The Philadelphia Eagles are certainly keeping things interesting this offseason. No matter how many times Chip Kelly approaches the podium and denies his interest, the franchise will be linked to Marcus Mariota until the former Oregon quarterback is on a different team. While Kelly has stated Philadelphia is moving on with Sam Bradford at the quarterback position, is there really still a chance that Mariota ends up with the Eagles?
According to ESPN's Josina Anderson, there is growing belief that Kelly acquired Bradford with the intentions of trading him to a team like the Tennessee Titans, acquiring the No. 2 draft pick and grabbing Mariota. There is really no way of telling if this is a possibility or not as Kelly has proven time and time again that he has tricks up his sleeve. One thing is certain Kelly did call Mariota the best quarterback in the draft. Bradford is coming off a season where he spent the whole year rehabbing an ACL tear while also having an expiring contract to his name. Mark Sanchez is not the long-term option.
The Eagles gave up a lot to get Bradford. The team traded Nick Foles, a fourth-round draft pick in 2015 and a second-round draft pick in 2016 to the St. Louis Rams to get the quarterback and a fifth-round draft this year. That is a heavy price to acquire a player that is simply going to be traded once again. The Titans do need a quarterback, but if they were interested in getting Bradford, why not deal with the Rams directly? Most believe Tennessee is ready to commit to Zach Mettenberger after Jake Locker retired.
The idea that Philadelphia still wants to draft Mariota is easy to see considering Kelly continues to praise the quarterback with any chance he gets. However, he did tell the media that he would not wage the franchise's future on a draft trade up. Bradford appears to be the quarterback of 2015 even though Kelly did nothing to endorse his future with the franchise. He did sign Bradford's college roommate, DeMarco Murray, to a big free agency contract, but that does nothing to guarantee the quarterback will be sticking around.
The only way the Mariota talk stops for Philadelphia is if the Eagles come out with a contract extension for Bradford. In the end, the quarterback is playing on borrowed time. He will be a free agency next summer if nothing happens this year. Eagles fans would wise to not count Mariota out of the running just yet. Could Bradford be a trade chip in the coming weeks? That is always an option with Kelly.
