Philadelphia Eagles Make Chip Kelly One of NFL's Highest-Paid Coaches

As if there wasn't enough pressure being placed on new Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly to prove he could hack it in the NFL, he's also now one of the highest-paid coaches in the league.

From Adam Schefter of ESPN: 

Adam Schefter

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@AdamSchefter

Eagles made Kelly one of 10 highest paid NFL coaches, giving him a 5-yr deal worth right around $32.5 million, an average of $6.5m per year.

20 Jan 13

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So now Kelly has to prove he was worth all of the hype and all of the money in a city that is traditionally hard on its coaches and athletes. That would unravel more than a few folks if things didn't go well out of the gate. Thankfully for Kelly, he seems to be made of sterner stuff.

You could interpret this contract in one of two ways.

The first is that the Eagles are paying Kelly quite handsomely and expect results immediately.

If Kelly keeps some of the higher-paid veterans on this team or the team renegotiates their contracts—I'm looking at you, Nnamdi Asomugha—it means the expectations for the Eagles is a playoff run in the next year or two. There is talent on this roster to compete.

The second interpretation is that the Eagles are going to give him several years to reboot the organization and build his own team.

Clues that the Eagles were going to be patient with Kelly would include a lot of the older players being cut, the team drafting a quarterback with the No. 4 pick or even Kelly hiring a defensive coordinator who changes the defensive alignment to a 3-4, since the Eagles don't currently have the personnel to run that scheme.

Of course, let's not get ahead of ourselves—Kelly doesn't even have a staff yet.According to Schefter, it looks as though Kelly will bring on Pat Shurmur to be his offensive coordinator, but the more intriguing position—his defensive coordinator—has yet to be filled.

But you can bet the 32.5-million-dollar man knows he needs to nail that selection. The pressure is building, after all.

BleacherReport | http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1493595-philadelphia-eagles-make-chip-kelly-one-of-nfls-highest-paid-coaches