Chip Kelly, Marcus Mariota, Mortgages & Farms….Oh My!
Who would think that speculating on a football draft involving Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota would involve so much talk about mortgages and farms? How many times have you heard: Give up the farm. Mortgage the future? These are the words of caution heard again and again regarding Chip Kelly’s pursuit of Marcus Mariota. People are afraid of giving up some farm or mortgaging some future.
Here are the past 10 years of first round draft picks made by the Eagles.
2005 – Mike Patterson
2006 – Brodrick Bunkley
2007 – No Pick
2008 – No Pick
2009 – Jeremy Maclin
2010 – Brandon Graham
2011 – Danny Watkins
2012 – Fletcher Cox
2013 – Lane Johnson
2014 – Marcus Smith
Look at that list. Would trading 3 straight first round picks from any three consecutive years have mortgaged the Eagles future? Patterson, Bunkley, No Pick? No Pick, Maclin, Graham? Watkins, Cox, Johnson? Cox, Johnson, Smith? That last one is the best argument, but I wouldn’t say losing those three players would be the end of the Philadelphia Eagles future. I wouldn’t say it’s selling the farm, whatever that means.
By the way, many financially wise people that I know and respect have mortgaged the future. They refinanced or took out home-equity loans to pay for their children’s future, college tuition. So, yes, it’s often prudent to mortgage for the future. Sometimes it’s the only answer, just as Mariota may be the only answer in Chip’s mind.
Selling the farm? There’s no way Chip is selling the Philadelphia Eagles. He doesn’t have that kind of juice, yet. He’s not asking to move the franchise. He may simply have to move a few pieces of his farm.
Look at it this way. Imagine Chip Kelly is a dairy farmer. He makes a decent living, owns a comfortable home. That comfortable home is like being a competitive football team, one that might make the playoffs.
Then, that same farmer hears about a guy in another county that has a goose that lays golden eggs. With enough golden eggs our farmer knows that he’d be able to build the largest, most luxurious home that his town has ever known. That home would be like winning the Super Bowl.
Rumor has it, that the goose that lays golden eggs could be had for 5 stand-out cows. Our farmer has never heard of a goose that lays golden eggs, but he does know other dairy farmers with collections of cows that produce above average amounts of milk. Does our dairy farmer dare trade his top five producing cows for this goose that lays golden eggs? Of course he does. He’d be an idiot if he didn’t. He can always find other cows.
Marcus Mariota is Chip Kelly’s goose that lays golden eggs. He may have to give up two or three first round picks and some players. As proven earlier, that’s not a huge deal. Franchises survive without a pick for a year or two and they survive when guess wrong with their draft picks, which happens about 50% of the time anyway.
You can get linebackers in the NFL, ask Kiko Alonso. You can get Wide Receivers in the NFL beyond the first round (Jordan Matthews, Martavis Bryant, Alshon Jeffrey, T.Y. Hilton). Every position is easier to fill, via draft and free agency, than quarterback.
Stud quarterbacks rarely leave the first round. There are exceptions like Brady and Wilson, but the odds of hitting on quarterbacks in later rounds are far slimmer than most all other positions. Good quarterbacks don’t hit free agency, either.
If Mariota is Chip’s goose that lays golden eggs, then he must find a way to get him. I think we all know that Mariota is and that Chip will.
Chip is a man who knows what he wants and gets what he wants. Ask Howie. Chip Kelly is boss. If you don’t believe it, check this out:
I say, get Mariota at all costs. I don’t want the Eagles to be a team seeking eternally for a “franchise” quarterback such as Cleveland. Get it done. Do the deal.
E-A-G-L-E-S!