"With the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft ..."
Only 14 more hours until Eagles Nation can go from delirium to foaming at the mouth as we will learn once and for all whether Eagles Coach Chip Kelly can land the quarterback he covets, Oregon's Marcus Mariota.
Last night we talked about Kelly, the Eagles and specifically what the Birds are likely to do in the draft on our live Internet broadcast, 'Live From the Newsroom.' If you missed the show, you can catch the replay here.
I'm the only person on the panel who believes Kelly can pull this off.
Eagles beat writer Bob Grotz is not on the Mariota bandwagon. He believes the Birds will wind up with a Duck, just not Mariota. He seems them taking offensive tackle Jake Fisher.
Columnist Jack McCaffery today is calling on Eagles owner Jeff Lurie to get involved to be sure Kelly does not 'mortgage the future' in his efforts to reel in Mariota.
Today Grotz points out that Kelly's offseason moves have put him in the spotlight. Now he has to deliver.
Here's my thought. The Eagles were sitting at 9-3 and had the NFC East in the palm of their hand last season. They promptly swallowed a softball, losing three straight - yes, to good teams - to fall out of the playoffs.
I think it was that stretch, plus those two agonizing losses earlier in Arizona and San Franciso, in which they would have won both games if they had been able to punch the ball in from inside the 3-yard-line.
Kelly's been in the process of reshaping the roster ever since.
He won an in-house Civil War for total control over personnel, deposing GM Howie Roseman. If you're going to give him the keys to the Eagles' kingdom, don't you have to let him get the guy he wants to run the show. That would be Mariota. Is it going to be cheap? No. It likely will take years worth of first-round draft picks and some players.
But here's my point. The Eagles have avoided doing that for years. And exactly how many Super Bowl trophies has that philosophy brought to Philadelphia? Uh, that would be zero.
Kelly is on the record as saying he belives Mariota will win "multiple" Super Bowls. I just can't believe he's going to allow him to do that somewhere other than Philly.
So what do you think? We'll have a live Scribble blog set up later today to allow fans to follow our writers' live coverage from the Eagles war room.
You can take part in the conversation by using the hashtag #EaglesDraft.
In the meantime, try to take a breath. I have a feeling it's going to be a fairly exhilirating ride.
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