The Philadelphia Eagles and head coach Chip Kelly face a number of important questions heading into the 2015 NFL offseason.
What to do about their abysmal defensive backfield? Does LeSean McCoy's production warrant the exorbitant sum he's slated to make? Do you resign receiver Jeremy Maclin and for how much? Can Marcus Smith overcome his poor rookie season and become a contributing member of the defense?
Nothing is more pressing though, than finding a firm and final answer at the game's most important position. Nick Foles is, by any measure, a quality quarterback with significant intangibles and a strong work ethic, but limited athleticism. He's a winner in the NFL, but he may rely too much on the pieces around him in order to be successful for Kelly to view him as the long-term answer.
NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, appearing on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia, argued that if Kelly, rumored to be enamored with the idea of acquiring Oregon quarterback and Heisman-winner, Marcus Mariota, feels his former pupil can become a true franchise signal-caller - the type of player that can lead the organization for the next decade - then he must do everything in his power to move up in the 2015 NFL Draft and select him.
"If you take the assumption that you can't win a Super Bowl without a 'franchise quarterback' and in modern football history, who has won Super Bowls without one? Maybe Baltimore with [Trent] Dilfer and maybe Tampa Bay with Brad Johnson? And you could say maybe Nick Foles is like one of those two guys. But those two guys had two of the best defenses in the history of the NFL," said Mayock, per Sheil Kapadia of Philly Mag.
"So if you can't win a Super Bowl without a franchise quarterback, and there's only 10 or 11 franchise quarterbacks at most in our league today, then you better beg, borrow or steal and figure out a way to get one if you don't think you have one. ...If the Eagles think he's the guy and that they can win a Super Bowl with Marcus Mariota, given people around him and a good defense, then I think they have to try and go get him."
It's a theory that's been picked apart time and again already this young offseason. Moving from 20th - where the Eagles are currently slated to select - in the first-round to somewhere in the top 10 - where Mariota is expected to go - will take a significant and possibly crippling allocation of assets - assets that can be used to fix the defensive backfield and add young talent on the offensive line.
But for an offense like Kelly's, built on tempo and the ability to outscore opponents, the addition of Mariota - in theory - would help assuage those issues as well.
Better quarterback play means more points scored and fewer three-and-outs and means the defense isn't on the field as often which means the defense faces fewer opportunities to give up points.
It's farfetched and unlikely, yes, but for Kelly, who surely knows that his stay as an NFL head coach could easily be short-lived, he may very well view the chance to draft Mariota as his one and only opportunity to add the perfect quarterback for his offensive system.
