3. 2015-’16
Record: 7-9, second place in the NFC East
Heading into year three of the Chip Kelly era, it was time for the head coach to finally bring in the quarterback of his chosing — someone who could run his break neck paced offense to the promised land.
Marcus Mariota was who many fans wanted the team to get, and with the recent organizational shift to give Chip Kelly full personnel control, this felt like a real possibility.
Chip immediately made his mark on this team after being given full control of the personnel. He acquired two Pro Bowl running backs in Demarco Murray and Ryan Matthews, he signed who many believed was the best corner on the open market at the time in Byron Maxwell, he traded All Pro running back LeSean McCoy for linebacker Kiko Alonso and to top it all off, Chip finally acquired the quarterback who he believed would lead his offense to perfection.
Instead of trading up to snag Mariota, Chip went out and traded Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams for the legendary Sammy Sleeves.
Yes, Sam Bradford was the man we were all waiting for. It’s actually pretty hilarious reflecting on that move now, because after a few good preseason games, we truly believed Bradford was going to lead this team to a Super Bowl.
Watch this highlight reel from Bradford’s performance against Green Bay in the preseason. His final stats were 10/10 passing for 121 yards and three touchdowns
Unfortunately, the regular season version of Sammy Sleeves didn’t resemble his preseason iteration one bit. He finished his 2015 campaign with 19 passing touchdowns, 14 interceptions and 3,725 passing yards. Big named offseason acquisitions Byron Maxwell and Demarco Murray also failed to live up to their expectations.
Murray didn’t even eclipse 1,000 yards on the ground after leading the league in rushing the season prior and Maxwell found himself trailing wideouts all season.
The lowest moment of this season came after Bradford got hurt against the Miami Dolphins in week 10. With Mark Sanchez at the helm for the next two weeks, the Eagles lost both games by a combined score of 90-28. This included the most embarrassing performance I’ve ever seen as an Eagles fan, week 12’s Thanksgiving game against the Detroit Lions. Detroit out gained Philly by over 200 yards and doubled their first downs.
Calvin Johson had an absolute field day aginst rookie corner Eric Rowe as well, catching eight balls for 93 yards and three touchdowns.
They almost turned it around after this loss with Bradford back under center, but back-to-back losses to the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Redskins essentially ended the Eagles season, and it ended Chip Kelly’s tenure as the Eagles head coach.