UPDATES: Um
A league source sensing something is hardly anything… but if you need me, I’ll be over in the corner, voiding my bowels until we hear more.
UPDATE: The silence coming from the Eagles is deafening right now, but Florio, on with Jon and Sean on 97.5, wouldn’t say anything specific – “I don’t know” – and spoke in vagaries. He did mention, hypothetically, the Eagles trading Chip Kelly to another team (seriously). The other “report” has come from someone with 700 Twitter followers. So until Eagles beat reporters (who right now can’t do much more than complain about their lack of access) or a legit NFL stooge report something, let’s just pump the brakes on hysteria. It might be warranted, but there’s hardly anything concrete at the moment. And stuff like this – from a credentialed beat writer – is not only fueling the fire, but it’s 100% inaccurate:
#Eagles coach Chip Kelly could be gone. Multiple reports have him asking out of contract. Oh boy!!
— Nick Fierro (@NickFierro) January 2, 2015
Something might be up, but at this point, it is almost all pure speculation. Then again… that’s how the DeSean stuff started, and it ended with him kicking an imaginary bird after he helped eliminate the Eagles from playoff contention. So, you know, I’ll still be over here in the corner…
UPDATE 2: Things got nutty when Darren DeGaetano, “formerly of WIP,” reported that Chip expressed interest in getting out of his contract. Nothing against Darren – he may be right – but he’s hardly a rock solid source on this sort of thing:
FootballScoop.com picked up on that first one, sent this thing into the stratosphere, and then, in the process, incorrectly cited a Bleacher Report writer who wrote “it’s happening”– not as a report, but as his own commentary on DeGaetano’s report:
A few minutes later, they deleted that second part:
And then, more smoke, finally from legitimate reporters:
Mike Florio speculated recklessly:
No one knows at this point. Kelly may have told owner Jeffrey Lurie that either Kelly goes or Roseman goes. Lurie may have responded by deciding to move on from Roseman, who previously won a power struggle with former team president Joe Banner, Lurie’s boyhood friend. Or Lurie may have responded by telling Kelly that both guys are staying, and that Kelly remains under contract for three years.
But then Tim McManus, one of the best in the business:
You don’t want to come near this corner right now.
UPDATE 3: Sal Pal has now weighed in, shatting his 15 minutes of contractually-obligated nonsensities onto 97.5’s airwaves. He started off not as Outrageous Hype Sal, but instead as Dickhead Sal, pretending like he didn’t know what was going on because the “reports” have been mostly speculation. Agreed. Sal Pal and I finally agree on something! Of course, just seconds after criticizing rampant speculation, Sal himself began to speculate, concocting a dozen or so theories as to what may have happened between Chip, Howie and Tom Gamble. At one point he even created a hypothetical conversation that may have taken place, I think in a cafeteria, or a parking lot. Whatever. It was all part of his Jenga tower of speculation, constructed atop a snack table with a missing leg– a tale of interoffice politicking so complicated that even Francis Underwood would’ve been put off by all the scheming. The phrases “toothpaste back in the tube,” “demilitarized zone,” and “important constituency” came up. Why? Fuck knows. Sal’s a jackass. But he still had a few minutes of air left to fill, so he turned into Melodramatic Sal (the worst of all the Sals), bloviating about how the Eagles have a PR crisis and that PR 101 would dictate that the Eagles need to hold a joint press conference (great idea, Sal!) because people sitting on 95 will stop buying jerseys or something. I don’t know.
In more sane reporting, Tim McManus insinuated heavily that this big move has nothing to do with Chip or Howie leaving:
A likely conclusion to jump to is that either Chip Kelly or Howie Roseman are on their way out. Our understanding is that there is a move forthcoming, but it does not involve the departure of either Kelly or Roseman. Logic suggests that it will be front-office related.
And just in case this all isn’t crazy enough, there is now a report out of San Francisco that the 49ers will not trade for Chip Kelly. Back to my corner.
