April 30, 2015
Ross D. Franklin/AP
Chip Kelly didn't (cough) offer up any of his players for Marcus Mariota.
When the draft began Thursday night, a report emerged from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that the Eagles had offered an enormous package of players and draft picks to move up from the 20th overall pick to the second overall pick to select Oregon QB Marcus Mariota. The package reportedly included the following:
• Two first round picks
• A third round pick
• Fletcher Cox
• Sam Bradford
• Mychal Kendricks
• Brandon Boykin
"We had a conversation with (the Buccaneers and Titans)," said Kelly, speaking to reporters at the NovaCare Complex, "but it was way too steep for us to do anything. It didn't really get very serious, to be honest with you."
While the reported trade compensation above may or may not be 100% accurate, Kelly's comments contradict dozens of reports from reputable reporters who said that the Eagles were making a strong push to trade up to draft Mariota.
Kelly also denied that the Eagles included players in their offer.
"We didn't offer any players to anyone," said Kelly. "We didn't get into any discussions. It was just a really steep price. It's like driving into a nice neighborhood and looking at a house and saying 'That's really nice,' and then they tell you the price and you drive away. So we didn't walk in the front door, we didn't look around."
Kelly's denial that the Eagles didn't offer any players was predictable. Kelly can try to sell the fan base on the notion that he didn't try to trade a number of prominent Eagles players including Sam Bradford, who is now the Eagles' projected starting quarterback. It'll probably be a more difficult sell to the players who were reportedly included in the Eagles' offer.
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