PHILADELPHIA -- It will be easy to second-guess Chip Kelly if the Philadelphia Eagles aren’t as good in 2015 as they were the past two seasons.

To his credit, that didn’t stop Kelly from doing what he thought was necessary. It would have been a lot easier -- and a lot safer -- to simply tweak the roster of a team that went 10-6 each of the last two seasons. Instead, Kelly made massive changes.

Gil Brandt, the longtime Dallas Cowboys general manager who now analyzes the league at NFL.com, put it all in perspective Monday. Brandt tweeted: “Since 1970 8 teams have changed starting QB, leading rusher & receiver one season to next. Only 2006 Saints finished w/ winning record.”

That is what Kelly did, parting with Nick Foles, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin while bringing in Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray and Nelson Agholor. His reasoning? He didn’t believe the 2014 Eagles were good enough to contend.

“[Going] 10-6 and not going to the playoffs is the same as going 4-12,” Kelly said. “I didn’t feel we were close [to a Super Bowl] at the end of last year.”

The counterargument is that the Eagles had some specific problems that kept them from making the playoffs. They did have a 9-3 record after 12 games before losing three in a row. At that point, they were playing without Foles or starting right guard Todd Herremans. Their offensive line had been beset by other injuries during the season. Their defensive secondary had crumbled to the point where it was a major liability.

Many coaches would have tried to improve the secondary, hoped the offensive line was more stable and found out what a healthy Foles could have done with McCoy, Maclin and the rest of the offensive weapons.

Kelly did not. The Eagles are likely to have 10 new starters in 2015, five on offense and five on defense. That includes a new quarterback, running back, wide receiver and two offensive guards. On defense, it includes two new linebackers, two new cornerbacks and a new safety.

That is a lot of change, especially for a coach going into his third season. In the past, the Eagles have generally experienced that kind of immense change when a new head coach was hired.

In 1986, for example, Buddy Ryan replaced Marion Campbell. On offense, the 1986 Eagles had three different starters from the 1985 team. They had four different starters on defense, for a total of seven new starters.

In 1999, Andy Reid took over from Ray Rhodes. The 1999 Eagles had seven new starters on offense and four new starters on defense. That’s a total of 11 new starters. That is one more new starter than the Eagles are likely to have in 2015, but the 1998 Eagles had the worst record in the NFL at 3-13. Change wasn’t just inevitable, it was necessary.

Even in those two examples, the Eagles didn’t make changes as drastic to their offensive skill group. Keith Byars was the new running back in 1986, but Ron Jaworski and his receivers were back from 1985. Doug Pederson took over at quarterback with new receivers in 1999, but Duce Staley returned at running back.

Kelly made a clean sweep among the offensive skill positions. He made similar changes in the defensive secondary. He treated his 10-6 team the way Reid and Ryan treated losing teams they inherited from other coaches.

“I knew we had to get better as a team,” Kelly said.

Did they? That’s what we’ll start to find out when training camp opens Sunday.