Kelly: Everyone Discussed As a Trade Chip

At the end of Chip Kelly’s press conference Thursday, he was asked about reports that the Eagles are looking to deal left guard Evan Mathis.

Kelly didn’t confirm or deny the reports, but his response provided some further insight into what’s been a hectic offseason.

“In the last week, I think every person on this team was talked about on the trade block,” he said. “We’ve had discussions with everybody about everybody and everything. As we put together models, there wasn’t anybody that was untouchable. If we were willing to trade LeSean McCoy and Nick Foles, then I think everybody on this team… we had very hard discussions on who we could lose, and if we lost ‘em, what would we do to replace ‘em, and how we would use that money?”

Kelly’s actions back up those words, and it’s fair to wonder whether he’s done dealing.

Multiple outlets have now reported that Mathis is on the trade block. But are there other names to keep an eye on? Perhaps players from the 2012 draft class? Those guys are entering the final year of their contracts. If the Eagles don’t value them enough to extend them, they might look to trade them.

Mychal Kendricks is a young, ascending player, but the Eagles just traded for Kiko Alonso, and Kelly confirmed that DeMeco Ryans will be back.

The feeling here has long been that Brandon Boykin deserves a shot to start on the outside, but the coaching staff doesn’t seem to feel the same way. Perhaps another organization would see value there.

And while Vinny Curry found a role in the Eagles’ sub package last year (nine sacks), he should be attractive to 4-3 teams in need of pass-rush help.

If the events of the past couple weeks showed us nothing else, it’s that Kelly is going to be aggressive and take chances to fit the roster to his vision. To that end, it’d be no surprise if he made more trades in the coming weeks.