New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was vocal when the Philadelphia Eagles cut head coach Chip Kelly after the 2015 season.
“Chip Kelly to me is a really good football coach,” Belichick said on New Years Eve 2015. “I think he does a great job. I think he's done a good job with that team. It's disappointing to see...there are a lot of examples but pretty much everybody is on a one-year contract in this league. I don't know how you build a program in one year. Chip is a great coach. He'll end up somewhere and he'll do a great job there.”
Well, Kelly joined the San Francisco 49ers and was fired after his first season with the team. Kelly is considered a great offensive mind and responsible for the Patriots transition to an uptempo passing attack. Belichick often spoke with Kelly while the latter was at the University of New Hampshire and University of Oregon and borrowed ideas.
Don’t be surprised if Kelly receives a key to the Patriots offices in the near future.
Belichick has never been shy about bringing his old friends under the Patriots umbrella with full time jobs (Mike Lombardi) or as a practice drive-by (Greg Schiano). Kelly certainly qualifies as someone that Belichick would want in the building- and we know this because Belichick asked Kelly to join the Patriots last year.
Yahoo! Sports’ Charles Robinson reports that Belichick “reached out to Kelly and invited him to spend some time” with the Patriots after Kelly was fired by the Eagles. This doesn’t mean that Belichick offered him a job on his staff, but he was certainly open to having Kelly around the team.
With Kelly back on the street and open to take an offensive coordinator position, don’t be surprised if Kelly spends some time in New England as the dust settles.