The Philadelphia Eagles Should Trade For Marcus Mariota

In the 2015 NFL Draft, it’s hard to put a pin in exactly which players look like a ‘sure thing’ at the next level. At the top, this draft class is as much of a question mark or wild card as any I have seen. One player at the center of that discussion is Heisman Trophy winner and former Oregon Ducks star Marcus Mariota.

Mariota, projected to go somewhere in the top 10 picks, is a guy right now that so many people are struggling to project to the NFL. He played in an offense at college that people perceive as simplistic and not overly favorable to his NFL translation. The problem is, there is so much you will see from Mariota that makes you think the offense he played in at Oregon isn’t going to hinder what he can do with an NFL team.

Specifically, I believe the Philadelphia Eagles are the team that should be doing everything they can do to get Mariota, and according to things that I have heard over the last few weeks, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly may truly covet Mariota as the next quarterback of his team.

That would make a ton of sense, since Kelly was the guy who brought Mariota to Oregon and coached him for a couple years before he left for Philadelphia and the NFL.

More from NFL Mocks

The Eagles aren’t the only team in the NFL that have coaches who could work with Mariota and put together an offense for him to succeed in, but Philadelphia is a team that needs to make the deal because they give Mariota the best possible situation for a coach/GM to buy in to the young quarterback.

You can’t stress enough how important it is for a coaching staff and front office to be behind a young quarterback — it has everything to do with his development within the organization.

For Mariota, no coach is going to buy in more to his skill-set than Kelly, a guy who knows him better than any coach in the NFL right now.

It’s hard to project the details of the trade, but I think the Eagles are probably going to have to jump up into the top five picks and it wouldn’t shock me to see them go up with the Titans or Jaguars to make the move. If the Titans are that team, the Eagles could find a way to include Nick Foles in the trade and perhaps save themselves some high draft picks. For the Jaguars, they would have no such luck.

That’s why you’re much more likely to see a deal struck with the Titans, but to move from 20th to second overall is going to take a big package of picks, especially if the Titans like DT Leonard Williams.

Heck, they’d be passing on Mariota themselves!

Eagles /

Eagles

Like I said before, the Eagles are not the only team in the NFL that present Mariota with a shot at success, but I don’t think any coaching staff around the league would buy in to Mariota as strongly as Philly would.

We had a group film session with the NFL Mocks crew last night, and in watching Mariota, I was reminded how every time I watch him, I see the 2012 version of Robert Griffin III.

You remember him?

That superstar rookie with the Redskins that had people actually questioning at the time if the Colts made the right choice between he and Andrew Luck?

Okay, maybe that was a select group of Redskins fans who went that far, but you get the point. The 2012 version of RGIII was, well, RGIII. He was a guy that people bought into, a guy that looked like an unstoppable force at the NFL level because he could pick you apart with his brain, his arm, or his athleticism.

Without injuries, Griffin is a great athlete.

I think Mariota has that potential, and without hesitation I think the best spot for him to be that guy right away in the NFL is in Philadelphia.

I don’t know what it will take for Chip Kelly to pull off a trade like that, but for Mariota’s sake, I hope he makes it. It’s not the only place he can succeed, but I think it’s certainly the best place.

Home/NFL Draft