Anthony Gargano wondered what would have happened if the Eagles did the deal for Marcus Mariota back in 2015 in his Opening Diatribe this morning…
“The Eagles signed Marcus Mariota. I want to go back in time. Marcus Mariota, if we remember, was one of the original white whales. We were all freaking out in that draft in 2015. Chip Kelly was in need of a Qb. It had become obvious Nick Foles was not the answer. There was a lot of talk he would be reunited with Marcus Mariota, his Qb at Oregon. And we had this fever. The Mariota fever. It is a lesson in how things work out. We wanted it so badly. We wanted Marcus Mariota. He would run Chip’s system. Do the Deal! It was wild. There was a lot of talk that Mariota would be the new Eagle. It would be this unstoppable offense. But it turned out there was no deal…
The Titans took Mariota with the 2nd overall pick. And he turns out to be a bust. The fact that he comes here as the backup is fine. But we thought he would be a great arm. He was mobile. There was a lot of thought that Mariota would be the answer. Not the case… That was the year that spelled the end for Chip Kelly.
In comes Doug, and in comes Carson. Howie gets reinstated… And I want to play the What If game. What if the Eagles would have made that trade for Marcus Mariota? Certainly, Chip Kelly is not fired. As much of a pain in the ass as he was. There is no way Jeffrey Lurie would have fired him. Then what happens? There is no Super Bowl! Who knows the depth of what they have to dig out of? They would have been stuck with Mariota, who turned out to be a flop.”