Kelly Answers Plenty Of Questions As He Breaks His Silence
By Ed Benkin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Chip Kelly spoke to reporters for the first time since the end of the regular season. The man making the decisions for the Eagles had plenty to say.
Kelly covered a variety of topics in what has been an extremely busy few months for the organization. Kelly's news conference came one day after the team traded Quarterback Nick Foles to St. Louis for Sam Bradford. In the past several weeks, Kelly has also traded LeSean McCoy, released Trent Cole, Todd Herremans and Cary Williams, and watched Jeremy Maclin leave to play in Kansas City.
"You would love to keep everybody if you could pay everybody," said Kelly. "But it's not baseball. We are all limited by a cap number and you've got to give something up to get something. Did we want to lose LeSean? Certainly not."
Kelly also made it clear losing Jeremy Maclin was not in his plans. He said the Eagles made a strong offer to the wide receiver, but added that Kansas City made a larger offer the Eagles weren't prepared to match.
"I had a lot of discussions with Mac over the weekend and I know it was a very difficult decision for him," Kelly said. "But I understood the decision. We definitely wanted Mac back. We have got some alternative plans and you always have to have contingency plans, but the ultimate plan was we wanted to have Mac back. It just didn't work out."
The quarterback position is perhaps the hottest topic for Eagles fans in recent days. Kelly shot down the notion that the Eagles will mortgage the future to move up in the draft to get Marcus Mariota. He also had high praise for Bradford, who comes to Philadelphia after missing last season with the second knee injury of his career. Kelly says he isn't concerned about acquiring an injury-prone quarterback.
"You don't want to lose Nick Foles," said Kelly. "But you have to give something up to get something. The deal with Sam Bradford, if he never tore his ACL, he would never be traded. When you look at this league, the injury rate in the National Football League is 100 percent. It just matters what the severity is of it."
Another hot topic has been the power acquired by Kelly in the off-season. Kelly admitted he now has final say on decisions involving the team, but says there are no issues with himself and Howie Roseman. Kelly laughed at the reports related to Roseman's office being moved.
"There's a lot of shuffling around," Kelly said. "We could have a good street hockey game up in front of that right now, but I don't know what the plans are, to be honest with you, with that space. Office and chairs and where people sit isn't really under my quote, unquote new title."
There is still more time left for the Eagles to make changes before draft day. One came on Wednesday afternoon with the signing of free agent running back Ryan Matthews. There is a sense there is more to come before the Eagles kickoff their season in September, but Kelly emphasized everyone with the organization has the same philosophy going forward.
"We've got an understanding," Kelly said. "We've got a vision for what we want with the football players here, and I think we can articulate that."