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Because it's a slow news cycle during the dead period before training camp, and this classifies as discussion fodder!
On Tuesday night, a debate of sorts broke out on Twitter between former BGN contributor Jimmy Kempski (of Blogging the Beast) and ESPN's NFC East blogger Dan Graziano. A question was posed to Graziano, and he responded with his answer:
Under. RT @frankie_junior: @espn_nfceast Over/under on Chip Kelly tenure at 3.5 seasons. Go.
— Dan Graziano (@espn_nfceast) June 12, 2013
Kempski took notice:
Requesting you expand on that a bit. RT @espn_nfceast Under. RT @frankie_junior: Over/under on Chip Kelly tenure at 3.5 seasons. Go.
— Jimmy Kempski (@Jimmy_Beast) June 12, 2013
Graziano obliged:
@jimmy_beast 3.5 is average NFL HC tenure, and this guy has no prior NFL experience. Easy play.
— Dan Graziano (@espn_nfceast) June 12, 2013
It went on like this between the two for a few more tweets, with Graziano stating in response to our very own SouthernPhilly that he thinks Kelly could also just "bail." Kempski pointed out that the Eagles committed $32.5M over five years to Kelly, making him one of the league's highest-paid coaches. Also that such a financial investment shows the team REALLY believes in Chip's vision and is all in -- I hate writing those two words, brings back bad 2011 memories -- on him.
I have two thoughts here. First:
@jimmy_beast @tomrylebtb It'll be fun to shove this in Graziano's face WHEN he's wrong. Also, Garrett will be fired first.
— Dan Klausner (@dklausner) June 12, 2013
Second: I think Chip will get four seasons at the minimum, thus the "over." If things are disastrous, perhaps the Eagles cut ties going into the lame duck season and eat the final $6.5M. But as you can see from my tweet (and previous articles), I happen to think things will be quite the opposite of disastrous.
In fact, I think Kelly could be the last man standing of all the current NFC East head coaches. Tom Coughlin turns 67 in August and, one would imagine, is close to retirement. Jason Garrett, already having lost play-calling duties to Bill Callahan, can't have too much more rope in Dallas, no matter what Jerry Jones says. Then there's Mike Shanahan, who has Andy Reid-like power in Washington and his franchise QB in RG3. Yet I've heard more than a few times on talk radio here in DC speculation that his job might not be 100% safe after what happened with RG3 at the end of last season, and that Dan Snyder could be reluctant to offer him a contract extension (2014 is the last of the five-year deal signed in 2010) if the Redskins regress in 2013. I'm not sure how much I buy such a narrative given that there's finally stability with the franchise, but then there's the old adage about a leopard never changing its spots.