San Francisco 49ers

It sounds like Chip Kelly learned from his mistakes with the Eagles

Published Aug. 1, 2016 4:30 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

It seems fair to say that Chip Kelly's time with the Philadelphia Eagles could have gone better.

On the plus side, Kelly had a winning record (26-21) in three seasons with his former team -- but that's about all you can say in support of the new San Francisco 49ers head coach. Kelly tried to install what had worked for him as a college coach in the NFL, and it just didn't work.

The problems started in practice, where Kelly would run his players into the ground in preparation for the rigors of his up-tempo offense. It got so bad that multiple Eagles players spoke out against Kelly, with one going so far as to call the coach a "dictator." In the end, Kelly was fired after Week 16 last year.

But according to 49ers players, it sounds like Kelly has learned his lesson.

Via Oregon Live:

That's a pretty clear message from Smith, who said that he believes Kelly is "a big communications guy" who is open to feedback from his players -- a sentiment seconded by a teammate on the other side of the ball:

While the Eagles reportedly took issue with the pace of Kelly's in-game offense as well, there have been no such problems with the 49ers so far this offseason. In fact, San Francisco's offensive players have gone out of their way to praise the up-tempo attack, citing last year's delay-of-game penalties as a major reason they're looking forward to this season.

Of course, it's only August, and there's still plenty of work to be done in San Francisco. For now, though, it seems as if Kelly is growing as a head coach in the NFL.