What They’re Saying About the Eagles

Here’s what the media are saying about the Eagles after an interesting Day 1 of the NFL Draft:

According to Pro Football Talk, Chip Kelly made a pretty sizable offer to the Bucs for the No. 1 overall pick.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Eagles offered the following to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first pick in the draft:  the 20th pick in this year’s draft; Philly’s first-round pick in 2016; quarterback Sam Bradford; and another player on the roster.

It’s unclear who the other player would have been.  Possibly linebacker Mychal Kendricks.  Possibly Lane Johnson or Fletcher Cox, but the Eagles were expressing reluctance to include either of those pieces.

It’s unknown whether that same offer was made to the Titans, who held the No. 2 pick and ultimately used it on Mariota.  It’s reasonable to assume something similar to that was placed on the table.

In that same post, Florio brings up the idea of Kelly eventually jumping to Tennessee to reunite with his former quarterback.

This information comes at a time when the Eagles are in full-blown backpedal mode, for a couple of obvious reasons.  First, they need to find a way to mend fences with Bradford, who undoubtedly realizes that he was nearly re-traded.  Second, the next distraction for Kelly and the Eagles (and the Titans) will be the inevitable speculation — which already has begun in some league circles — that Kelly is destined to eventually become the coach of the Titans.

Albert Breer on the discussions between the Eagles and Titans:

In the end, the Eagles were most aggressive going for Mariota. The thing that hurt them most was the placement (20) of their current-year 1. — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 1, 2015

Per sources, the Titans communicated to the Eagles last night that they’d have to top the Robert Griffin III deal to get Marcus Mariota. …

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 1, 2015

… One concept discussed the Eagles’ 1s in ’15, ’16 and ’17, plus a 2. But that wasn’t near enough. Players weren’t seriously discussed. — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 1, 2015

My sense is it would’ve taken players, plus picks for Eagles to get there. Titans would’ve asked for Cox. Tennessee just wanted too much.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 1, 2015

Paul Domowitch believes the Titans helped the Eagles out by saying no to the reported mega-deal.

Sam Bradford still is an Eagle. So are Mychal Kendricks and Fletcher Cox and Brandon Boykin and Dave Spadaro and Howie Roseman and everyone and everything else Chip Kelly reportedly dangled in front of the Tennessee Titans in his dogged but unsuccessful attempt to be reunited with Marcus Mariota.

When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stepped to the podium in Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre last evening at 8:19 EDT and announced that the Titans had somehow managed to just say no to Chip and keep Mariota for themselves, Eagles fans wept. OK, maybe they didn’t actually weep. But they were pretty damn upset.

Mariotamania is a powerful thing, especially when Kelly has openly predicted that the kid will win multiple Super Bowls.

Despite the high degree of difficulty of a 20-to-2 trade-up, they were convinced that Chip somehow, some way, would get his man, cost be damned.

Thankfully, he didn’t.

Phil Sheridan of ESPN.com gave the Nelson Agholor pick a thumbs down.

If you ignore the fact that the Eagles weren’t able to get quarterback Marcus Mariota, this is not a bad pick. Agholor is a solid player who fills the need created by Chip Kelly being unable to keep Jeremy Maclin as a free agent and cutting DeSean Jackson last year. Other pressing needs — at defensive back especially — remain unfilled.

Suggested reading: This piece by Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times from 2012 offers “a glimpse into the enigma that is Nelson Agholor.”