Chip Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles made seven picks during the 2014 draft -- and six of their draftees have either graduated from college or are set to graduate this semester.
Philadelphia took Louisville defensive end/outside linebacker Marcus Smith in the first round, Vanderbilt wide receiver Jordan Matthews in the second round, Oregon wide receiver Josh Huff in the third round, Florida cornerback/safety Jaylen Watkins in the fourth round, Oregon defensive end Taylor Hart and Stanford free safety Ed Reynolds in the fifth round and Wisconsin defensive tackle Beau Allen in the seventh round. Allen is the one with a bit of school work to do; he is 14 credits (or one semester) shy of graduating with a business degree.
Kelly told ESPN that academic success is important to him.
"No. 1, I think it shows you the intelligence factor, and No. 2, it shows that they're committed to establishing goals and following through on their goals," Kelly said, per profootballtalk.com. "You're going to face some adversity, whether it's in school or on the football field. You've got a bunch of driven guys, and that's evidence that they are driven.
"It shows you what we're looking for here, that combination of mental toughness and that high football intelligence. That's just another indication for us."
The six who have graduated/will graduate this semester with their majors: Smith in sports administration; Matthews in economics; Huff in sociology (NFL Media draft analyst Charles Davis said during NFL Network's draft coverage that Huff is the first member of his family to earn a college degree); Watkins in family, youth and community science; Hart in psychology-sociology; and Reynolds in political science.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
