The Philadelphia Eagles may look at a Nick Foles trade this offseason if Chip Kelly wants to target Marcus Mariota in the 2015 NFL draft and teams like the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans could be interested and this comes as the Eagles are hoping to get LeSean McCoy to take a pay cut.
Marcus Mariota played at Oregon for Chip Kelly and that is the main reason why the Eagles have been connected to him in the draft. According to NJ.com and other reports, the Eagles and Kelly are "plotting multiple" moves to get up and draft Mariota in 2015, as the Buccaneers are expected to take Jameis Winston number one overall. The website reported last month that the St. Louis Rams were interested in Foles and that the Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns and Titans also could be in the mix.
Foles was injured last season and played in just eight games, but in those games he took a step back from where he was in 2013. The Eagles won 10 games last season for the second straight year, but it was not enough to make the playoffs out of the NFC East. Foles had 13 touchdowns and 10 picks last season in eight games and completed less than 60 percent of his passes and that came after 2013 when he went for 27 TDs, two interceptions and completed over 63 percent of his passes. Kelly did not draft Foles and he could be interested in making a move to get "his" own quarterback.
Foles has gone 14-4 as the starter under Kelly and has shown strong development, but the Eagles may look at going big in a deal for Mariota if Kelly sees him as the "perfect fit", as Tony Kornheiser called it on PTI. Mariota won the Heisman trophy and had a distinguished career at Oregon and the Buccaneers could look at him as the number one pick over Winston. The Eagles are hoping that is not the case and if they trade Foles to the Rams, the number 10 pick could be in play. NJ.com writes that the Eagles likely will have to move up twice if they want to get Mariota.
LeSean McCoy's future with the team could be a bit up in the air as well, as the Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News reports that the team wants him to take a pay cut. The report says that McCoy is open to restructuring his deal, but that he does not want to take a pay decrease this year. While the Eagles don't want to get rid of one of the best backs in football, the team wants to lower McCoy's $11.95 million cap number. McCoy's deal is through the 2017 season and if he is cut, he will count for over $4 million in dead.
The Browns have shown interest in Foles in the past, as they offered Josh Gordon in a trade for Foles back in 2013. According to NJ.com, the Browns were interested in acquiring Foles for the troubled wide receiver and that came after training camp when he lost the starting job battle to Michael Vick and looked like he would be traded. The report says that was "one of the first real signs of support the team has shown for Foles since (Chip) Kelly arrived" and could signal that maybe Kelly is not as willing to trade Foles as everyone thinks. Either way, a Mariota-Kelly experiment would be fascinating to watch.