Are We There Yet? Philly Sports Talk Examines the State of the Eagles

All week on Philly Sports Talk on CSN, we examine how our teams got to this point and where they are in the rebuilding process. 

First up on Monday, a look at the Eagles: 

Things seemed to be going fairly well. After all, the Eagles hired Chip Kelly before the 2013 season and in his first two years, the former Oregon head coach won 20 games. 

But the power structure within the organization clearly wasn't working. The working relationship between Howie Roseman and Kelly had reached an impasse. Kelly wanted a "football guy" in charge of personnel. And that "football guy" ended up being himself. 

Roseman was "promoted," while Kelly, a coach who had never been in the NFL until 2013, was handed the keys to an entire franchise after just two years in the league. Chip Kelly the coach was OK. Chip Kelly the GM was a disaster. 

After the shakeup, Jeff Lurie said the decision was to "maximize Chip Kelly's vision." But after firing him, Lurie gave another reason why the decision was made. 

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"I think it was a necessary way to go to find out if Chip was the right guy," Lurie said in March of 2016. "Let him be responsible for all the decisions that he wanted to inject and make. No question I have that it was the right way to dissect if Chip was going to be the right guy going forward or not. We dissected it and decided with all of the great things he brought, he wasn't the right person going forward. And it was helpful for him to be accountable for those decisions so we could move on in a great way."

After Kelly was fired, Roseman regained power just a year after it being stripped away. But as Lurie revealed this spring, Roseman's re-ascension into power came on one condition: Roseman needed to beef up the personnel department. He did that when he hired Joe Douglas and Andy Weidl in May of 2016. 

But before that happened, Roseman pulled off a major move, one that changed the face of the franchise. He moved up from 13 to 8 to 2 to draft Carson Wentz. 

We still don't know if Wentz will grow into a Hall of Fame quarterback, but he's the main piece of the puzzle the way the Eagles see it. If they truly have found that franchise quarterback, then they have the hardest part figured out. 

Now, the entire franchise is based on building around that franchise quarterback. Because Wentz will be relatively cheap for his rookie contract, the time to strike is might be now, before he commands $20 million-plus in salary cap room. 

So the Eagles are rebuilding for the future ... and for this year. Well, now, how the heck is that possible? 

Just take a look at what they've done this offseason, bringing in multiple players to one-year deals: Alshon Jeffery, Timmy Jernigan, LeGarrette Blount, etc. The thinking here is probably that these moves allow the Eagles to be competitive in 2017 but ultimately give them flexibility after the season. 

They might win nine or 10 games this year, but ultimately, the goal is to be a 12- or 13-game winner and earn a bye week in the playoffs. 

The Eagles are rebuilding, but it shouldn't take as long as some other sports to know if this process is going to work.

- Dave Zangaro

Coming Tuesday: Jessica Camerato's update on the 76ers.

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