Can Michael Vick and Chip Kelly work together?

Chip Kelly will still be wearing green in 2013. By Abdoozy (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

After 14 years in Philadelphia, the Andy Reid era is finally over. During the offseason, the Eagles worked to find a “big name” coach for a replacement. Former Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly seemed to fit perfectly as the coach of this team, which had an awful season last year due to a mixture of injuries and poor performance. The spread offense system that he incorporated into the Ducks made them one of the nation’s top offensive teams, would now be brought into the NFL. Under Kelly, the Ducks ranked second in points per game (49.6) and third in rushing (315.2 yards per game) while the Eagles ranked 13^th in the NFL with 117.1 rushing yards per game.

But college is much different than the NFL. I realize that but rushing for over 300 yards per game in the NCAA is almost equivalent to being in the top five rushing teams in the NFL. What Kelly was able to accomplish at Oregon was astonishing and he will try to duplicate that success in Philadelphia. The Eagles addressed the first question — that of which quarterback will run Kelly’s offense — by re-signing quarterback Michael Vick.

Vick had a down year compared to his previous two in Philadelphia but that was due to injuries I believe. Many people questioned whether he would even be back in Philly since rookie Nick Foles showed some promise for the Eagles in Vick’s absence last season. But Vick is better suited to run Kelly’s run-n-gun style of offense so management decided to restructure Vick’s contract and give him a one-year deal worth about $10 million. In my opinion this was a very smart move by Eagles management. They gave Vick one more shot to prove he should be the quarterback of this team after four uneventful seasons. He has a new coach and a new offensive system so what better way to prove himself? If he were to fail in Kelly’s system then the Eagles still have Kelly inked for four additional years and could build a whole new team around his offense schemes. Plus, the Eagles have the fourth overall pick in this April’s upcoming draft so that isn’t too shabby either.

If Vick and the rest of the Eagles team can stay healthy then I believe that they can be very deadly on the offensive side of the ball. With some improvements on defense, the Eagles could easily be back on top as a title contender. Kelly’s spread offense may find some difficulty gaining traction in the NFL, but Kelly is a smart coach and I hope it does work out for him. The Eagles hope to have Kelly repeat the same type of success that he had coaching college football and if all the pieces can fit together then maybe this team can finally show us some of that “dream team”, that Vince Young was blabbering about a few years ago.