Shutdown Countdown: Eagles riding the Chip Kelly experiment

Shutdown Corner is previewing all 32 teams as we get ready for the NFL season, counting down the teams one per day in reverse order of our initial 2015 power rankings. No. 1 will be revealed on Aug. 8, the day before the preseason begins with the Hall of Fame Game in Canton.

NO. 13: PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

Mention Chip Kelly to an NFL fan and you're likely to get an instant and emotional reaction. He's just one of those guys.

Some like him, others despise him. I'm not sure why anyone hates Kelly, other than the NFL is an insanely conservative league and anything out of the norm bothers people. And Kelly isn't the NFL norm.

Kelly was way out of the box when he was hired to be Philadelphia Eagles head coach. He had no NFL experience, playing or coaching, and was just seven years removed from the best job on his résumé being New Hampshire's offensive coordinator. He was known for a spread offense that was exclusive to college. The NFL had never made a hire like it before.

And, if you remove all the hype that has built up around Kelly, the hire has worked up to this point.

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Kelly turned a four-win team into a 10-win division champ his first year. Last season he won 10 games despite using his backup quarterback most of the season. I'm not sure why that gets glossed over. If another coach won 10 games with his backup, we'd fall over ourselves to hand him coach of the year. It probably says something about Kelly that what he did last season barely registered.

But things can get tricky once coaches get full front-office control. And in a flurry of moves this offseason Kelly changed the narrative. He went from an innovative coach who has introduced many new concepts to the NFL, on and off the field, to a transaction-happy mad man who appears to hate the concept of star players.

The Eagles traded running back LeSean McCoy, didn't retain receiver Jeremy Maclin in free agency and cut guard Evan Mathis. Add in DeSean Jackson's release in 2014 and the Eagles have lost a lot of difference makers on offense. Then there was the Nick Foles for Sam Bradford trade, which I still don't get. And there was the whole "I won't mortgage the future for Marcus Mariota ... but now there's a report I'm offering half the franchise for him" drama before the draft. It has been quite the offseason.

The Eagles have turned into the NFL's great experiment. Will DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews be upgrades over McCoy? Can Kelly get out of Bradford what the Rams never got, if he can keep him healthy? Does Kelly's system make up for some big offensive personnel losses? In many ways, if Kelly continues to be successful, it will force the NFL to rethink how it does things, although the league generally hates change.

This is a hard team to project. There has been so much change. Putting the Eagles this high in the rankings is a nod to Kelly winning 20 of his 32 games with Michael Vick, Foles and Mark Sanchez as his quarterbacks. He knows how to coach. You need talent to win in the NFL, and the Eagles have lost so much of it as Kelly completely turns over his roster. And, to be fair, the Eagles have added some talented players too.

If nothing else, after this crazy offseason, Kelly has everyone's attention.

2014 review in less than 25 words: The Eagles became the 22nd team under the 16-game schedule to win at least 10 games and miss the playoffs.

Is the roster better, worse or about the same? Well, we know it's different. Do the additions of Bradford, Murray, Mathews, linebacker Kiko Alonso, cornerbacks Byron Maxwell and Walter Thurmond (and a draft class that includes USC receiver Nelson Agholor in the first round) offset the losses of McCoy, Foles, Maclin, Mathis, guard Todd Herremans, cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams, and pass rusher Trent Cole? It's probably a cop out, but it's too hard to tell without knowing Bradford's health, and Alonso's too for that matter. Assuming they're fairly healthy, call it a wash — the roster is probably about the same, talent wise. Just much, much different.

Best offseason acquisition:

I'm not a Bradford fan. Some folks still love him. If you do, he's your pick here. Maxwell was a nice addition. But I'll go with Murray, who hasn't gotten enough credit for what he did last season. The Cowboys built a 12-4 team around him. His high-volume season helped the defense and Tony Romo. Clearly Kelly thinks Murray is a better fit than McCoy. As long as his 497-touch 2014 season, counting regular season and playoffs, doesn't have a lasing effect, Murray will have another big year.

Achilles' heel: A big question with Kelly's preferred pace is if his defense can hold up over the long haul. The Eagles' defense led the league in plays in 2013 and was second in 2014 (the Cleveland Browns, somehow, faced five more plays than the Eagles). Maybe some new talent helps the defense get off the field at a better clip — I think Alonso is a difference maker and Maxwell was a perfect fit — but there will always be the challenge of keeping the defense fresh despite being on the field for a ton of plays. That's also a big part of the great Kelly experiment.

Position in flux: If you trade a second-round pick and a quarterback one year removed from a Pro Bowl for another quarterback, your new quarterback should be the least of your concerns. But this is a unique situation because of Bradford's health. Bradford tore his ACL, returned for 21 preseason attempts and then tore it again. He was held out of full-team drills in OTAs but NJ.com said he'll be ready for the start of training camp, a little less than a year removed from his second ACL surgery. Bradford has had major injury issues through the years and until he shows he's healthy, Sanchez should be on high alert.

Ready to break out: In the video for this post I mentioned that tight end Zach Ertz will be a centerpiece of the Eagles' passing game, but I don't want to sell Jordan Matthews short. He played in just 779 of the Eagles' 1,127 offensive snaps as a rookie but put up a 67-872-8 line. He has no choice but to play more this season, and his numbers should rise accordingly. Even if Agholor is good right away, Matthews will be the team's top wideout.

Stat fact: Over 1,760 career passing attempts, Bradford has a 79.3 rating. Recently retired Jake Locker, commonly dismissed as a bust, had a 79.0 rating. Foles, by the way, has a 94.2 career rating.

Schedule degree of difficulty: The first four weeks are interesting. There are three road games in that stretch, but they're all winnable: at Atlanta, at the New York Jets and at Washington. Then the Eagles get paid back in December with a three-game homestand that includes Buffalo, Arizona and Washington.

This team’s best-case scenario for the 2015 season: Double-digit wins and an NFC East championship are very reasonable goals. And if everything breaks right — Bradford plays as well as his defenders say he can, Murray shows no wear from his 2014 workload, the young receivers dominate and the new blood at cornerback turns around the defense — why can't they win the NFC? I'm not saying I'd pick it to happen, but I don't think it's impossible.

And here’s the nightmare scenario: What if Bradford just isn't very good? Then the Eagles gave up Foles and a second-round pick for what, one year of mediocre quarterback play? If Murray slows down and Mathews can't stay healthy behind him, even Kelly's offensive acumen might not save them. The Eagles might not be a defensive juggernaut either. If things go bad and the Eagles slip under .500, you know folks will be lining up to tee off on Kelly.

The crystal ball says: This is such a tough team to project because of all the turnover. I really think Kelly is a good coach, though like everyone else, I didn't understand many of his moves this offseason. Despite all the questions about Bradford and concerns about the talent drain at receiver, at this point I'm still projecting the Eagles to make the playoffs. The defense will improve, they'll be really hard to stop in the running game, and at this point there's no reason Kelly can't help any quarterback put up good numbers.

Previous previews
32. Tennessee Titans
31. Jacksonville Jaguars
30. Washington Redskins
29. Oakland Raiders
28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
27. New York Jets
26. Chicago Bears
25. Cleveland Browns
24. Atlanta Falcons
23. San Francisco 49ers
22. New York Giants
21. New Orleans Saints
20. Houston Texans
19. Carolina Panthers
18. St. Louis Rams
17. Minnesota Vikings
16. San Diego Chargers
15. Buffalo Bills
14. Detroit Lions

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab