Eagles' Kelly supports Foles, hazy on Asomugha
http://www.profootballweekly.com/201...zy-on-asomugha
INDIANAPOLIS — New Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said that he’d like to coach QB Nick Foles, despite talk that the second-year QB could be traded.
“I want to coach Nick Foles,” Kelly said. “And I want to get a chance to spend time with him.”
Kelly was followed on the podium by former Eagles head coach Andy Reid, who was asked if he might want to trade for Foles and bring him to Kansas City with the Chiefs. Reid declined to comment, per NFL tampering rules.
But Kelly’s most vague, non-committal quote came when asked about CB Nnamdi Asomugha, who is due $15.5 million in 2013.
"I think Nnamdi has the skill set … that can play football," Kelly said.
Asked several more times about Asomugha, Kelly deferred to the Eagles’ personnel department. The only other non-quarterback Kelly was asked about was LB DeMeco Ryans, and Kelly was rather effusive of his praise.
Kelly said that he has watched film of every current Eagles player from last season but that it only can reveal so much.
“I have watched every game, every cut-up of every player, but until you see them in minicamp you don’t know what you have,” he said. “The film can tell you a lot but not everything.”
Michael Vick revamped his contract to return to Philadelphia this season, and the Eagles have signed Kelly’s former quarterback at Oregon from 2007, Dennis Dixon, who just won a ring as a practice-squad member of the Ravens last season. It’s clear that the remainder of the Eagles’ QB depth chart remains in flux, but Kelly wasn’t giving too many indications which direction it might turn.
“I am not a predictor of how things will work, and I have not had a chance to work with them,” he said. “I last saw Dennis Dixon in 2007, and I haven’t had a chance to work with Michael or Nick. I saw Nick play. I never saw Trent Edwards in person.”
Eagles GM Howie Roseman followed Kelly and said Foles is in the team’s plans.
"Foles is a talented guy, and we just drafted him last year,” Roseman said. “I think this is a different situation than we've had the past couple of years where we had quarterbacks. We like the player.”
Roseman said it’s bad business to get rid of talented quarterbacks.
“We're trying to accumulate good, young players. We're not in the business of trying to get rid of good, young players."
Roseman would not specifically say if the Eagles would play a 3-4 defense following the hiring of coordinator Billy Davis, who has coached both 3-4 and 4-3 systems, but he did indicate that the Eagles’ personnel could fit a 3-4 scheme if needed, noting Brandon Graham could be a 3-4 outside linebacker.