Chip Kelly will make a transition this fall from coaching on the sidelines to analyzing games in the television booth for ESPN.
The former Philadelphia Eagles head coach sat down with his new co-worker Adam Schefter about his new challenge of doing television. Chip seems excited at the opportunity to study new trends and see where the game is going.
He also spoke about a couple of the hot button issues from his days with the Eagles. Those were the days before Carson Wentz was the quarterback in Philly so the Birds were always in search of a franchise quarterback.
"It is the most important position on a football team," Kelly said of the quarterback position. "When you have a good one, everybody else becomes a better player."
"That’s why everybody is always looking for the next great one."
Perhaps the Eagles' most hyped hypothetical from the Chip era was the inability to trade up to get Marcus Mariota from the Tennessee Titans in 2013. Schefter asked Chip if there was anything they could have done differently to land Mariota in Philly.
"No," Chip said. "From all the conversations with Tennessee, they weren’t moving off the pick. Rightly so. They were looking for the same thing to get themselves a really top quality quarterback. We didn’t really get into a conversation about what we could or couldn’t offer.
NFL
"We didn’t offer anything because they weren’t taking any offers for it. I would have loved to coach him."
A couple of other areas of interest to Philly fans:
On night Shady got traded
"That was one of those deals where the trade had been initiated but not approved yet from the league. Before anything ever got approved, we weren’t going to say or comment or do anything in that situation. Then obviously the story got out before we ever had a chance to communicate with the guys being traded. I never got the chance to talk to LeSean before he got traded. I always say that’s on us."
Is Chip done with coaching? Could he see return to coaching?
"I’m excited about what I’m going to do for ESPN then I’m going to see what happens after that. I don’t have any set plans how long I’m going to do anything. We all like to think we have control of our lives but we really don’t. The unknown really keeps you going. It gives you a little bit of energy, a little bit of juice. I know what I’m going to be doing in the fall. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing after that."
On the Running of the Bulls in Spain
"Everybody is dressed the same. You usually have a white t-shirt and a red bandana. When I was in the ring for maybe 20 minutes, it was hot, I'm trying to figure out how many bulls are left. I'm ready for this thing to end. Out of the corner of my eye, in the middle of Pamplona, Spain, I saw a guy in a Tim Tebow jersey in the middle of the ring. I decided to stay near him. No bull was going to go near Tim Tebow, so no bull is going to go near me."
You can listen to the full Chip Kelly with Adam Schefter podcast right here.