Greg Cosell: If Kelly Goes For Mariota, He Better Be Right
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- To gamble: take risky action in the hope of a desired result.
The conventional play for the Eagles would be to stay put at No. 20 in this year's NFL Draft, but if we know anything about Chip Kelly, it's that he hates conventional. However, if he does pull the trigger to move up and acquire Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Marcus Mariota, he better be right.
"I don't think he can go from 20 to one or two, I think it would be possible to go from 20 to seven or eight," NFL Films Senior Producer Greg Cosell told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Thursday. "And again, this is just my take on the draft. See, here's the issue you face. Now again, if Mariota turns out---now we don't know this---but if Chip Kelly truly believes that Marcus Mariota is going to be Tom Brady, Peyton. I know I'm mentioning high, high level names here, but if you believe that then there will be people who would say then you should give up anything because those guys are rare. And that's what you believe the guy is, then that means you're theoretically competing every single year.
Listen to Greg Cosell on the 94WIP Morning Show:
"If you just think he's a good player who fits your system, then you are giving up an awful---then we will be having the same conversation next year about their secondary and about the other weaknesses because they won't have enough draft choices to be able to fill these weaknesses."
While the upside of Mariota running Kelly's fast-paced offense is surely alluring, predominately because of his speed and athleticism, Cosell points out there are certainly no guarantees.
"[Nick] Foles is essentially a pocket quarterback and I think Foles needs a team around him," Cosell said of the current Eagles quarterback. "Theoretically, if Mariota were to reach his ultimate ceiling then you're looking at one of those so called dual-threat quarterback. But those guys---you know you have to answer for why Colin Kaepernick is who he is. For why Cam Newton is a week-to-week player. All these dual-threat quarterbacks, all of the sudden, are not so good. You've gotta have an answer you feel good about as to why those guys are not really good players in the NFL."