Chip Kelly has kept all player rating to himself. Photo by Todd Bauders/contrastphotography.com

Well Chip Kelly is NOT Andy Reid.

Ask the Eagles new head coach a question and you will get an earful, like it or not.

It is not that Kelly talks back or down to anyone, it is just he has a way of putting people ever so slightly back on their heals whether he likes the question or not.

And it not just with the media…not one player has any answers as to where Kelly is with just about anything.

Quarterback Mike Vick is clearly frustrated with the lack of knowledge he has been given by his coach.

When asked by NFL Total Access about his status and where he thinks he stands in the current quarterback competition, Vick had the same bewildered look and answers we all have.

“I think I am doing pretty good,” Vick said. “I don’t known [where I stand.] That is up to Coach to decide what is best for this football team but as of right now, I am very pleased with my progress. Today, I felt like I had some throws I wanted back but for the most part I have done good. I got some balls in the end zone and just playing the position the way it is supposed to be played.”

Vick has also asked his coach publicly, pushing his coach to simply name the starter to end all the questions.

Kelly will have none of it.

Kelly was asked at Mini-Camp at the Nova Care Center if he was going to look to separate the quarterbacks from each other, you know….who is his guy?

He was as generic in June as he was the day he was hired.

“Who can move us the best and who gets the football team up and down the field, you know that’s the most important thing,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t have to be that he throws a prettier ball or all those things, there is a lot of different things. How do you manage a game, how do you secure the football? Are we not turning it over? Are we constantly moving in a positive direction? Are we getting into third and short and converting them? Things like that. It really is who moves the team the best is what we are looking for at the quarterbacks.”

Kelly was asked whether it will take a while for the quarterback battle to play out or will it be over after mini-camp

“I don’t know,” Kelly said with that little smirk that will no doubt be his trademark. “We have to let it play itself out.”

The same frustration surfaced with wide receiver DeSean Jackson.

Both Jackson and Vick seemed to forget neither played well last year and were injured, missing time. But both chirped about not knowing their role with the team. Jackson seemed puzzled about his lack of reps in Kelly’s practices (how can you tell?).

Kelly said he had a talk not only with Jackson but with almost every player on the team.

“We talked the first day about open lines of communication between everybody,” he said. “If you want to talk about things you can come into my office. I have had a lot of players come and sit down to understand where they are, how we are doing things, why we do things. Any organization is going to be really good at communication, we stressed that since we have gotten in here. If a player wants to come in and talk to me or another coach wants to come talk to me, or someone wants to come in and talk, we are always open for that stuff. I think making sure that everybody is on the same page and knows what’s going on I think is beneficial to everybody.”

Jackson later told NFL All-Access about what Kelly told him.

“It was no demotion,” Jackson said. “[Kelly] was just trying new things with everybody. Nothing is set in stone for anybody. Everybody on the team was able to go through first team, second team, third team.”

Kelly apparently wants it to play it out at the end of July and training will decide how he finally sets the depth chart. He has yet to do that with any position. He has totally embraced state of the art sports science on how to get his players in the best shape to play football.

Kelly has players wearing body GPSs, given them advise on diet, even sleeping habits. He said he can lead his horses to the water but cannot make them drink it unless they want to.

“It’s on them in terms of what they do in the summertime in terms of coming back,” Kelly said at his last press conference before training camp. “We’ll see them in July. We’ll know. That is the great thing about this: You can’t fake football. If you didn’t do any work from the time you left here on June 6th and show up on July 25th, we’ll know because your body will tell you what you can do. You can’t just take time off. I think our strength coaches have a good plan they’ll put together and present to them this afternoon, and then it’s up to them. But it’s the same rules for everybody. So I don’t think there is any reason to complain about it. Everybody deals with the same situation. Everybody’s going on a break now and everybody’s coming back in whatever it is, 15 days before the first preseason game. It’s the team that prepares the best over that time that’s going to have the advantage. So it’s up to them and it’s on them.”

Kelly was asked about his plans for the next two weeks. He seemed a little frustrated. The new NFL rules have cut back football-related contact with players. It is something new not only for a new NFL coach like Kelly, but to all NFL coaches this year.

“You can’t be on the field with them, so they’re still learning how we do things in the weight room so, they’ll spend time with [strength and conditioning coach] Josh [Hingst] and those guys in the weight room in terms of how that works,” Kelly said. “We’ll do some kind of showing them how to get from point A to point B. Right now, they know how to get from the hotel to the airport and how to get here. There are some different things just trying to get them acclimated to where we are and how things are going to work.

Kelly was asked about his work schedule and unlike the players he did not list a beginning, middle or end.

“There is a ton of work,” he said. “There is work every day. You’re never done. You’ve never arrived. There is always something to do. We’ve got a schedule. We have a yearly schedule, so we know where we’re supposed to be and what has to be broken down and when we’re reporting back here and all these things. So we have a schedule. We never feel like our work is done.”

Email Al Thompson at the.magazine@footballstories.com