Chip Kelly might be Marcus Mariota's biggest fan. The Philadelphia Eagles head coach continues to endorse the former Oregon star as the best player in this year's draft class. With questions still lingering over the quarterback position for the Eagles, many continue to wonder if Kelly is really preparing a major draft deal to acquire Mariota. The head coach has made it clear his philosophy is more players are better than fewer players, but if the option for Mariota arrives, will Kelly take it?
While speaking at the NFL Annual Meeting, Kelly made it clear he had no intentions of trading Nick Foles in the deal to get Sam Bradford. The St. Louis Rams and Eagles worked out a trade, but it was not the one Kelly wanted originally. He preferred to give up draft picks for Bradford, but the Rams requested players. According to Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com, the Eagles were not keen on making that type of trade as they preferred to keep the most players possible, but the Rams would not budge.
That means Kelly was planning to enter the season with Bradford, Foles, Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley in the quarterback rotation? Bradford and Foles are on expiring contracts while Sanchez re-signed a two-year contract. If Bradford can return healthy from two straight seasons of knee issues, he has the make and model of a franchise quarterback. However, there is so much unknown with the former first-round pick that many question whether or not Bradford is worth truly investing in.
This is where the Mariota discussion enters. According to Kelly, Mariota has everything needed to be a star in the NFL. Now he could stop all the talk regarding a draft trade by simply re-signing Bradford to a long-term contract and ending commitment speculation. However, the Eagles do not plan on taking that route which means they will continue to get linked to Mariota until the quarterback actually ends up on a different roster.
Would Kelly trade multiple picks for the quarterback? According to NFL.com, a reporter asked Kelly if he would give up two first-round picks to go from No. 20 to No. 6 in the draft. Kelly responded saying that deal would never happen since two years ago it took two first-round picks to go from No. 6 to No. 2.
"Philosophically, I want to keep all of our draft picks," Kelly said, via NFL.com. "I think you build your team through the draft. So if you gut yourself for one year and for one guy, philosophically, I don't think that's the right thing to do."
Mariota will get drafted in the top 10. Where he falls is simply unknown, but no one is willing to rule Kelly out as a contender for the quarterback until the deal officially does not happen.
