Report: Eagles Mulling Daring Move To Get Heisman Winner Mariota In Draft
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If the Jets are entertaining any notions of moving up in the draft to get one of the two top-rated quarterbacks available, they better look in the rearview. At least one team is reportedly plotting a power move.
According to NJ.com, the Eagles are entertaining a number of scenarios that would have them move up from No. 20 to inside the top five to get Marcus Mariota, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner who excelled under current Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly when he was the head man at Oregon.
Despite his team getting thumped in the national championship game by Ohio State, Mariota is coming off a stellar season and is thought by some draft experts as a player who could go No. 1 overall and by others as the second-best QB prospect behind Florida State's Jameis Winston.
Mariota would make perfect sense for the Eagles considering Kelly has employed the same type of fast-paced spread offense in the pros that he did in college. Mariota is coming off a season in which he completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 4,454 yards, 42 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
What's more, as a read-option quarterback -- a weapon that is being used more and more by NFL teams -- Mariota ran for 770 yards in 2014 and more than 2,200 during the three years he played at Oregon.
The Eagles went 10-6 in each of Kelly's first two seasons as head coach, but collapsed after Thanksgiving this past season and missed the playoffs. Starting quarterback Nick Foles was knocked out for the season with a broken collarbone in the Eagles' eighth game and replaced by veteran Mark Sanchez. However, despite throwing for 2,418 yards and 14 TDs, Sanchez turned the ball over 17 times in his nine games, long a problem during his years as the Jets' starting quarterback.
It's possible the Eagles will let impending free agent Sanchez walk, try to move up to get Mariota and then have him sit a year and learn behind Foles, who will be a free agent after next season.
For the Eagles to get within projected striking distance to nab Mariota they'd likely have to part with multiple first-round picks, plus other picks and possibly a player, draft experts told NJ.com.
Saddled with the No. 6 overall pick, the Jets could very well attempt to move up to get either Mariota or Winston. In his second pro season, incumbent Geno Smith regressed as an NFL quarterback, prompting many to believe the Jets -- under new general manager Mike Maccagnan and head coach Todd Bowles -- could choose to get aggressive in the draft.
With a very thin free agent class to choose from, it will be interesting to see what the Jets ultimately decide to do to push Smith during the offseason and in training camp.
