NFL Philadelphia Eagles

Trent Dilfer Touting Chip Kelly as NFL’s Best Coach is Visionary

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By @Tweets_ByJ

Chip Kelly

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The Philadelphia Eagles are off to a fast start this season, beginning 2-0 with both of those wins coming in thrilling comebacks. That deserves a lot of praise from analysts but no praise is higher than what Trent Dilfer said about Eagles coach Chip Kelly. Dilfer touted Kelly as the “best coach I’ve ever studied.” This high praise may be seen as crazy by some, but Dilfer isn’t that far off.

I think most people believe that Bill Belichick is the best coach in the current NFL, possibly ever, and there is not much of an argument against it. He has won five Super Bowls and has a winning percentage well over .600. He knows how to coach on offense, defense and special teams. He has made players into stars. The man is just the ideal NFL coach. But who is the best NFL coach when Belichick is gone?

The title as best coach could be handed to Kelly when Belichick is no longer relevant. One thing needed to be a great coach is to be an innovator. You need to be ahead of the curve. Kelly is the most innovative coach in the NFL right now, instituting his high pace, big play offense in the NFL and making it work when not many thought it would.

Another top quality a great coach has is to get the best out of his players. Kelly’s offense has brought out the best of LeSean McCoy and Nick Foles, making them stars in the league. But more importantly, he takes players who have been cast aside and makes them relevant again. Darren Sproles was thought to be old and over the hill in his NFL career before being traded to Philadelphia. Sproles is now lighting up the scoreboard and showing explosiveness that he hasn’t shown in years. Mark Sanchez was possibly the worst starting QB in the NFL two seasons ago, but in Kelly’s offense this preseason, he looked like the player taken No. 5 overall in the 2009 NFL Draft.

That is all a testament of Kelly’s coaching. He knows how to put his players in the best possible position to succeed. But Kelly is not a finished product as a coach yet. Notice how none of the players Kelly has rejuvenated and none of his innovative philosophy has to do with the defensive side of the ball. Kelly’s defense is not up to par with NFL standards and that is holding his team back from becoming a true super power in the league.

Despite the lack of defense, Kelly has still led his team to the playoffs in his first year as a head coach in the league. So it can be said that Kelly has another quality that all great coaches have. He knows how to win despite his weaknesses. He knows how to cover up the weakness of his defense and still win games. And once he gets the defense fixed, he will begin to win even more important games, all the way up to the Super Bowl.

Kelly is an up-and-coming coach in the NFL. He’s the most innovative coach in the league today and can locate underrated or discarded players that can help his team. But that currently only extends to the offensive side of the ball. He is only in his second year as a head coach in the league, so there is time to improve that aspect of coaching. And last year he proved that he could still win while he develops as a coach.

It may be too early to call Kelly the best coach in the league, but he has all of the ingredients to become that one day. Trent Dilfer is just being a visionary by throwing out this high praise this early in Kelly’s career.

Justin Broyles is a Pirates writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @Tweets_ByJ, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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