McLane: Chip Kelly says, 'Wasn't my fault'

BOCA RATON, Fla. - No matter whom you believe or choose not to believe, there aren't any heroes in the story of the dysfunctional Eagles front office of 2015.

Chip Kelly, in his first extensive comments on the subject since being fired by Jeffrey Lurie, painted a picture of organizational discord in which the structure created by the Eagles owner essentially sabotaged his first season with final say over the 90-man roster.

In Kelly's view, he wasn't responsible for the disastrous free-agent contracts handed out to DeMarco Murray and Byron Maxwell last offseason. He passed the buck to Howie Roseman, who technically was in charge of the salary cap but had been stripped of his personnel duties by Lurie in favor of Kelly in January 2015.

"Oh, yeah," Kelly said when asked if Roseman was responsible for the Murray and Maxwell deals. "I've never negotiated a contract in my life. Never had a conversation with an agent in my life. I had nothing to do with any contracts."

Kelly said that he simply made the evaluations of players he wanted and passed them along to Roseman via vice president of player personnel Ed Marynowitz. It was then up to the former general manager to work out deals.

"I wouldn't have paid anyone," Kelly said on Wednesday during the NFC coaches breakfast at the NFL owners meetings. "I'm really frugal. I think some of the money all these guys are getting, that's a huge leap of faith with anybody."

Roseman has declined to comment on his role last offseason, specifically in relation to the guaranteed $40 million-plus doled out to Murray and Maxwell. Reinstated by Lurie after Kelly was fired in December, Roseman traded both players this offseason.

Even if Roseman had negotiated those contracts, he was only following Kelly's orders. Kelly said that his instructions weren't to sign free agents at any cost. Nevertheless, Murray and Maxwell didn't play well enough to justify contracts at half the price.

Perhaps Kelly's message to Roseman was lost in translation. He revealed that they hardly communicated last year. Kelly said it was Lurie who created a structure in which the then-30-year-old Marynowitz was the intermediary.

Asked if that wasn't a productive way to do business, Kelly said, "Yeah, you would think."

He once again countered Lurie's claim that he asked for final say after the 2014 season. Kelly said that he "didn't like the direction" the Eagles were headed after then-vice president of player personnel Tom Gamble was fired.

"I didn't like the way it was, but I didn't ask for anything," Kelly said. "It's [Lurie's] organization and his team. He can run it however he wants to run it. It wasn't like I'm walking out the door."

Kelly said he "would have been content to just go hire a general manager." Instead, Lurie kept Roseman in the front office and had him study successful sports operations with the "potential" that he would return to power. Kelly was asked if this undermined his ability to run the team.

"I never really saw him," Kelly said of Roseman, whom he never mentioned by name, "so I don't know what he did on a daily basis."

There was more to last season, of course, than just the Murray and Maxwell signings. Kelly traded Nick Foles and a second-round draft pick for Sam Bradford. He swapped LeSean McCoy for Kiko Alonso. And he released Evan Mathis. Those were his most notorious moves. The Bradford acquisition was the only that wasn't a bust.

But Kelly exonerated himself with nearly every answer he gave when asked about last season - mostly by Philadelphia-area reporters who had their first opportunity to speak to the new 49ers coach.

He said a self-autopsy revealed only that he "didn't win enough games." Kelly said nothing of making changes to his scheme even though his offense went from first in yards and points per drive in 2013 to 14th and 13th, respectively, in 2014 and to 23rd and 19th in 2015. He cited injuries as the main reason for the decline.

Kelly said he didn't feel the need to change his philosophy on how he relates and interacts with his players even though several Eagles said he was distant, and Lurie was clearly referring to him when he said in December that his next coach should have "emotional intelligence" and be able to "open his heart" to his players.

"You've got to take the whole scope of it," Kelly said, "not just a vocal minority."

He said that almost every player on the team reached out to him after he was fired. Kelly said Lurie's dismissal on the Tuesday before the final game of the season came as a shock.

"Yeah, I was surprised," he said. "We had spent the whole day game planning at our practice. Not something you saw coming. It is what it is."

It was a tumultuous year, one that ultimately left the franchise in disarray and tarred the reputations of Kelly, Roseman and Lurie. All three survived, of course. Kelly landed on his feet in San Francisco. Roseman was right back where he was a year ago. And Lurie can't fire himself.

In their parting, each has attempted to control the narrative. The truth may never be known. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. There weren't any winners. And the ones who suffered the most, like children of divorced parents, were the players and fans.

Kelly isn't Philly's problem anymore. But Lurie and Roseman remain. Will they learn from the mistakes of 2015?

jmclane@phillynews.com

@Jeff_McLane