Celek: Eagles’ New Methods Will ‘Change the League’


The Eagles have only had two days of practice under Chip Kelly, but count tight end Brent Celek among the players who are already impressed.

Celek was a fifth-round pick in 2007, only knew one way of doing things through his first six seasons, but is now seeing some sweeping changes at the NovaCare Complex.

The one aspect that has Celek’s attention so far is the way the offense will now call plays. He didn’t want to divulge too many details, but with Kelly’s focus on tempo, there appears to no longer be time for lengthy play-calls.

“From a communications standpoint, it’s going to change the league,” Celek said. “I’m not going to tell you guys how, but it will. Just the way that they can communicate plays in and get us the stuff, it’s pretty cool. It’s something that I never even thought was possible in the NFL. Seeing the stuff he’s doing, he has a reason why he does everything that he does, and a reason why each play is called what it is. And it all makes sense.

“I can’t say that we’re going to be super successful, but from a communications standpoint, it’s insane. I think it’s awesome.”

Greg A. Bedard of The Boston Globe wrote last year about the Patriots’ use of a one-word no-huddle, which was influenced, at least partly, by Kelly.

“Yeah, but it’s deeper than that. Like I said, I’m not going to get into it, but there’s a reason why he calls everything the way he calls it,” Celek said. “It’s pretty cool. It’s all thought out to the Nth degree.”

As Chris Brown of Grantland explained back in November, Kelly’s offense has three different speeds, but the point is to get to the line of scrimmage quickly and keep the defense on its heels.

“It’s almost like you don’t even have time to think about the last play because you’re on to the next one. It’s just forget about it, forget about it,” Celek said.

More offensive players will be made available to the media on the final day of the Eagles’ mini-camp on Thursday.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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