Philadelphia Eagles players, they’re just like us! At least when it came to how they found out Chip Kelly was fired/released as their head coach Tuesday evening.
While the writing has been on the wall for some time, the move was shocking in it’s timing. In-season firings are all the rage in college football these days but few expected that trend to carry over into the NFL.
The move was so surprising that most players found out either via Twitter or from reporters asking them what they thought about the move. According to NJ.com, the Eagles did not tell players beforehand and Kelly did not meet with any of them either. He actually didn’t get the chance.
Initial anonymous player reactions streamed in. One was “pissed.” When asked if he knew this was coming, another player responded “none whatsoever.” A third replied with the standard, “it’s a business.” Then, the confused reactions began to pour in.
#Eagles player reaction to Chip being fired: “I’m pissed”. Had no idea it was coming. — Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) December 30, 2015
The Eagles cut linebacker Emmanuel Acho for the second time during 2015 and the timing of his tweet leads one to believe there’s some serious subtweet game going on here:
Julian Vandervelde isn’t currently on the Eagles staff but considering Chip Kelly signed and released him multiple times this year, he started thinking ahead:
Former Eagles linebacker Jamar Chaney, who was cut under Kelly’s watch, also chimed in with his thoughts:
Kelly certainly hasn’t earned a reputation as a player’s coach so those reactions are expected. But given that the season isn’t over and some of the current players assuredly do like Kelly, it’s not a surprise to see a mixture of anger and frustration as well.
[NJ.com]