Former Philadelphia Eagles offensive guard Evan Mathis received the best gift of all from Chip Kelly. After Kelly released him from the Eagles at Mathis’ request, Mathis signed with the Denver Broncos where he won a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Kelly was run out of town in Philly and has now taken the 49ers job.
Mathis obviously is a sharp cat who chose wisely when he picked the Broncos in free agency. The 34-year-old does not seem to have LeSean McCoy-levels of dislike for Kelly, but he does have some advice for his former coach.
In comments he made via email to 9News Denver’s Mike Klis, Mathis pointed out some of Kelly’s shortcomings.
“There were many things that Chip had done that showed me he wasn’t building a championship team,” Mathis wrote to Klis. “Two of the main issues that concerned me were: 1. A never-evolving, vanilla offense that forced our own defense to play higher than normal play counts. 2. His impatience with certain personality types even when they were blue-chip talents. The Broncos team I was on would have eaten Chip alive. I don’t think he could have handled the plethora of large personalities.”
True, the Broncos had guys like Aqib Talib, Von Miller and Peyton Manning to manage, which probably would have given Kelly trouble. The question is whether Kelly will listen to some of Mathis’ criticism and learn from it and try to adapt, or whether he will continue to be the same in San Francisco. It seems like adapting would be in his best interest.
