PHOENIX — Chip Kelly heard about comments made by former Eagles left tackle and assistant coach Tra Thomas that Eagles players felt a tinge of racial bias in the way Kelly has assembled his roster since becoming Eagles head coach.
“I was just disappointed,” Kelly said Wednesday morning at the NFC coaches media breakfast. “We gave Tra a great opportunity. He came in on the Bill Walsh Minority Internship program. Mr. [Jeffrey] Lurie was nice enough to keep him on for two years — one on offense, one on defense — to see if he could find a job in the NFL.”
Kelly was asked if he felt the need to look into the situation, to discuss Thomas’ comments with his players and get a sense of the locker room vibe.
“No,” he said.
He was then asked if anyone had raised the issue with him.
“No,” he said.
What about in college?
NFL
“No,” said the former Oregon head coach and New Hampshire offensive coordinator.
Kelly’s team-building tactics have come under the microscope lately, especially after becoming the most powerful man under Lurie in the organization after a January front-office shakeup.
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith insinuated on an ESPN show that Kelly’s parting ways with Pro Bowl-caliber black Eagles coupled with an extension last year for white wideout Riley Cooper, who was disciplined for using a racial slur, have irked African Americans.
Thomas, who wasn’t retained by Kelly this offseason despite a rash of other coaching additions, mentioned in his interview with WTXF FOX-29 the study that Kelly’s roster featured more white players than any other team in the NFL.
The study, as detailed by Bleeding Green Nation, revealed that the Eagles employed 25 white players, 27 black players and one Hispanic player. The team with the second-most white players, Houston, employed 20 Caucasians and 30 African Americans.
Kelly dismissed the study’s correlation to his approach to building the team.
“I don’t ever look at the color of any player,” he said. “I think in 2015, I don’t think that’s something that’s ever going to [happen].”