Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins is the latest player to offer his take on why Chip Kelly failed, and he’s not a big fan of what teammate Lane Johnson had to say about their former head coach.
Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that he thought the tension between Howie Roseman and Kelly trickled into the locker room and had some not-so-nice things to say about dictatorship.
“Maybe the ego got in the way,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday (h/t ESPN). “Too much power. Control. Not being human about things; not working together, with the team, instead of being a dictator.”
Jenkins fired back Thursday.
“I think Lane reads too many articles,” Jenkins said, via Josh Paunil of Phillymag.com. “For whatever anybody in the front office has going on, it should never bother anybody in the locker room. That’s not something that we ever saw or dealt with, so if he felt it, that’s probably because he’s reading too many of those articles.”
He also offered an idea that make perhaps a bit more sense than what the obviously frustrated Johnson had to say the day before.
“A lot of the times, some players you’ll ask them if they felt like Chip was approachable and their answer might be no, but they’ve probably never approached Chip,” he said.
Jenkins elaborated, citing his own personal relationship, which he admitted “took a lot of work.”
“Communication between players and Chip probably wasn’t the best and I think it was probably on the fault of both parties,” Jenkins said. “People seem to think Chip is unapproachable and a little standoffish, but in reality — if you ever go talk to him — he has an open door policy. He’s willing to talk to anybody, so I think the perception was not necessarily the reality.”
One of the most underrated aspects of leadership is relationships. Based on his success at the college level, there can be no doubts about Kelly’s ability to put together successful game plans and get players to play at a high level. However, there is a vast gap between college players and professionals when it comes to how they need to be approached.
Based on the overwhelming evidence that came to light this season and in the aftermath of Kelly’s release in Philadelphia, it seems clear the coach still has some learning to do in this regard.
If Kelly wants to succeed at this level, then he must adjust the way he approaches players. It’s been done before — just ask Tom Coughlin. However, the transition might not be easy. Chances are, he’s going to get another chance to make it work in the NFL, and it will be fascinating to see how things go the second time around.