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Chip Kelly settles on untested personnel chief

Chip Kelly got his man - after Brian Gaine interviewed and decided to stay with the Texans, after Scott Fitterer interviewed and decided to stay with the Seahawks, after Chris Ballard, Jon Robinson, Eliot Wolf, Brian Gutenkunst, and Joe Hortiz declined to interview with the Eagles or their teams declined, and after Chris Polian and Chris Grier interviewed before eventual hire Ed Marynowitz had.

Eagles coach Chip Kelly. (Tom Gralish/Staff Photographer)
Eagles coach Chip Kelly. (Tom Gralish/Staff Photographer)Read moreTOM GRALISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Chip Kelly got his man - after Brian Gaine interviewed and decided to stay with the Texans, after Scott Fitterer interviewed and decided to stay with the Seahawks, after Chris Ballard, Jon Robinson, Eliot Wolf, Brian Gutenkunst, and Joe Hortiz declined to interview with the Eagles or their teams declined, and after Chris Polian and Chris Grier interviewed before eventual hire Ed Marynowitz had.

And those were only the candidates to be Kelly's second-in-personnel-command who had been reported.

Marynowitz, who already has garnered attention around the NFL as a rising star, may prove to be a prescient hire. And perhaps Kelly had wanted to exhaust all his resources before finally interviewing the 30-year-old and giving him a promotion to vice president of player personnel. He knows what he has in Marynowitz.

But if Kelly had wanted one of the next level of scouts who are only a step from becoming general managers - and the list above Marynowitz suggests that he did - he overestimated the allure of the Eagles' "personnel executive" opening.

Kelly also may not have realized the impediment of having former general manager Howie Roseman still with the Eagles. The front office is now structured with Kelly in complete control over football operations and Roseman overseeing the salary cap and negotiating contracts.

For candidates such as Gaine, Ballard, Robinson, or Fitterer, they had little to gain in taking what would essentially be a lateral-move job. There would be no official authority except for a faux "GM" title, they wouldn't get ultimate credit for success, and if Kelly failed they would likely be out with the bathwater, with Roseman ready to hop back into the tub.

Grier, the Dolphins' director of college scouting, and Polian, the Jaguars' director of pro scouting, aren't considered by many around the league to be among the next round of GMs. But they have more experience than Marynowitz - Polian was formerly the Colts' GM - and would have taken the job if offered, according to NFL sources close to both.

But Kelly looked in-house and went with the familiar. The Eagles coach also went with someone who was clearly getting an opportunity to ascend. Kelly apparently didn't interview or seek to interview anyone as young or as inexperienced as Marynowitz.

Roseman hired Marynowitz in 2012 after he spent four years with the University of Alabama as director of player personnel. The Media native spent just one season as a scouting assistant with the Dolphins before moving to Tuscaloosa.

The Eagles' top two personnel executives - Kelly and Marynowitz - have just six combined years of NFL experience. That isn't to suggest they aren't or can't be effective evaluators of talent. Alabama coach Nick Saban, in the Eagles' news release, hailed Marynowitz's skills as an evaluator.

Kelly spoke of how Marynowitz impressed him during their initial meeting when he first interviewed with the Eagles. Roseman had Marynowitz give a presentation on how to hire the best assistants for an NFL coaching staff.

But there is more to being a personnel executive than picking players. Seahawks GM John Schneider said his job was "60 percent evaluation and 40 percent communication skills and being able to problem-solve."

Schneider works with a coach in Pete Carroll who has final say. But Kelly either didn't want to hire someone with as much experience as Schneider or couldn't. He ended up going the Bill Belichick route, which was to promote a young scout - the Patriots coach has Nick Casserio as his director of player personnel - and give the impression that he has absolute rule.

But will Kelly wield as much of his power as Belichick or will he nurture Marynowitz into a partnership? And will Marynowitz be able to assert his opinion and counter the older and more established boss who just gave him a promotion or will he nod after every Kelly decision?

There's also the question of whether Roseman and Marynowitz will be able to work together. Roseman hired him, but when sides were being taken in the Kelly-Roseman power struggle, Marynowitz sided with Kelly and former VP of player personnel Tom Gamble, according to several sources close to the situation.

Does Roseman even have authority over the cap and contracts? Many agents and several NFL executives recently wondered if the onetime youngest GM in the league now had any sway over business decisions related to football.

Marynowitz's promotion could push Roseman one more step closer to the door. The Eagles gave Marynowitz a three-year contract to coincide with the remaining three years on Kelly's deal. Is Roseman, who was given an extension through 2020, willing to wait that long?

To the outside world, a $1.7 million annual salary would seem like enough reason to stay. But those who know Roseman know that his primary objective is to be a player evaluator. If Kelly and Marynowitz succeed, he many never get another opportunity to be a GM.

But if he leaves and they fail, where does that leave the Eagles?

@Jeff_McLane