The Eagles Have Been a Fetid Mess Since Firing Chip Kelly

The Eagles fired Chip Kelly on December 29th, sent his chosen personnel guy Ed Marynowitz out with him, and brought Howie Roseman out of exile. In their coaching search, they may have violated the spirit of the Rooney Rule before landing on Doug Pederson, who immediately sought to defend the indefensible Chiefs clock management in his introductory presser.

Today, Geoff Mosher reports that the team is suspending their search for a personnel executive to complement Roseman, Pederson, and former Bills and Steelers GM Tom Donahoe until after the Draft. Mosher elaborated on some of the reasons for this, and the issues that causes going forward:

"Teams don’t normally allow an experienced, senior executive to walk out their doors about one month from free agency and less than three months from the draft. So the Eagles, who are marching forward with first-time head coach Doug Pederson, have temporarily suspended their search, which is significant for two reasons: 1) Even with the team’s insistence upon a “collaborative” process, executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman will have final say on all of this year’s free-agent signings and draft selections. 2) The Eagles are prepping for free agency and the draft with an incomplete scouting department, one that also lacks a college scouting director."

Whatever plan the Eagles had when they fired Chip Kelly evidently failed to come to fruition, and what was already looking like a painful rebuilding process could be prolonged by this.