A year after Chip Kelly was fired by the Eagles, he was fired by the 49ers just one season in to his new gig. Other than mastering the art of getting paid by two teams, he also found new and creative ways to be hated by his players.
Really hated. It seems barely any of Kelly's former pupils from Philadelphia can stand him, like Trent Cole, who tweeted that Kelly should be sent back to daycare.
It's pretty clear Kelly hasn't worked out in the NFL, in large part due to how he treated his locker room. Kelly found that if he can't get his players to respect him, it's tough to get them to play for him. He didn't help matters when he shipped highly useful players like LeSean McCoy out of town for little return or unceremoniously cut DeSean Jackson and allowed him to go to the rival Redskins.
In that way, Kelly was the opposite of his predecessor in Philadelphia, Andy Reid. Reid was the ultimate players' coach. You can say what you will about his playoff struggles or his clock management, but he got his players to compete for him while still being able to impose discipline.
McCoy has now seen that contrast even more clearly with his experience under the enigmatic Rex Ryan. Here's what McCoy had to say when asked if his Buffalo Bills need to hire a disciplinarian to replace Ryan.
"We need somebody that you're going to respect the coach, whatever he wants, we're going to get done," McCoy said, citing Reid as an "excellent" example. "Once you have a leader you respect, it's easy to follow. That's never been a problem with me for sure, no matter who the coach is, but everybody's different."
He added that Reid "lets his players show their true emotions and lets players show their true personalities," something that's key in an NFL locker room. So after two failed Chip experiments and another Ryan firing, there's another reason to appreciate what Reid brought to the table in Philly and now brings in Kansas City.