tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Kelly To Browns & Why I’m Concerned

There were reports throughout the evening that Chip Kelly was going to be the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Bills fans here in Western New York were disappointed as they were hoping that their team would get him. Then late last night, Chris Mortensen reported that Kelly was going to meet with the Bills and then on Saturday meet with the Eagles. This after meeting seven hours with the Browns, including dinner.

While Philadelphia and Buffalo were continuing to interview other candidates, the Browns still seem to be the favorites to get the offensive guru from Oregon. I have been trying to get excited about this move. I was thinking about how there would be an improvement in the red zone as the Browns wouldn't be settling for field goals anymore. I wanted to be excited because everyone else was telling me I should be excited but for some reason I couldn't.

Kelly has never coached in the NFL. There are restrictions on the number of players you can have on the roster. You can't go out and recruit players for a specific system or position, you need to be able to draft them. You need to be able to manage a salary cap. You have to deal with teams week in and week out who have as many talented players as you do. But what really makes me nervous is whether or not the current roster will fit Chip Kelly's offense. And the key to running an offense is at quarterback and I'm not sure if the Browns have the right one for the Quack Attack.

There are those that say that Kelly is smart enough to know that he is not going to carbon copy his Oregon offense in Cleveland. They point to the adaptation of the Oregon offense in New England with Bill Belichik. Brandon Weeden did operate out of a shotgun style spread offense at Oklahoma State. Could that be the direction Kelly takes?? None of us know. But my concern is that if there is the need for another quarterback we are at square one again and that's something I'm not sure any Browns fan can deal with. We've been dealing with it since 1999.

So, unless the Eagles or Bills can rock Chip Kelly's world, it looks like he's headed to Cleveland and I'll be holding my breathe. I've been excited before only to be let down and for some reason I just have a bad feeling about this hire. Here's hoping I'm wrong.