Chip Kelly's dictatorial behavior may have been exaggerated when it came to the NFL Draft

One of the big Eagles stories that popped up this week (during a relatively slow time in the offseason, mind you) was a report about how Chip Kelly easily dismissed the opinions of scouts during his time in Philadelphia. From Matt Lombardo of NJ.com:

"Right before that draft, the scouts set the board," the person said Tuesday. "Then Chip got a hold of it and totally turned it around. Scouts had no say at all in that draft. Anybody that Chip didn't want, that player's card got removed from the board and thrown in the trash. Those guys were never even in the discussion.

"Almost immediately, you had a lot of scouts looking around and wondering, 'Why am I even working? Why the hell are we even here?' We put all of this work in, put the information in and Chip changed everything and took whoever he wanted to take."

The story also goes on to say that Kelly was to blame for the Marcus Smith pick in 2014, despite Kelly publicly denying his responsibility for that one and Howie Roseman accepting the blame. For even more information on Lombardo's report, you can check out what he had to say on the latest episode of BGN Radio.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice reports that the story painted by the former Eagles executive isn't entirely accurate.

According to a source, the notion that Kelly just started skeet shooting with prospect nameplates "right before the draft" is "totally untrue." While Kelly may have frustrated scouts because he would eliminate players on whom the scouts created reports, mostly due to character concerns, he did not stroll into the war room with the music from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" playing in the background before completely changing the draft board.

It's possible the former Eagles executive may have had an axe to grind with Kelly after leaving the organization. Don't confuse this with an attempt to defend Kelly because he clearly rubbed a lot of people in the Eagles organization the wrong way. Rather, Kempski's report might offer more context to the original report.

I didn't really want to get into this story too much because it's all in the past now. Kelly is gone. The former executive is gone.

What's important is what happens moving forward. The Eagles seem to be in a position now where they don't have to worry about their head coach making a power play and trying to run the show. While Doug Pederson has some influence, it's clear Howie Roseman is mostly in charge. Now we'll find out if the Eagles are better or worse off.