Just how close were the Eagles to trading up with the Titans to land Marcus Mariota with the second pick in the 2015 NFL Draft?
Chip Kelly, the head coach of the Eagles at the time, says Philadelphia never made an offer for the selection because Tennessee wasn't interested in moving down.
Kelly, who was fired by the Eagles after the 2015 season and is now a college football analyst for ESPN after a one-year stint as 49ers head coach, recounted the conversations, or lack thereof, between the Eagles and Titans during an interview with ESPN's Know Them From Adam podcast.
"We really didn't get into a conversation about what we can offer and what we can't offer because they made it known that they really weren't looking to trade the pick," Kelly said. "That's all speculation that's out there. You hear stories about 'we offered this, we offered that' but we didn't offer anything because they weren't taking any offers for it, and rightly so. You look at what Marcus has done in his two years in the league. (He's) one of the really bright young quarterbacks in the NFL. There's a reason they didn't move off that pick. It's because they had a chance to get themselves a really good quarterback."
Indeed, there were reports dating back to 2015 that detailed what Kelly had offered to the Titans in exchange for a chance to pick Mariota, his former pupil at Oregon. Per Kelly, it wasn't true.
"I understand it. I coached Marcus (at Oregon) and had an opportunity to be around him. I think the world of him not only as a football player but as a person. So I can see people understanding that," Kelly said. "I would've loved to have coached him. Really, when you're involved in trades, there has to be two people to trade. (When) one team isn't interested in trading, it's really not a conversation."
Mariota appears to be on the rise after showing plenty of potential in the two seasons since the Titans took him second overall. He was voted by his peers as the No. 50 player in the league in the "Top 100 Players of 2017". Kelly failed to find an answer at the QB position in each of his NFL stops. It might be a long time before Tennessee has to face such a question.
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