PHILADELPHIA -- Chip Kelly, the guy whose motto used to be "win the day," certainly won this day.
Kelly gained control of the Philadelphia Eagles' personnel decisions, reversing a policy that team owner Jeff Lurie implemented after deciding he'd given former coach Andy Reid too much power. Kelly's increased responsibility comes at the expense of Howie Roseman, who was kicked upstairs from general manager to executive vice president with no control over player personnel.
It appears that Roseman miscalculated earlier in the week. He fired Kelly's ally, vice president for player personnel Tom Gamble, on Tuesday. There was silence from the NovaCare Complex for two days, which created a frenzy of speculation on social media. On Friday evening, the word came down: After meeting with the principals, Lurie decided to reorganize the team's front office according to Kelly's specifications.
Kelly "articulated a dynamic and clear vision on how this fully integrated approach will work," Lurie said in a prepared statement. "We look forward to seeing it come to life over time."
A decade and a half ago, Lurie made a similar call. He fired his director of football operations, Tom Modrak, and gave control of player personnel decisions to Reid. Reid then hired Tom Heckert from the Miami Dolphins to be his top personnel man. Kelly will get to make a similar hire now.
That dynamic worked well for some time. The Eagles went to four consecutive NFC championship games and five in eight years. They reached the Super Bowl after the 2004 season.
That arrangement fell apart after Heckert departed. Roseman became the top personnel man, eventually getting promoted to general manager in 2011. It was under this arrangement that team president Joe Banner was ousted in 2012. Reid was fired after the 2012 season.
Kelly was hired two years ago. He said at the time that he was a coach, not a personnel man. The Eagles hired Gamble soon after. Kelly knew Gamble, and he quickly became a buffer between the coach and Roseman.
Roseman was reportedly angered by Kelly's comments Monday. He called Gamble a "heck of a football guy" and said Roseman's "strength" was managing the salary cap. Gamble was fired the next day.
That left Lurie in a tough spot. Kelly has gone 20-12 in his first two seasons in the NFL. The Eagles' entire football operation is built around Kelly's approach -- which includes sports science innovations, as well as football philosophy. Kelly was said to be very upset about Gamble's firing. With regular speculation that Kelly might be jumping back to a high-profile collegiate coaching job, Lurie had to find a way to smooth things over.
His solution was to remove personnel control from Roseman, extending his contract while giving his power to the head coach.
Now Lurie has to hope Kelly was wrong, that he is an adept personnel man. Lurie said Sunday, after the Eagles finished their season with a 10-6 record, that it would be very tough to take the next step, to go from good to great. He has now given that task to Kelly.
If nothing else, it should make for an interesting offseason. Kelly's former quarterback, Oregon's Heisman-winning Marcus Mariota, is likely to be the first pick in the 2014 draft. That has led to much speculation that the Eagles would try to trade up and draft Mariota. Will they try? Will they stay the course with Nick Foles?
That decision is all Kelly's. He won the day. There are more challenging days ahead.