The Philadelphia Eagles worked hard to move up the board in the days leading up to the draft, but in the end the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans both decided they needed quarterbacks too badly to trade their picks. According to various reports, the Eagles tried to swing deals with both teams.
Most people were aware that Chip Kelly was trying to pry the No. 2 overall pick away from Tennessee, and he is said to have made a huge offer. But Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported on Thursday that Philly also tried to move up to No. 1.
Glazer said the Eagles offered to swap first-round picks this year in addition to giving Tampa Bay a first-rounder in 2016, a quarterback of their choice and another player on the Eagles’ roster.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Sam Bradford, star defensive end Fletcher Cox, linebacker Mychal Kendricks and cornerback Brandon Boykin were all discussed. Ultimately, the Bucs were set on Jameis Winston and the Titans — to the surprise of many — were set on Marcus Mariota.
Of course, Kelly claims the Eagles never offered players as part of a package to move up in the draft. According to Peter King of the MMQB, Philly never offered any of the rumored packages including multiple first-round picks and Bradford.
Now that the Eagles were unable to pull off the trade, Kelly has to stick to his story about Bradford never having been acquired as trade bait. That said, there’s just no possible way there was no truth behind all the reports we heard about Kelly wanting Mariota. In the end, the Titans and Bucs simply weren’t going to budge.
