Mariota or No Mariota, Expect the Unexpected for the Philadelphia Eagles

After months of speculation, the NFL draft, the offseason version of the Super Bowl, is just one day away. The talk in Philadelphia, of course, continues to center around whether Eagles head coach Chip Kelly can find a way to pull off a massive draft day trade for his former Heisman quarterback Marcus Mariota.

The Eagles, currently scheduled to pick 20th in the first round, would likely need to move up to the No. 1 overall pick to guarantee that they draft their future franchise quarterback. After all, there’s still speculation that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could select Mariota with their top pick. ESPN’s Ron Jaworski reported recently that his sources are telling him that Mariota will be the top pick. This piece by Joe Murgia does a great job of telling why and how the Buccaneers could shock the world by drafting Mariota.

But the oddsmakers on Sportsbook.com give the Buccaneers a 1-15 chance of drafting Jameis Winston with their No. 1 overall pick. Realistically, Mariota is a long shot to be selected by the Buccaneers.

The most realistic solution for the Mariota sweepstakes is the former college star going second overall. Although only one quarterback this millennium has been the second pick in the draft (Baylor’s Robert Griffin III in 2012), at this point it’s hard to see Mariota falling past the No. 2 pick.

Give the Tennessee Titans credit. They’ve done a tremendous job of creating value for their pick, and at this point, it’s hard to know what is real and what isn’t.

The Cleveland Browns, who hold the 12th and 19th picks in the draft, could be interested in trading up for Mariota. Then again, they’ve blown high draft picks on quarterbacks four times since 2007. Maybe they’d like to give former Heisman winner Johnny Manziel another shot. Or perhaps they’d even be interested in swapping one of their first-round picks for veteran Sam Bradford, the former No. 1 overall pick who the Eagles traded for last month.

The New York Jets would have to seriously consider drafting Mariota if he fell to the sixth pick, even with Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick, both fringe starters, on their roster. There's also the Washington Redskins, the Chicago Bears, the St. Louis Rams and the Houston Texans who would have to seriously consider drafting Mariota if he slipped during the draft. 

I submitted my final Eagles mock draft and I'm sticking with what I've been saying for six weeks now. The Eagles will find a way to draft Marcus Mariota, whether it's a two-team trade, a three-team trade or Chip Kelly literally trading himself to the Tennessee Titans (that part is a joke). 

Over the last few days, speculation has been flying through the gossip circles regarding Mariota, but quite simply, nobody really has any idea what will happen. Nothing would shock me, especially if Chip Kelly is involved. 

Kelly, in his first season as the general manager for the Eagles, has basically revamped half the roster in a series of daring moves. He's traded away starting quarterback Nick Foles and All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy. A year after releasing DeSean Jackson, he allowed Jeremy Maclin to leave via free agency. He's allowed Evan Mathis to be dangled on the trade block for the second straight offseason. He's released franchise stalwarts like Todd Herremans and Trent Cole. He traded for a star linebacker coming off a torn ACL. He handed a cornerback with 17 career starts a contract worth $63 million. Oh, and he signed former Heisman winner Tim Tebow to compete for his third quarterback spot. 

Kelly has proven to be the most unpredictable coach/general manager in the National Football League. It's absolutely impossible to predict what he does next. 

Whatever happens, you will never convince me that anybody in the media has a source that "knows" anything about what Chip Kelly is thinking.

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) April 29, 2015

Whether Kelly does or does not trade for Mariota, he's going to be wild and unpredictable during the draft weekend. He'll be one of the most talked-about general managers in the league, probably No. 1. I can guarantee that.

It wouldn't shock me to see Kelly trade up to three or four players in deals unrelated to Marcus Mariota. Quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Matt Barkley, left guard Evan Mathis, defensive ends Fletcher Cox and Vinny Curry, and linebacker Mychal Kendricks and cornerback Brandon Boykin all are viable trade candidates based on various reasons. 

Player	Age	Salary	Why might be traded?
Sam Bradford	27	12.985 M	Package deal for Mariota
Matt Barkley	24	736 K	Will be cut before season
Evan Mathis	33	6.5 M	High salary, requested raise, age
Fletcher Cox	24	3.258 M	Package deal for Mariota
Vinny Curry	26	1.076 M	Free agent after 2015 and likely won't return
Mychal Kendricks	24	1.414 M	Poor scheme fit, free agent after 2015
Brandon Boykin	24	1.643 M	Free agent after 2015 and definitely won't return

For example, in my Eagles' seven-round mock draft from tonight, Kelly traded away Kendricks to the Green Bay Packers for a late second-round pick. It wouldn't be surprising to see him exchange Curry for a third-round pick or Boykin for a fourth-round pick. Those are just examples but Kelly has made it clear that no player on his roster is safe, especially players from the Andy Reid days. 

The point is that even if Kelly does find a way to land Mariota in the draft, he's likely still going to make a number of other shocking unpredictable moves. Mariota is his ultimate goal but he's not going to view his roster as complete if he lands the former Heisman winner. Patience clearly isn't one of Kelly's strong points, and the draft is as good of a time as any for him to continue turning over the roster. 

It's hard to see a scenario in which Kelly doesn't make at least one great move as a general manager and at least one head-scratching move as a general manager. At this point, just four months into his tenure with complete control of the future of this organization, the only thing one can do as a fan is buckle in and, quite simply, expect the head coach to find a way to do the unexpected during the draft.