King: Chip Kelly reached out to Tony Dungy about Riley Cooper

According to Peter King in his new MMQB site, Chip Kelly reached out to Tony Dungy to pick his brain on the handling of the Riley Cooper situation. He did the same in 2009 after Oregon RB LaGarrette Blount punched a Boise St. player after a loss.

King's piece is absolutely loaded with Eagles nuggets, so check it out in its entirety, but here are a few excerpts.

Dungy on Blount:

In 2009, after Oregon's first game of the season at Boise State, star running back Blount punched a Boise player in the head in the heat of a post-game skirmish. Kelly, the first-year head coach of Oregon, suspended Blount for the rest of the season. A month later, convinced Blount truly regretted what he'd done, Kelly changed course, setting in motion a plan for Blount to rejoin the team if he followed a strict set of guidelines on the field and at school. Blount followed the rules, and played the last two games of the season. One of Kelly's advisers on the Blount case was former Colts coach Tony Dungy. Kelly's reinstatement of Blount allowed Blount to rehab his image and gave him a shot at the NFL. So when Blount unexpectedly rushed for a rookie-high 1,007 yards in Tampa Bay, Dungy took a photo of a big banner celebrating Blount's accomplishments and emailed it to Kelly. Dungy told Kelly, in effect, that without the coach's forgiveness, Blount probably never would have been in the NFL, never mind rushed for 1,000 yards.

Dungy on Cooper:

And over the weekend, Kelly reached out to Dungy again, asking him for his thoughts on the Cooper case.

"I told him to trust his instincts,'' Dungy said Sunday night, reached in Canton before working the Dallas-Miami preseason game for NBC. "He can use this as a teaching moment, and his decision could pull this team together.''

Three years ago, Dungy recalled Sunday night, "Chip could have kicked Blount to the curb. He chose to believe in him. And it worked out. With Riley Cooper, this kid made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. The big issue, too, is the alcohol. That has to be dealt with. But Chip will make the right decision. He doesn't care what the popular opinion. He cares about what's right.''

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