Leadoff with Lee 12.30.15

By @cleeverizon

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly was fired Tuesday night, just before the end of a disappointing season that had Super Bowl expectations.

The 6-9 Eagles will have their final game of the season coached by former Browns coach Pat Shurmer. The Eagles kept Chip Kelly's firing quiet. Owner Jeff Lurie was able to break it to season ticket holders with an email at 7:12pm Tuesday night. Lurie says that the team will begin the coaching search asap. He, team president Don Smolenski and top executive Howie Roseman will lead the coaching search.Former Bills General Manager Tom Donohoe takes over as the Eagles' Senior director of player personnel after the Chip Kelly firing. Kelly was  26-21 over 3 seasons with a playoff appearance and 2 top-5 offenses.

Chip Kelly's record as an NFL head coach is better than Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Sean Payton & Ron Rivera in their first three seasons. Kelly has two years and roughly $13 million left on his contract. Chip Kelly was the Browns' top and only choice for coach before Rob Chudzinski was picked as a panic replacement in 2013. Vice President of player personnel Ed Marynowitz was also fired. 

Some NFL destinations for Chip Kelly could be Miami, San Francisco, Tennessee and Indianapolis if Chuck Pagano is let go. Todd Haley, Sean McDermott and Josh McDaniels are possible candidates for Eagles head coaching job. Interesting words from Chip Kelly:

Now let's work a possible Chip Kelly/Browns scenario: Browns name Kelly as the new head coach. He already has stated he doesn't want be the personnel de facto general manager. Why not let him help select the new general manager? It's not as odd as you may think. When a coach assists in hiring a new general manager they are on the same page with and trust each other. Andy Reid reunited with Ron Dorsey from Green Bay when they were apart of the coaching staff and was named general manager in Kansas City, Pete Carroll helped hire John Schneider as general manager in Seattle. Could that model  work in Cleveland? Possibly. But would that come under the consultation of Ron Wolf? That also means the Browns clean house and fire Farmer and Pettine. What other choices do the Browns have right now?