A report emerged in the waning hours just prior to the 2015 NFL Draft's first-round that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly had offered a trade up package to the Tennessee Titans which would have made Jimmy Johnson - the creator of the original draft trade value chart - blush a deep shade of scarlet.
The rumored package, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, included two first-round picks, a third-rounder, stud defensive lineman Fletcher Cox, cornerback Brandon Boykin, linebacker Mychal Kendricks and "more," with the "more" presumably meaning quarterback Sam Bradford.
While Rapoport has since stuck to his guns - "No shame in #Eagles discussing players in a potential deal. Patriots offered Wilfork to Raiders before the Seymour trade. Everyone lived," he tweeted Friday - post first-round reports have emerged from a myriad of sources that the Eagles and Kelly never actually offered a package anywhere close to that.
"The Eagles, as Kelly said Thursday night in Philadelphia, never offered players as part of a package to obtain Mariota," Peter King of Sports Illustrated reports. "In fact, The MMQB learned Thursday night that Kelly never offered the widely rumored packages of either three first-round picks or two first-round picks and Sam Bradford, in an attempt to obtain the second pick of the draft."
Per King, the Titans were never really interested in moving out of the second-overall pick and actually scared potential trade suitors off with their high demands.
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jeff McLane corroborated King's report shortly thereafter, citing two NFL sources who claimed that Eagles-Titans talks never got to the point where players were included.
The ever-vigilant Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, however, disagrees - slightly, at least.
"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Eagles offered the following to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first pick in the draft: the 20th pick in this year's draft; Philly's first-round pick in 2016; quarterback Sam Bradford; and another player on the roster," writes Florio.
The truth, as it always does, tends to lie somewhere in the middle of this trade rumor morass.
In the end the Eagles couldn't land Mariota and Sam Bradford suddenly becomes "the guy" for Kelly and the Philly fan base for the foreseeable future.
If he can stay healthy, he's likely to do some pretty great things considering his talent level and the weapons around him - weapons that now include former USC wide receiver Nelson Agholor - and especially considering the gaudy numbers both Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez were able to amass in Kelly's offense.
Still, it's interesting to wonder what could have been and what, exactly, Kelly was willing to part ways with in order to bring Mariota into the Philadelphia fold.
