Chip Kelly wasn’t the only new face in the draft room for the Eagles this year.
In mid-February, the team brought Tom Gamble in as vice president of player personnel.
Asked about Gamble’s input, Kelly said, “It was really valuable. I knew Tommy from when he was with the 49ers because he was on our campus all the time at Oregon.”
Howie Roseman did not dispute harsh criticism of Geno Smith that was published in a recent Pro Football Weekly scouting report.
The Eagles’ GM also offered his thoughts on this year’s safety class and explained how the team uses social media as part of its evaluation process.
Howie Roseman has been hesitant to offer a straight answer.
Perhaps he doesn’t want to feed into the perception that he’s a power-hungry GM looking for maximum control. Or maybe it’s just a matter of Chip Kelly wanting the organization to project a team-oriented approach in all aspects of the operation.
But asked many times over the past few months who has the final say on draft picks, Roseman has provided different variations of the same response.
When the offseason started, it seemed likely that Tom Gamble would leave the 49ers and go to another team to become a general manager.
But that didn’t happen, and instead, he landed with the Eagles as vice president of player personnel. When the move was announced, an obvious question was: Why would the 49ers allow Gamble to make what appeared to be a lateral move?
“There’s a lot that went into that decision,” said 49ers general manager Trent Baalke Thursday morning at the Combine. “Tom and I have been friends for a long time and have worked together for an awful long time. It was a chance for him to get home.”
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Look closely, and you’ll see a pattern forming that speaks directly to Chip Kelly‘s plan of attack.
Offensive line coach, assistant offensive line coach; tight ends coach, assistant tight ends coach. Defensive line coach, assistant defensive line coach. And so on. There is a strength and conditioning coach, and a sports science coordinator to complement him. Kelly himself has former head coach Pat Shurmur on his wing.
Even the pair of linebacker coaches might not be all about the expected switch to a 3-4.
As defensive coordinator Billy Davis puts it: “We have two guys for every position.”
And now, Tom Gamble enters the fray to double-down on the personnel side in a big way.
The Eagles are trying to build a Super Bowl contender, and are calling on an old friend who has experience doing just that.
The team announced Wednesday that have hired Tom Gamble to become the team’s Vice President of Player Personnel.
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Sheil Kapadia has been writing about the Eagles since 2008. His previous Philly.com blog, Moving the Chains, was named one of the best in the state by the Associated Press. Sheil's main joys in life are family, football and finding good parking spots.
Tim McManus is a bulldog reporter with a nose for news and story angles that will get people talking. He'll talk about it himself on 97.5 The Fanatic, where he serves as a host and Eagles beat reporter. Tim, an award-winning journalist, will be with the team around the clock.
