Bicknell Decides To Stay With Eagles

Bob Bicknell spoke to 49ers coach Jim Tomsula about the team’s offensive coordinator opening, but decided he did not want to leave the Eagles, league sources told Birds 24/7.

An earlier report from The Sacramento Bee suggested that the Eagles had blocked Bicknell from interviewing, but Chip Kelly has been pretty consistent in his philosophy that he won’t stop assistants from pursuing potential promotions.

“There are some things you don’t have control over in terms of… I’m never going to stand in a coach’s way when they have an opportunity to kind of get what they consider a better job,” Kelly said in December. “It’s really their decision, not my decision. I’ll weigh in on it if they want me to give advice. But I would anticipate as openings happen around the league and there could be openings in college where people want to go to a college job. But that’s always done on an individual basis and you never know.

“We finished the season last year, we didn’t have anything, and then three weeks later, the Miami thing started happening with Bill [Lazor]. So we’ll cross that bridge if it happens, but I would anticipate it. We do have some really good coaches here, so I’m hopeful that we can keep everybody together.”

Bicknell was part of Kelly’s original coaching staff. When Kelly was coaching at New Hampshire, Bicknell was coaching at Boston University, and the two got to know each other.

Bicknell spent three years with the Kansas City Chiefs (assistant offensive line coach, offensive line coach and tight ends coach). He was with the Buffalo Bills (tight ends coach, wide receivers coach) for two years prior to coming to Philadelphia.