Chip Kelly and the Eagles have been quite busy this offseason. There's been a whole lot of roster turnover, with long-time Eagles getting shipped out in trades or salary-saving cuts, as well as some high-profile free agent signings. Through it all, master cartoonists and photoshoppers have been cataloguing the events. Here's a timeline.
STAGE 1: CHIP TAKES OVER PERSONNEL DECISIONS
On January 5, the Eagles gave former general manager Howie Roseman a "promotion" to executive vice president of football operations, while passing control of the 53-man roster to Kelly.
Creative. But that wasn't the only cartoon related to the event.
TKO.
STAGE 2: ROSTER MOVES BEFORE THE START OF FREE AGENCY
The Eagles cut long-time defensive end/linebacker Trent Cole, long-time guard Todd Herremans and cornerback Cary Williams just before the official start of free agency, ostensibly to get younger and cheaper at various positions where they were old and expensive. In a vacuum, these are moves that make sense. When paired with Kelly then trading LeSean McCoy to the Bills for Kiko Alonso, they caused people to question the amount of control Kelly was exerting over the team. A sampling of the reaction, in cartoon form:
And of course, because Alonso played for Kelly at Oregon, we got great stuff like this:
And this:
Little did they know, Kelly was only getting started.
STAGE 3: FREE AGENCY DAY 1
Lots of people thought the pre-free agency moves were prelude to a move that would see the Eagles trade up in the draft for Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, but instead Kelly pivoted the other way and sent Nick Foles and draft compensation to the Rams for Sam Bradford and some lesser draft compensation. Ruthless. Hence:
Does Kelly has any more Underwoodian moves up his sleeve? We'll see.