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THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ers have today hired Chip Kelly to be their new head coach.
Kelly was fired by the Philadelphia Eagles before the end of the season after overseeing poor recruitment decisions that led the Eagles to flop after consecutive winning seasons.
Kelly favours a high-tempo, ultra-creative attacking strategy that was best demonstrated during his time with the University of Oregon.
Signs of that same sort of excitement were evident at the Eagles in his first two seasons at the helm, however, once he was handed the reins as general manager in addition to being coach, the Eagles began to crumble.
“After a thorough search, Trent and I are thrilled to announce Chip Kelly as the new head coach of the 49ers,” 49ers CEO Jed York said on Twitter, referring to the team’s general manager, Trent Baalke.
The 49ers job was one of four teams with coaching vacancies that had been linked to Kelly, including the Tennessee Titans, the New York Giants, and the Cleveland Browns. Kelly was one of two finalists for the 49ers job, along with former Broncos and Washington coach Mike Shanahan.
While Kelly is a big name that should get the fans excited, there is probably nobody happier than quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
With the hiring of Kelly, Kaepernick just went from an ugly spot where he had lost his job and was probably going to be cut, to a situation where he is almost certainly going to be the starter again.
More importantly, Kaepernick will now likely get to keep his $126 (€116) million contract and get a chance to earn some of the $100.1 (€92.1) million he would have lost if he had been cut.
Kaepernick, who nearly won a Super Bowl in 2012 with the 49ers, would seem ideally suited to run Kelly’s read-option offence and the pair could thrive together now that Kelly has a mobile signal-caller.
According to Ian Rapoport, Kelly liked the idea of coaching Kaepernick so much that acquiring him became part of the process in determining where he would coach next.
“As he plotted potential moves & his next NFL stop, Chip Kelly was trying to figure out how to trade for/sign Colin Kaepernick,” Rapoport wrote on Twitter. “No need now.”
Meanwhile, just hours after reports said the two sides were nearing a deal, Tom Coughlin has taken himself out of consideration for the head coaching job of the Philadelphia Eagles.
– Cork Gaines
