The Philadelphia Eagles completed extensions this week with Zach Ertz, Brent Celek and Lane Johnson, with one reportedly on the horizon for Fletcher Cox, which firmly seemed to move them into the next era of Eagles' football. Whether the face of this era will be Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson or a player remains to be seen, but the post Chip Kelly era is beginning to take shape.
Still, fans will probably spend quite some time trying to understand why Kelly's tenure as a coach failed, and what other routes the Eagles could have gone in 2013 that would have potentially led to more success.
Current Jacksonville Jaguars' coach Gus Bradley, who many feel should have been fired after this season, seemed on the cusp of getting the Eagles' job before Kelly re-entered the picture and was eventually hired. According to ESPN's Adam Caplan, the team also coveted then Penn State coach and current Houston Texans' coach Bill O'Brien.
.@caplannfl says the Eagles 'loved' Bill O'Brien in 2013. Says it was "either or" with him or Chip Kelly.
— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) January 30, 2016
Caplan said this in his weekly radio show on 97.5 The Fanatic with Joe DeCamera. The show is still going on, so the podcast of it is not currently available.
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Caplan, who has mentioned this before, didn't elaborate how much further on the point, which leaves some of the dots to be connected.
Caplan did report at that time that the Eagles met with O'Brien to interview him in 2013, though O'Brien's agent was quick to suggest at that time that talks never got serious. At that time, Around The NFL's Gregg Rosenthal opined that because of issues with what was a reportedly expensive buy-out clause in his contract and that he probably didn't want to bolt from Penn State less than a year after he signed on, he stayed in the college ranks.
Of course, a year later he did leave Penn State to become the Texans' coach. So what was different? For one, he probably realized that he was more interested in being an NFL coach after two years in college, but he also probably found the NFL job that he viewed as the most attractive one that he had been presented with.
In 2013, the San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns were among the teams that reportedly contacted O'Brien. Given that the Chargers had a still relatively young Philip Rivers at that time, it's hard to imagine what prevented him from taking that job. But the Cardinals and Browns weren't that attractive at that time (the Browns still aren't), and though the Eagles should have been, they apparently weren't.
According to a 2013 report from David Jones of PennLive.com, the Eagles may have entered their interview with O'Brien fighting an uphill battle.
A potential sticking point for O'Brien regarding the Eagles job could be their new general manager Howie Roseman. The club's 37-year-old salary cap guru is known to be held in low regard by O'Brien's mentor, Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and by another strong O'Brien contact, former Broncos head coach and Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels.
It's worth noting, this perception of Roseman seems to have advanced, not died-down since that time. Roseman's presence may have prevented the Eagles from showing interest in McDaniels this off-season, or even New England Patriots' defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
As for O'Brien, the jury may still be out on him as an NFL coach. He's gone 18-14 in two seasons with the Texans, including helping them sneak into the playoffs in a bad division this season. He's an offensive coach who inherited a great defense, and also brought a very good defensive coordinator with him in Romeo Crennel.
Thus far, him and offensive coordinator George Godsey have struggled to develop a quarterback, though they have been handed what amounts to a barren wasteland of talent to work with. DeAndre Hopkins has thrived in O'Brien's system, though how the rest of his tenure goes will depend on what he's able to develop around his elite young receiver.
In theory, it seems fairly safe to suggest that the Eagles would have been better off hiring O'Brien than Kelly in 2013, but things could seem very different a year from now. At the same point that O'Brien is at, Kelly had been to a playoff game and won more regular season games than O'Brien has. It's hard to imagine things imploding in year three for O'Brien, but it was hard to imagine things imploding to this degree for Kelly in one calendar year.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is an editorial assistant for Eagledelphia.com.
