Chip Not Chatty: ‘When We Find the Right Guy’

MOBILE, Ala. — Chip Kelly departed the sideline at Fairhope Municipal Stadium Tuesday afternoon at about 4:25 and headed for the exit.

Other than a TV appearance before the Oregon-Ohio State game, the Eagles’ head coach has been silent publicly since the day after the season ended. So as he made his stroll, Kelly was swarmed by a handful of reporters looking to sneak a couple questions in. But he didn’t break stride and said he was headed to his hotel to shower.

Kelly is looking to get quite a few things accomplished at the Senior Bowl. He needs to find a quarterbacks coach. He needs to scout. And he needs to hire a personnel executive to be his right-hand man.

Asked if he had a timetable for the hire, Kelly pretended the question was about his shower and predicted five minutes. Eventually, he offered, “When we find the right guy.”

Not in a chatty mood. Did sign autographs for fans on his way out though. pic.twitter.com/YeMFXcfqjJ

— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) January 20, 2015

During the earlier practice, Kelly parked himself in the end zone alongside Billy Davis. From time to time, others would stop by to say hello: Scott Pioli, Thomas Dimitroff, NFL Network’s Alex Flanagan. But Kelly likes to scout, and so that’s what he was doing for most of the day.

As for the personnel exec search, there are a couple notes worth mentioning:

Ed Marynowitz said he hasn’t interviewed for #Eagles “GM” opening. Don’t know if he was being modest, but said he didn’t expect to get one. — Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 20, 2015

For what it’a worth, there are people here who think the #Eagles were ready to hire Brian Gaine for personnel job, b4 Texans promoted him.

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) January 20, 2015

But as we’ve mentioned earlier, the process appears to be ongoing with no clear-cut favorite.

THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

One nugget we gleaned has to do with the interviews that take place here. Each evening at the hotel headquarters, teams are given the chance to chat with certain players. From what we could gather, Kelly places great importance on these interviews and has his entire coaching staff get involved.

The whole #culture thing is still very real. He wants to address personality/behavioral concerns early in the process. The Eagles haven’t taken a real “character risk” in two drafts under Kelly. And by all accounts, that’s not going to change this offseason.

LEFTOVERS

Speaking of interviews, some team officials approach players on the field right after practice. While I was waiting to interview a prospect, I witnessed the following exchange.

Official: So you got a girl, right?

Prospect: Yeah.

Official: She the one?

Prospect: Yeah, she’s the one.

Official: So if we draft you, she’d come with you?

Prospect: Oh yeah.

I think we’d all be seriously terrified and disgusted if we found out how much information these teams had on draft prospects.

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Everyone involved with the Senior Bowl has to wear a credential around their neck. Some coaches/scouts/personnel people don’t have a team listed on their passes. The reason? They are unemployed and looking for jobs. On the sidelines during practices, there are a lot of people catching up with old acquaintances, and in many cases, they are looking to see if their old pal might have a job opening.

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I tweeted this out earlier, but in case you missed it:

If there were ever any doubts about my glamorous lifestyle, I present to you my ride for the week in Mobile. pic.twitter.com/ZST4PTDgiz — Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) January 20, 2015

When that bad boy hits 70 on the highway, you really feel like you have the whole world at your fingertips.