Chip Kelly Reportedly Tells Players He Has No Authority Over Their Contracts

Since Chip Kelly had Howie Roseman relegated to the janitor’s closet, there’s been no doubt who’s in charge of player personnel in Philadelphia. All of the roster moves this offseason — Foles for Bradford, McCoy for Alonso, dumping Cary Williams and Evan Mathis — have had the coach’s fingerprints all over them. Nevertheless, according to a report from Philly.com’s Jeff McClane Kelly’s been denying he has responsibility over player contracts:

As McClane points out, this is going to be a tight rope for Kelly. The coach needs selfless buy-in from his players, and risks isolating them if they think they’re getting the runaround, which this sure sounds like. You can get away with this sort of chicanery if you’re Bill Belichick and you’ve got the Super Bowl pedigree, but it can also be a chicken-or-the-egg thing. This upcoming season for the Eagles remains fascinating on so many levels.