The former president of the Philadelphia Eagles, Joe Banner, is no stranger to controversy. While he presided over the longest tenure of success in franchise history, Banner was often a lightning rod for fans, who derisively named him Joe "Nickels" Banner for his penchant for low balling fan favorites in contract negotiations.
His exit from the Eagles was shocking and ugly. Joe Banner was a childhood friend of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie. So when he was forced out in favor of Howie Roseman, both sides took it personally.
Despite his messy exit, it seems that Banner has taken an interest in following the Eagles again. He spoke glowingly of the moves the Eagles have made this offseason in an interview with the Monday Morning Quarterback.
Regarding the significant roster turnover: "I’m surprised, just because it’s out of the norm for the league, but it shouldn’t be. So in that sense, in my mind, it’s good to see somebody using the system and thinking of the team in a way that you can do this. It’s obviously not something you are going to do every year, but I think it’s overdue to see teams working the system this way."
On how Kelly differs from his counterparts in the NFL: "There is a tremendous emphasis put on continuity in the NFL. There is a tremendous emphasis put on people that know how to do what you want them to do. And that is important, but it can become overrated, and then teams become afraid of making moves. I know Chip believes [continuity] matters, too. Anybody in the NFL that has knowledge believes that. But you can take the point too far, and then you get paralyzed. I think Chip saw an opportunity here, with him being relatively still new in his tenure, with a system he is still implementing, to not feel like he was unable to radically change the roster to be more conforming to what he wants he do, and not overrate the importance of continuity. I think that’s what’s refreshing here. That’s good. I think it’s smart."
Banner went onto say that he believes other NFL teams may soon follow Kelly's approach. While it is reasonable to have doubts given the underwhelming success other teams have had spending big in free agency, it is clear that the rest of the league is watching with eager anticipation. Kelly has already blazed a trail in terms of his up-tempo spread offense to great success. It remains to be seen whether this approach to team building will mirror that success.
On Kelly's decision to sign Murray after trading McCoy: The fact that he’s not a guy who dances around. And I think in the way that Chip’s offense creates holes, he’s better off with a guy that doesn’t run around. But in most offenses, the fact that McCoy is so elusive and can cut so quickly is a huge asset. In Chip’s specific offense, it isn’t as important as it will be in Buffalo, for example. He’s just looking for something a little bit different. He’s looking for a big guy that is going to hit the hole and go… I’m not saying that one is better than the other. It’s just that, originally people thought Chip let McCoy go because he didn’t want to spend an average of about $8.5 million on a running back over the next three years. Well now it turns out he is willing to spend about $8.5 million over the next three years for a running back, it’s just a different running back. It says he prefers Murray to McCoy. It wasn’t about the money; it wasn’t about anything else. He just thinks [Murray] fits better in this system."
We have heard this rumor before: that Kelly believed McCoy's running style did not fit his offense. And from the looks of the respective contracts of Murray and McCoy, that seems true. Although it should be noted that McCoy counted for approximately $12 million on the Eagles cap this year, which is almost the same as the Eagles are now paying DeMarco Murray ($8.4), Ryan Mathews ($3.3) and Kiko Alonso ($700,000). So money might have played at least a part of Kelly's thought process.
On Kelly's faith in his sport science program: "The most interesting thing to me that is reflected here that really isn’t getting talked about is his faith in his sports science work. He’s got Murray, [Walter] Thurmond and [Sam] Bradford, three players that, if they stay very healthy, I personally don’t think there is any doubt he has increased the talent on this roster in a meaningful way. On the other hand, all three of them, history says, have a pretty good chance of getting hurt. So he’s basically betting that his sports science work is going to keep those three guys who have a history of missing games healthy."
No doubt Kelly is taking a risk here. Murray, Thurmond, Bradford, Mathews, and Alonso are either coming off significant injuries or have a history of being injured. Kelly's sports science program will be put to the test this year. How well it helps solve the injury bug for each player will go a long way towards determining how successful the Eagles will be in 2015 and beyond.
On whether the Eagles will trade for Marcus Mariota: "That’s a hard question for me, because I do believe [Kelly] loves Mariota, and I do believe he’d love to have him. But I believe his actions here make it less likely that’s his plan. The Bradford move and the giving up of draft picks, as opposed to trying to add them. But I am not ruling it out, myself."
This rumor just won't die, will it? A lot of people thought it ended after the Eagles traded for Sam Bradford. And to his credit, Chip Kelly tried his best to put the issue to rest when he refuted the claim that he would trade up for Mariota. And with Mariota's reported inconsistent performance during his pro day, many people think he could drop during draft day. That will only increase the speculation that the Eagles will land him. So don't expect it to go away anytime soon.
Patrick Causey is a writer for Eagledelphia.com and can be followed on Twitter @PhillysportsJD
