Chip Kelly. Ah, what a delightful breath of fresh air. At around noon on Wednesday afternoon, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen tweeted the news: “Chip Kelly is the new coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, according to league sources. No announcement yet.”

This news caught everyone off guard. It seemed as if Gus Bradley, the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator, was the favorite to land the job but, all of a sudden, in comes Chip Kelly and snatches it away. When the Eagles met with Chip Kelly 11 days ago, Kelly decided it would be best if he stayed put at the University of Oregon. It wasn’t until Tuesday that Kelly started having a “change of heart.” And by Wednesday morning, the Eagles and Kelly had a deal in place.

So who is Chip Kelly? He’s a 49-year old man, born in Dover, New Hampshire. He’s never been married and has no kids. Before he was hired as the offensive coordinator for the University of Oregon in 2007, he held the same position at the University of New Hampshire for 8 years. In 2009, Kelly was promoted to head coach after Mike Bellotti was promoted to athletic director.

If there’s one thing you must know about Chip Kelly it’s this: The man is an offensive genius. Last offseason, Bill Belichick spent his time learning the ways of the offense Kelly ran at Oregon. New England started using an up-tempo, no-huddle offense this season and it has worked just fine, given that they’re one of the four teams that are still playing.

In the four years he served as Oregon’s head coach, Kelly led the Ducks to a 46-7 record and four BCS bowl games. He’s the only coach in the history of college football to lead his team to four BCS games in his first four years with the team. Since he took over the reigns in 2009, the Ducks averaged at least 36.1 points per game each year. Kelly brings with him to Philadelphia not only these impressive statistics that definitively prove he knows what it takes to win, but some hardware as well: 3 Pac-10/Pac-12 titles, 2010 Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award, 2010 Sporting News Coach of the Year Award, and 2010 Associated Press Coach of the Year Award.

Despite the fact that Kelly has experienced nothing but success in the college world, there are many doubters who question the style of offense he runs and whether or not it will work in the NFL. Let me just say that Chip Kelly has the most unorthodox style of coaching the game of football has ever seen — and I am not exaggerating. He took over Oregon and almost instantaneously transformed them into a national powerhouse. He built his teams around speed and quickness that just couldn’t be matched by opposing defenses. The Eagles are home to many players that fit/could be molded into Kelly’s style of play: LeSean McCoy, Bryce Brown, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Damaris Johnson, Riley Cooper, Brent Celek and Clay Harbor (Kelly loves to use his tight ends).

Under Kelly, the speed of Oregon’s offense is nearly impossible to describe in words, so I’m going to do my best. If you decided to go to the bathroom or grab a drink and Oregon was about to run its first play of a drive, chances are you missed a touchdown. Of the 85 TDs Oregon scored in 2012, 44 of them took less than two minutes; 22 of them took less than one. The Ducks averaged a touchdown every 11.8 plays — that’s just unheard of.

Kelly runs a potent spread offense — the central focus of the majority of the doubters’ arguments. Honestly, I don’t blame them. It’s quite deviant and has never been proven to work in the NFL when used all the time. When used sparingly, however, it’s highly effective and incredibly dangerous. NFL teams are averaging 6.1 yards per rush out of the pistol formation and just 4.2 in all other formations (courtesy of ESPN Stats & Info). Teams are also averaging 6.3 yards per rush on zone-read and option rushes and just 4.2 on all other runs (ESPN Stats & Info). 2012 has actually seen a drastic spike in the use of the “college-style” offense (ie. the pistol formation, spread offense, etc.) There have been 533 plays run out of the pistol formation this year, nearly 10 times greater than the 54 that were run in 2011.

Now that he’s in the NFL, Kelly won’t be able to stay married to his game-changing spread offense, but the two can certainly maintain a close, healthy friendship. If you’re still not sold that the read-option can be successful, let’s take a look at the teams that currently use that style of play. The San Francisco 49ers, the Washington Redskins, and the Carolina Panthers. Two of those teams made the playoffs — in fact, the Niners are in the NFC Championship Game. This, however, is where the Eagles run into trouble. Who are the quarterbacks for those three teams? Colin Kaepernick (25 years old, 2nd year in the league), Robert Griffin III (22 years old, rookie), and Cam Newton (23 years old, 2nd year in the league). Who is the Eagles’ quarterback? Michael Vick, a broken-down, 33-year old who has played a full 16 games just once in his career (2006, with the Falcons). This style of offense is built around the quarterback. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, that quarterback needs to have young, fresh legs. Nick Foles would not be able to run the spread, but if Kelly does decide to stick with the kid who torched his Ducks’ defense three times while Kelly was in Eugene, they would most likely run an offense that mirrors that of the New England Patriots. Let me stop you right there. Before you say “Nick Foles is no Tom Brady”, let’s not forget that there weren’t too many people who thought Brady would be a great quarterback, let alone the greatest of all time — and he is the greatest of all time. But I’ll save that discussion for a later date.

So, where does that leave us? What are our options? Well, there aren’t many. There are five logical options from which the Eagles could choose:

Option 1: Geno Smith

Smith is a freakishly athletic quarterback from West Virginia University. He’s 22-years old, stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs in at 208 pounds. In his senior season at West Virginia, Smith threw for 4,205 yards, 42 TDs, and just 6 INTs. Like all college quarterbacks, he comes with a risk, but he has a monumental upside. He’s a good decision maker and has no trouble picking up the blitz (two things at which Michael Vick wasn’t the best). Smith possesses the ability to keep the play alive and can pick up yards on the ground. The good thing about Smith is he’s a pocket passer who can run, as opposed to Vick, who’s a scrambler (the Eagles’ attempt at converting him into a pocket passer didn’t really pan out). He has an above average arm and can throw the ball deep with nice touch. He played in a spread offense at WVU and could certainly fit into Kelly’s system.

Smith is a projected top five draft pick (some people even project him to go number one overall). If the Eagles truly want Smith, they could certainly work out a deal with the Chiefs, which will be the first team on the clock on the first night of the draft in April.

Option 2: Alex Smith

The man is a proven winner and deserves a shot with another team after what they’ve done to him in San Francisco. He’s athletic and can use his legs to pick up first downs. He’s not going to run all over teams like Griffin, or Kaepernick, or Newton, but he can certainly hurt them every once in a while. He’s more of a short-throw quarterback and doesn’t tend to send the ball deep too often — something Kelly will likely want to do with guys like Jackson, Maclin, Johnson, and Cooper. Smith is no stranger to the spread offense. Let me remind you that Smith ran a spread offense in college at Utah under Urban Meyer. And it seemed to work for them; they went 21-1. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the season, and is certainly someone the Eagles should and will likely consider.

Option 3: Nick Foles or Michael Vick

Like I said earlier, if he sticks with Foles they can mimic what they’re doing up in New England. If he goes with Vick, he’ll be taking an enormous chance, that, while it has potential for success, will likely end in devastating failure.

Option 4: Tim Tebow

Hear me out. By putting his name on this list, I am not saying that I would support this acquisition, I’m simply stating it’s a possibility. Do I see it happening? No, not really. Would I be upset/mad if it did happen? A little bit, yeah. But you can’t ignore Tim Tebow. You just can’t; it’s not possible. I’m sure he’d do anything to free himself from the catastrophe that is the New York Jets’ organization, so acquiring him would be fairly painless. His talent and skills are the biggest concerns. Can he play quarterback at an NFL level? Who knows. Tebow ran a spread offense at Florida while he, like Smith, was under Urban Meyer, and became one of the best college quarterbacks of all time, statistically speaking.

Option 5: Dennis Dixon

Most of you are probably saying: “Who?” Dennis Dixon quarterbacked the Oregon Ducks from 2004 to 2007. Dixon struggled in his first three seasons in Eugene; he had a ton of talent, but lacked the coach/mentor to maximize his talent to its full potential. 2007, Dixon’s senior year, was a much different story. What changed? Chip Kelly became the offensive coordinator. Something clicked. Dixon thrived under Kelly. That year, Dixon threw for 2,136 yards and 20 TDs to just 4 INTs. He also rushed for 583 yards and 9 scores. Dixon was selected in the 5th round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Steelers. In his four years with the team, Dixon barely ever saw the field. In 2012, the Ravens signed Dixon to their practice squad. At 28 years old, Dixon (6’3”) stands a few inches taller than Vick (6’0”), and, like Vick, is a runner first, passer second. Could Dixon run an NFL offense? Who knows. We’d have to wait and see. What we do know is he and Kelly had great success in their one year together, so I think it would be foolish to rule out the possibility of the Eagles acquiring him from Baltimore — which would be quite easy to do. With Chip Kelly, anything could happen.

While Kelly figures out who he wants taking the snaps under center, he’ll also need to solve some problems on the defensive side of the ball. Kelly is not a defensive coach, we all know that. So the defensive coordinator Kelly brings in (reports are saying he is interested in Georgia’s defensive coordinator Todd Grantham) will have total control over the defense. Kelly will most likely implement a 3-4 scheme, a defense several of the Eagles’ young players thrived in college: Mychal Kendricks, Casey Matthews (who played for Kelly at Oregon), and Brandon Graham. Cullen Jenkins played in a 3-4 when he won the Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers just a couple years ago.

After all that is figured out, he’ll be forced to deal with that embarrassing group of players we call our secondary. Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen look completely befuddled by anything any offense throws at them. And of course we can’t forget about Nnamdi and Rodgers-Cromartie. Do we keep them? Do we dump both of them? Do we keep one? Chip will certainly have his work cut out for him.

Regardless of what direction Kelly decides to go, I’m excited. I’m so anxious to see what he has in store for this team — this Eagles team that was in desperate need of a fresh start, a new feel. And Chip Kelly is the perfect first step. Don’t go expecting a Super Bowl in the first year or two. Give him some time to work his magic. If you’re one of the people who are completely against this hiring, you’re one of those people who are afraid of change. Yes, change can be scary; but it can also be extraordinary and exhilarating. Chip Kelly is exactly what the Eagles need right now.

I wonder if he’ll do anything to the uniforms.