The list of clients for the IMG Academy 2013 NFL Combine-Draft training program is out.
Manti Te'o is on it. Might not be a bad idea for the Notre Dame product to take the communication course twice in light of the imaginary girl friend scandal.
The list includes other first-round caliber picks Luke Joeckel (Texas A&M, OT); Geno Smith (West Virginia, QB); Bjoern Werner (Florida State, DE); Matt Barkley (USC, QB); DeAndre Hopkins (Clemson, WR); Tyler Wilson (Arkansas, QB); Sheldon Richardson (Missouri, DT); Tyler Eifert (Notre Dame, TE) and Sharrif Floyd (Florida, DT).
Joeckel and Werner would be great choices for the Eagles, who own the fourth pick in the draft. Below, first draft for Chip Kelly.
Juan Castillo, fired after a 3-3 start as Eagles defensive coordinator last year, has a chance to secure a Super Bowl title ring.
Offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell will remain in that capacity for the Ravens after taking over for Cam Cameron, who Harbaugh fired during the season.
Here's a rundown of what Chip Kelly and the Eagles are doing with their coaching staff, although they aren't confirming it. Follow @BobGrotz on Twitter
For pure football people there's no real middle ground right now withChip Kelly, the new head coach of the Eagles.
You either think the former Oregon coachcan win in the NFL or, well, you wonder what happened the last time he faced Stanford, whose head coach, David Shaw, was an assistant with the Eagles way back in the day.
One analyst believes Kelly could be the biggest bust ever. Click here for his argument.
There's a lot of talk aboutthe low success rate of college head coaches transitioning to the NFL.
The reality is the rate is low for all coaches regardless of NFL experience. Statistics are for losers.
Chip Kelly, who left Oregon to be head coach of the Eagles, sounds anything like Steve Spurrier, the ultra-successful college coach who crashed and burned trying to right the Washington Redskins. Spurrier didn't seem to want to join the NFL fraternity, which is fine.
"I’m
all in," Kelly said at his introductory news conference. "I think it was Cortes who burned the boats. I’ve burned the boats so
I’m not going back. I’m in. I’m an NFL coach and this is where I want to be. If
there was any indecision I wouldn’t have
made the jump. I made the jump and I’m here and I’m excited to be here.”
The boat reference was to Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes, who in 1519 began his conquest of the Aztec empire in Mexico. Cortes burned the ships his team landed in to send the all-in message to the 600 or so men he brought per legend documented in this piece.
It was win or die trying.
Now, that's urgency.
And it sure sounds like Kelly wants his players buying in on that level as well.
You'd think Eagles were hiring a head coach or something.
Who's your quarterback?
All of the other inquiries will fall into place after Chip Kelly addresses this major question.
While I don't necessarily expect Chip Kelly to reveal his plan today, he wouldn't be Chip Kelly if he hadn't figured something like that out before taking the job. He knows how Michael Vick, Nick Foles and even Trent Edwards fit into his plan.
Defensive coordinator is another major question. So is the authority Kelly has on personnel.
Near the end of this video he cracked a joke about being tracked on his flight over as if he was Santa Clause, then kidding that might not be such a great thing considering the history Eagles fans have - wrongfully, diehards know - about booing Santa.
"I hope they don't boo me," Kelly said. "I'm just excited to be here. It's an exciting time and I'm ready to go to work."
C Jason Kelce: "He's a brilliant mind. We have a lot of weapons on the Eagles that kind of assimilates to what he was doing at Oregon."
Jason Kelce.
TE Brent Celek: “I’m real excited. It's obvious by his track record in college how good he was."
Brent Celek.
DT Cullen Jenkins: “He’s a successful person. He’s had a lot of success and anytime you have somebody like that and his desire, he’s going to do whatever it takes for us to be as successful here as well."
WR DeSean Jackson: “Let’s get it! Congrats Coach Kelly, Eagles.”
DE Brandon Graham : “Happy to have Chip Kelly!! Now it's time to get to work!”
S Kurt Coleman: “Welcome Chip Kelly to the Eagles family. Can't wait to see what he brings to the team in 2013!” Follow @BobGrotz on Twitter.
The Eagles and head coaching candidate Gus Bradleyendedat 10 p.m. Tuesday night per the Eagles.
While there was no announcementa deal had been struck, there was no word that the Eagles had been stiffed and Bradley would be packing up his stuff and flying on the Jaguars' dime to Jacksonville.That interview was scheduled for Wednesday. Oh, and thanks, Joe. Appreciate it.
Unless we've all missed something the Eagles are poised to make Gus Bradley, the Seattle Seahawks' defensive coordinator, their new head coach.
There must besome type of agreement of principle in place as Bradley visits the Eagles in Philly for what the team is calling a second interview, but really is not. So what have the Eagles discovered about themselves after anexhaustive interview processin which they were snubbed by the best coaches on their list? A process in which they vowed to turn over every stone but obviously haven't or Jon Gruden would have interviewed?
The Eagles really are as difficult to work with as we know they can be. And the Gold Standard, as we knew it, is no more. To avoid turning this process, if you will, into a common practice it would be a good time to adopt a management model giving a coach like Bradley a fighting chance. That's going to require a thorough, honest outside evaluation, not a meeting in the company board room for lunch.
A Philly area radio talk show host said Monday that Sirius radio reported the Eagles had reached an agreement to hire Gus Bradley, the Seahawks' defensive coordinator, as their next head coach. The Eagles declined to confirm Bradley was the guy, deferring questions to SiriusXM. On an otherwise routine day, SiriusXM Sports Media Relations spokesman Andrew Fitzpatrick checked with his people.
"I can tell you unequivocally it’s not true," Fitzpatrick said. "It doesn’t happen
too often. Every now and again it does and once it picks up speed on Twitter people think it must be true. That's the world we live in. We didn't report it."
Jason La Canfora really stuck the landing with this piece about the Eagles' bizarre search for a head coach. La Canfora blames the nownational failure - Chip Kelly, Brian Kelly and Bill O'Brien pulled themselves out of consideration after lengthy interviews - largely on a front office situation in which he claims general manager Howie Roseman is drunk with power ... something like that.
How-is-he-going-to-do-it?
"I wish I had a dollar for every time someone told me one esteemed coach or another advised one of the Eagles' top candidates not to take the job precisely because of Roseman's presence there," La Canfora wrote. "Roseman isn't the general manager they should tie their wagon to. It's clear Chip Kelly wasn't leaving Oregon for anywhere unless he had a large measure of control over the organization, and owner Jeffrey Lurie has already entrusted that to Roseman.There has been trepidation by some candidates to go all-in given the questions about the existing power structure.
"The rumblings about Roseman lacking nuance and foresight, about him turning people off with how drunk with power he's become only grow louder as his coaching search grows stranger."
It's a powerful piecebased onreality, not the Eagles' perception of reality.
The Eagles are at the turning point. For whatever reason, they cannot see the big picture.
The Eagles interviewed Brian Billick for their head coaching vacancy according to this report citing a source.
The get-together lasted more than eight hours, or about the time it took the TV commentator to defend the 14-year coaching reign of Andy Reid, who was fired because he couldn't win and the Eagles got tired of him.
Billick once intimated the next Eagles head coach wouldn't be as good as Reid. If the Eagles hire Billick, he will be reminded of that each bad move he makes. The offensive-minded Billick won a Super Bowl title with the Baltimore Ravens behind a suffocating defense many argue is the greatest of all time.
But Billick couldn't quite seem to find a quality quarterback during his tour with the Ravens. And that was supposed to be his strength.
The Twittersphere was full of innuendo that Billick merely had done what three college coaches had, which was to interview with the Eagles to leverage his bosses for a raise.
Judge for yourself based on the answers he gave about his interest in an NFL head coaching job. Kelly's remarks were made before Nick Saban and Alabama laid a 42-14 whipping on the Fighting Irish in the BCS championship game. Kelly said all of his focus was on that game. Follow @BobGrotz on Twitter
You knew Chip Kelly had commitment issues before The NFL Network put this video together. Kellydecided to stay at Oregon rather than take a job with the Eagles or the Browns. Someone suggested Oregon's big win over Kansas State last Thursday with fans chanting "four more years" was the difference.
Others are convinced Kelly does whatever Nike CEO Phil Knight wants. Knight is a Ducks booster.
All it means is the Eagles won't get the guy at the top of their short list, although they'll never confirm it.
If you're just a little curious about the face Andy Reid puts on for his new employer tune in here at 2 p,m, for his news conference streamed live on Coveritlive.com. You also can comment interactively during the news conference viewed largely by Chiefs fans, giving your Midwest contemporaries an idea of what they can expect for the next five years.
Extreme civility guarantees an abundance of wide-ranging comments. There also should be polls.
Kelly would have shaken the Eagles up philosophically. They need a culture change. It’s going to be difficult for this team to win right away anticipating
the dramatic changes ahead.
On the other hand Kelly clearly got cold feet. The guy obviously talked a good game in those interviews.
After coming up short on the top pick of their shortlist, the Eagles are on to Plan B ... and possibly Plan C.
Colts assistant Bruce Arians is the most qualified coach on their list. He seemed like a great idea until
his unfortunate illness landed him in the hospital on the eve of his biggest
game. The Eagles have yet to interview Arians.
The Eagles did get together with Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, who likely willbring deposed Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt with him wherever that may be. McCoy has thePeyton Manning seal of approval.
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