Chip Kelly spent last offseason overhauling the Philadelphia Eagles roster with headline-generating trades and signings meant to build the organization in his image.
Now that Kelly and first lieutenant Ed Marynowitz have been fired, it's natural to wonder what the future holds for the marquee names hand-picked by that personnel duo.
Kelly was Sam Bradford's biggest champion, identifying the former Rams quarterback as a special talent with the potential to make the Eagles' offense "soar." After 15 games in Kelly's system, Bradford remains an injury-prone enigma, teasing rather than delivering.
After trading LeSean McCoy and losing out on Frank Gore in free agency, Kelly signed DeMarco Murray (five years, $40 million) and Ryan Mathews (three years, $12 million) to power his new backfield.
Kelly understood that Murray carried a sizable risk due to his injury history and historically heavy 2014 workload. It should come as no surprise, then, that Murray has lost his starting job, averaging an ineffective 3.5 yards per carry versus 4.5 for Mathews and Darren Sproles combined.
Turning 28 years old in February and coming off a season in which he appeared to lose a step or three, Murray can't be considered a building block. The next regime can win with Mathews and Sproles as a complementary tandem.
The defensive reinforcements are a different story.
Kelly brought in cornerback Byron Maxwell and safety Walter Thurmond to bolster a porous secondary. Even though Maxwell is overpaid and stretched as a No. 1 cover corner, the Eagles don't have the luxury of dumping his salary. They simply lack quality depth at the position.
Thurmond was perhaps Kelly's shrewdest 2015 signing, teaming with Malcolm Jenkins to comprise one of the league's most effective safety duos. The converted former Seahawks cornerback landed just a one-year contract, though, which grants him the freedom to sign elsewhere in 2016.
Kelly fought last offseason for the power to shop for his own groceries, as Bill Parcells famously quipped. After Kelly's lone trip to the NFL's version of the super market, the Eagles' cupboard is no more stocked than it was when he was hired out of the college ranks in January of 2013.
