Chip Kelly Did One Thing Right In His Time Here The Eagles Shouldn’t Have Abandoned

Most Eagles fans shudder when they hear the name Chip Kelly. If we’re true to ourselves, we’ll admit that for about 24 games, Chip Kelly has us in the palm of his hands. That team was fun and exciting before things started to go south. Maybe just say hi to people in the hallways Chip? It’s not that hard. He even drafted pretty well (thank you for the best RT in football in Lane Johnson) and got us Malcolm Jenkins who was a key cog in bringing a Lombardi trophy to South Broad St. He mostly annoyed all of Eagles nation by the end and the team seemed to expunge everything Chip from the building that he put in place.  The one thing he did that I wish the team kept, was the open practice at Franklin Field. Franklin Field to me is much like the Palestra, an intimate throwback stadium that feels timeless. 

Sunday Night was the Eagles ONLY open practice to the public at Lincoln Financial Field. I’ve only been to one of these events down at the Linc and while perfectly fine, it feels almost stale.  Nothing against the product other than it just doesn’t feel like training camp to me was growing up, an up close and personnel encounter with my favorite football team. Being able to get autographs and stand near on the sidelines and see my guys practice was one of the many reasons I’m such a fanatic today. I loved the access it provided to so many fans. Now I understand camp being at home and I’m not even saying there should be ten open practices, but more than one would certainly be welcomed. I feel like it’s missed by a lot of fans and the Eagles provide the fewest of them in the NFL to their fans. 

The other thing it misses is the intimacy of the Lehigh days, Franklin Field at least tends to a bit more of that than the Linc. I went to that open practice at Franklin Field under Chip, it was a great event. You can stand on the track and be field level with the birds, it’s something that gets ingrained in a young fans minds, at least it did mine. I’d love to one day bring something close to that to my daughters, but that seems impossible at the Linc. Just my two cents on some fond Eagles memories I cherish with my father. Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk on Eagles open practices. Go Birds!