Bill Davis heard LeSean McCoy’s comments on the way out. He heard Tra Thomas' comments on the way out. And on Sunday, he heard Brandon Boykin’s comments on the way out.
And he had to speak up. Because he sees a very different Chip Kelly than they portrayed.
Davis, Kelly's defensive coordinator since Kelly was hired here, has coached in 10 different organizations and under 11 different head coaches.
And he said Monday he’s never seen a coach who’s as available to his players as Kelly is.
“I think every one of those three people need to answer their own question,” Davis said before training camp practice. “I can’t answer for any of those guys or what they’re thinking or what would cause it. I’d be crazy to even try to answer that.
“But I can just answer from my view, from being in 10 different organizations, with all kind of different head coaches, schemes, systems. And I’m telling you from the bottom of my heart, this is a very great place for players.
“We do more for players than anything I’ve ever been around. We do more for their conditioning, their body, their health, their mental health, their growth and all parts of being a man and a player than anywhere I’ve been around.
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“Just ask the players how much time we spend on them. Their mindset, on their moods, on how their bodies are feeling, their hydration. All of it. I think it’s a couple isolated guys and they have to answer their own questions about that.”
Thomas, a one-time Eagle great under Ray Rhodes and Andy Reid, coached briefly with the Eagles and after not having his contract renewed, told FOX Sports he heard players in the locker room make racially charged comments about Kelly.
McCoy, the team’s all-time leading rusher, told ESPN that Kelly “got rid of all the good black players.”
And Boykin, after getting traded to the Steelers on Saturday, told Comcast SportsNet’s Derrick Gunn in a series of texts that Kelly is “uncomfortable around grown men of our culture,” comments that were widely interpreted as indicating Kelly doesn’t understand African-American players.
Once he joined the Steelers on Sunday, Boykin told reporters at training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, that he wasn’t implying that Kelly is a racist, only that he doesn’t relate well to players.
But Davis strongly disagreed with Boykin’s comments, saying Kelly has an open-door policy for all his players that compares favorably to all the other coaches he’s worked under.
“It’s outstanding,” Davis said. “And I say that in all sincerity. He has got one of the most open-door policies of guys I’ve been around. And you can look at the guys I’ve been around and make your own assessments. Some of those guys have closed-door policies.
“His is wide open. You talk about Boykin. Boykin went in during the offseason and had a long talk with Chip about his role, about outside corner, about nickel.
“We had great conversations with Brandon about all those things, and I think Chip has one of the biggest open-door policies. Ask the guys in the building, he really does. It’s really being portrayed outside different than it is inside. Because it really is an easy-to-be-around atmosphere.”