What Does Chip Kelly Know That We Don't?
/Truth be told, I love Tim Tebow. I hated him as a Florida Gator, because, well, he was a Florida Gator. And in college he was actually the best player in the NCAA, which is hilarious and shameful. But in the NFL, he was an honest underdog, who's greatest fault was he was too nice and generous with his faith. The funniest thing is that he actually took a team to the playoffs and won a game.
That being said, Tebow is not a good NFL quarterback. He'll be a great cheerleader and look really good holding a clipboard, but he is not good. He might be able to will a team to victory every once in a while, but he does not have the talent to make all the throws in the NFL. Especially the downfield barrage of deep pass plays that Chip Kelly's Eagles have run since he arrived as head coach.
So obviously Kelly wants him on his team.
That quarterback depth chart is looking awfully crowded in Philly — as I explained on our NFL Free Agency podcast — with studs like Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley and now Tebow. I wonder what Vince Young would call this roster? Kelly looks like the guy in your fantasy league that takes two quarterbacks in the first two rounds because he has a new "theory."
Bradford is coming off two consecutive ACL surgeries and hasn't played a regular season game since 2013. Even before those knee tears, he's battled injuries and average to poor performance. This is the guy that Chip wanted over proven starter, Nick Foles. Barkley was once supposed to be the best quarterback in his draft class, but slowly lost a hold on that mark after deciding to return for his senior year. He hasn't really had a chance to prove himself, but he wasn't able to beat out the likes of Foles or the Sanchize in his first two years. Sanchez flamed out in New York, and then look revitalized last year running the Eagles offense after Foles was hurt. But he still isn't exactly inspiring.
The overall theory is that one of these QBs will be used in some kind of maneuver for the Eagles to move up and take Oregon QB Marcus Mariota in the upcoming NFL Draft. My main question is, what other NFL team covets any one of these four quarterbacks? And even if someone is interested, isn't Mariota more promising than them all? What idiot franchise would be willing to trade draft picks for one of these guys?
Oh right, these idiots. (Side note: Just imagine Tebow and Johnny Rehab on the same roster.)
Signing Tebow is the cherry on top of Kelly's crazy 2015 Shopping Bonanza. Whether Tebow makes the roster in August doesn't really matter. You don't add Tim Tebow without welcoming attention. If this roster makeover fails (ultimately costing Kelly his job), most people will think back to the time Chip Kelly signed Tebow and remember that as the moment he jumped the shark.
Each move makes me question everything I thought I knew about conventional NFL roster management. These moves are so crazy that I stop and wonder if Kelly knows something that nobody else does. He has to have a master plan, an endgame. Because the alternative is too humbling and too real: He's clueless.