Chip Kelly's fingerprints were all over the NFL long before he rescued the Philadelphia Eagles.
While still operating as Oregon's head coach in 2012, Kelly met with Bill Belichick and the Patriots to help New England implement a lightning-paced offense that led the league with 1,191 plays from scrimmage -- a whopping 234 more snaps than that year's Titans.
Kelly went out of his way to help one of the NFC's premier powers, too, by inviting 49ers play-caller Greg Roman to visit him in Eugene, Oregon. In return, Kelly also voyaged down to Santa Clara to talk offensive strategy with San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh, his one-time rival at Stanford.
"Just two guys I've got great, great respect for, two really good football coaches," Kelly said of Harbaugh and Roman on a Wednesday conference call, per Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee.
Set to face the 49ers on Sunday, Kelly believes some of the teachings he shared with Roman were evident in the read-option plays run by Colin Kaepernick, but "they added their own wrinkles to it."
"I don't think when anybody visits anybody they say, 'Hey, I'm going to take this exactly from them,'" Kelly said. "I think you learn and think, 'How can I apply it to the personnel I have?' And I think that's one of the strengths of Jim and Greg -- they adapt their offense to their personnel."
With Kaepernick at the helm, read-option concepts have helped the Niners barrel their way Super Bowl XLVII and last year's NFC title game. Kelly, though, confirmed that his avant-garde Eagles offense also borrows nuggets from the playbook pieced together by Harbaugh and Roman.
"Yes, I'm an information-gatherer," uttered Kelly, unwilling to say another word.
On the latest Around The NFL Podcast, the heroes chat with two-time MVP Kurt Warner, debate the NFL's top throwing arms and preview Thursday night's game.
