So the Eagles missed out on Marcus Mariota and instead stayed at 20 and drafted, in my humble opinion, a very good player in Nelson Agholor.
There are two things that emerge from last night. One, do not believe everything you hear leading up to the draft. Two, the Eagles made the right call in not trading for Mariota given the asking price.
Often times, leaks to the media are done in order to gain leverage. Take, for example, the report circulating last night that the Eagles had made a "considerable" offer to the Bucs and Titans in order to land Marcus Mariota.
I can't fault the Eagles for not mortgaging the future to get him. The deal that was being discussed was insane:
What package are #Eagles talking about to go to No. 1 or No. 2? Two 1st rounders, a 3rd rounder, Fletcher Cox, Boykin, Kendricks, more. Wow.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 30, 2015
As it turns out, this rumor was not true. Chip Kelly stated after the draft that he did not offer any players in his attempt to trade up to draft Marcus Mariota:
It’s like driving into a nice neighborhood and looking at a house and saying, ‘That’s really nice,’ and then they tell you the price and you turn around and drive away. We didn’t walk in the front door. We didn’t take a look around
At the time, the statement was panned as an attempt by Kelly to make amends with the players he almost traded.
But Peter King confirmed today that the Eagles in fact did not offer players in the deal:
The Eagles, as Kelly said Thursday night in Philadelphia, never offered players as part of a package to obtain Mariota. In fact, The MMQB learned Thursday night that Kelly never offered the widely rumored packages of either three first-round picks or two first-round picks and Sam Bradford, in an attempt to obtain the second pick of the draft. I can tell you this much is true: The Titans basically scared off suitors because they continually told teams they wanted to take Mariota, and it would take a stupid offer to obtain the pick. In the end, Tennessee GM Ruston Webster and coach Ken Whisenhunt stuck to their guns.
Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer elaborated:
Bottom line is Chip Kelly wanted Marcus Mariota a lot and was prepared to offer a lot, but Titans wanted him as much or wanted the moon.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) May 1, 2015
So in the end, all the constant speculation was much to do about nothing. The Titans likely leaked the rumor about the considerable trade offer they received from the Eagles to the press in order to gain leverage in negotiations with other teams that were interested in trading up. Probably much like they Titans leaked offers they received from other teams in an effort to drive the price up on the Eagles.
Chip Kelly meant what he said: the Eagles were interested in Mariota, but were not going to mortgage their future in order to obtain him.
And while I was on the Mariota train, to an extent, I cannot blame him at all.
Let's think for a moment about what the trade would have required. If the rumors were true, the Eagles would have had to give up the following: Bradford, who if healthy can be a top 10 quarterback in this league in Chip Kelly's offense. Potential all-pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and emerging stud linebacker Mychael Kendricks. Nelson Agholor, who coupled with Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff form a dynamic, young wide receiving corp. And next year's first and third round picks. Taking into account that the Eagles already traded their second round pick next year in the Sam Bradford trade, that means they would have not made a pick until the fourth round of next year's draft.
Who would have replaced Cox? And if we traded Kendricks, did you really want to rely on DeMeco Ryans as our starting middle linebacker, at 32 years of age and coming off his second torn achilles? We would have been left to filling roster spots for the foreseeable future via free agency. That is Washington Redskins territory, folks.
I get it. We desperately want a franchise quarterback. And the marriage between Chip Kelly and Mariota would have been perfect. But at that price? No thanks. I'll pass.
Patrick Causey is a writer at Eagledelphia.com and can be followed on Twitter @PhillySportsJD
