we want him and he needs to be 100% in it or we are moving on. So we moved on
For as hard as the Browns supposedly went after him, it’s going to take a lot to convince me that they suddenly went “nevermind”. It wasn’t a match, the Browns got to spin it in the local media, and Kelly gets to go someplace he prefers. Win-win.
“But I think its also clear we wanted him only under certain conditions”
And it took seven hours of interviews to figure out that condition, when we seemingly agree that it was who had final say on the roster? That seems like it would be the first thing that came up, to which Banner would respond that no, he has final say, and Kelly says thanks for lunch, I’ll see you around. Seven hours suggests that they were still trying the full court press.
If the big draw was Vick why would they move up in the draft to replace him?
jimmay once he heard the news change out the word twix for chip http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gHbYOwkJPpA#t=72s
Please don’t let him do well, please don’t let him do well otherwise I’ll have to read/listen to his name until I hurl!
He has somewhere to start, and could have someone else to slide in and take over in a year or two. HC are often judged (unfairly) on their first few years on the team and with Vick, I think they could easily be 500 if healthy. The were superbowl favorites before last season so obviously a lot of the players needed are already there.
I think he said he was going back because he didn’t get the offer he wanted, and it made the Eagles work a little harder.
Just win, and there are no PR disasters. Saban is a scummy dude, but he’s beloved by the media, and had a statue of him built before he even retired at Alabama. People don’t care what happened in Miami anymore.
“I WAS STEPPED OVER!!”
you act like 7hrs is a long time. i interviewed for 8hrs for my current job. for some jobs, it’s just part of the process. there are plenty more 7+hr interviews reported for NFL jobs.
it takes a long time to go through why you think the Browns are a good job, have him explain why he is good for the Browns, what type of organizational structure both sides like, philosophies on talent development, practices, scouting, drafting, gameday, etc.
no, you do not go through all of that unless you are interested. but, you do go through all of that even if you are a bit apart on parameters. always a chance the other side moves. if not, then you move on, which is what happened.
if we truly wanted him with no other recourse, then we would have stuck around on Sunday and waited patiently for him rather than flying back and starting to interview others.
so does that mean going to Aston Villa games were his back-door Cuba trips?
I felt better on the Browns missing out on him when I thought that NO NFL teams were going to get him. I’m still cool with CHUD but I am curious as to what really went down here.
That being said, as a neutral observer, I am really excited to see what Kelly is able to do in the NFL. I think the Eagles are one of the better fits for him in terms of offensive personnel. Vick and McCoy running the zone read? Yes, please.
Completely disagreeing on who has the most important job – final say on the roster – is not a bit apart on parameters.
I can see 7 hours if you’re want to really iron out the details like how they’re going to proceed at the QB position, specific names and how they want to tinker with the zone read at the NFL level. But if you have a fundamental disagreement on the nature, power and responsibility of the position that is in question, you don’t get to 7 hours.
In fairness, though, your interview took 7 hours because you kept leaving to “go to the bathroom” (to comment on WFNY).
I kid!