Marynowitz a better fit with Chip Kelly

When Chip Kelly was given full control over the Eagles and Howie Roseman was left in his wake, Ed Marynowitz said he went to the coach and offered his support.

Marynowitz was the highest-ranking member of the personnel department after Roseman was stripped of his general's manager title in January and after Roseman - in his last act as GM - spearheaded Tom Gamble's removal.

"I just caught him up to speed and let him know that I was here to support him in any way and did not ask to be interviewed for [what was essentially Roseman's old] job," Marynowitz said Thursday during his first media availability since he was named vice president of player personnel. "They came to me later in the process and wanted to visit with me."

Perhaps Marynowitz knew he was Kelly's first choice all along and never felt the need to push for the promotion, but the lack of overt ambition may have been one of the reasons Kelly was attracted to the 31-year old - especially in comparison to Roseman.

"I just do my job and I control what I can control," Marynowitz said. "I think I work to a high standard and hopefully the way that I work, the way that I handle myself, maybe Chip took notice of that and had respect for the way I operated and did my business."

Roseman, for all his talents, worried too often about what he couldn't control, and if he had the authority, he set it up to procure his safety. So there was a chain of command in the Eagles personnel department that funneled all information to the top and only a few voices were heard.

Kelly, Marynowitz said of his boss, "wants collaboration."

"It's a fully integrated approach between the coaching staff, the personnel department, everybody's involved, everybody has a role," Marynowitz said. "The way our meetings are structured now, everybody has an opportunity to speak their mind."

That may sound all "Kumbaya," but make no mistake, the only voice that will be heard when decisions are made will be Kelly's. Marynowitz's age (31), relative lack of experience, and the fact that Kelly stayed in-house suggested to some that his lone qualification for getting the job was the ability the say one word.

"I know that's a common thing everybody throws out, 'Is this guy just a yes man? Is he going to agree?' " Marynowitz said. "I'm never one to agree just to agree. To support the head coach, I don't believe that's to tell him that he's right in everything that he says. You're not going to disagree to disagree, either. But I'm not going to be afraid to voice my opinion."

But Kelly obviously saw a like-minded individual and evaluator in Marynowitz. Philosophically, they speak the same language. Marynowitz worked under Nick Saban and Bill Parcells and said they evaluated players similarly - a three-pronged approach that emphasized size and speed first, and then position-specific talents and scheme fit, and finally character and intellect.

That is why when Marynowitz was asked if he subscribed to Roseman's draft philosophy of selecting the best available player, he offered a modification.

"I would expand that to say best player for us," Marynowitz said. "It's the best player for us that fits our system."

Roseman specialized in getting value for players in contract negotiations, trades, and even occasionally in the draft. Selecting Zach Ertz in the second round was getting great value because many teams around the league gave him a first-round grade. How the tight end would fit in was of secondary concern.

The Eagles hit on Ertz, plus he checked off Kelly's three requirements. But they apparently missed on Marcus Smith last year. His was certainly not a value pick coming in the first round, but Roseman read the board wrong, and when one of six targeted players wasn't available at No. 21, the Eagles traded back and forced a need.

Roseman scrambled to sell the move the next day. He was usually readily available, but he always sounded as if he was reciting from the "How To Sound Like a GM" playbook." Marynowitz, in his first major news conference, spoke with authenticity.

He played football locally at La Salle University before transferring to Central Florida. He said he eventually drifted toward the player evaluation side of football as opposed to coaching, but he wasn't, like Roseman, creating his own draft boards at a young age.

"I never had a big board. I never skipped school to study the draft," Marynowitz said. "I was playing more than I was doing that."

In Roseman's defense, he has had to fight the perception that he's not a "football guy." His climb through the Eagles ranks from a salary-cap intern to GM was unprecedented, but each step was carefully calculated.

Marynowitz couldn't have gotten to this point without as much ambition, but he seems to have come from the Kelly school of professional ascension, where performance matters above all else.

None of this is to say Marynowitz will be successful or that the Kelly-Marynowitz dynamic will work or that they will be able to coexist with Roseman still seemingly in charge of the cap.

"Everybody does their job. The roles are clearly defined," Marynowitz said. "It's everybody's responsibility to do their part."

It's "do your job" in football parlance. Marynowitz apparently did his to Kelly's liking.

@Jeff_McLane