Sielski: Theories aside, the Eagles need Wentz to be very good
For students of recent Eagles history, the 2014 NFL scouting combine should stand as the first and best indication of the depth of a conflict that came to define the franchise. Chip Kelly vs. Howie Roseman was a battle born of the pair's personalities, backgrounds and opinions about football, and the quarterback position was grounds for one of their fiercest disagreements.
For students of recent Eagles history, the 2014 NFL scouting combine should stand as the first and best indication of the depth of a conflict that came to define the franchise. Chip Kelly vs. Howie Roseman was a battle born of the pair's personalities, backgrounds and opinions about football, and the quarterback position was grounds for one of their fiercest disagreements.
Nick Foles had just unfurled a stunning season in Kelly's first year as head coach, throwing 27 touchdown passes and two interceptions, leading the NFL in quarterback rating, yards per attempt, and touchdown percentage. Roseman had been the Eagles' general manager when they drafted Foles in 2012, and in a meeting with reporters at the '14 combine, he gushed about Foles, praising him as "a young quarterback who really fits our culture and chemistry," providing a stark contrast to the are-you-kidding-me eye-rolls that Kelly would deliver every time someone asked him about Foles' nascent greatness.
Kelly was a little closer to the truth in his evaluation of Foles than Roseman was in his. Sixteen months after Kelly and the Eagles traded him to the St. Louis Rams for Sam Bradford, Foles was released on Wednesday, at his request. In 11 games last season, he had seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, and his completion percentage was an abysmal 56.4. Of course, Kelly couldn't gloat, because Bradford wasn't much better than Foles, and the trade - particularly Kelly's surrendering of a second-round pick in the deal - was one of the reasons that the Eagles fired him. As it turned out, the real value of that trade wasn't in either of the quarterbacks involved but in the lesson it reaffirmed: that it's difficult to get the most important position in football right.
"In the success of anyone and anything in life, it's so much about timing," Roseman said Friday, after the Eagles had practiced. "Nick had a phenomenal year for us, a historic year for us. He's a great person."
All of what Roseman said there was true, especially the first part. Consider the beneficial circumstances that Foles enjoyed in that enchanted 2013 season: He had a game-breaking wideout in DeSean Jackson, the NFL's top running back in LeSean McCoy, a healthy and cohesive offensive line, and a play-caller whom the rest of the league hadn't figured out yet in Kelly. He had fewer of those advantages the following season -- Jackson was gone, the line was in disarray, Kelly's tendencies were more familiar to opponents -- and his production and performance declined as a result. Ultimately, Foles showed that he required pretty favorable surroundings to thrive, that he wasn't a budding Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers -- someone who could singlehandedly elevate the overall quality of his team -- that he was like a lot of other middling NFL quarterbacks.
The Eagles' situations with Foles and Bradford aren't all that different from the one that their new head coach, Doug Pederson, and his mentor Andy Reid were in during their three years together with the Kansas City Chiefs. After hiring Reid as their head coach and Pederson as their offensive coordinator, the Chiefs traded two draft picks to acquire Alex Smith, who would be likely regarded as a slight-to-moderate upgrade over either Bradford or Foles. Reid recognized that the Chiefs' roster had conditions in place -- a good running game, an excellent defense -- that would allow Smith, with his particular set of skills, to thrive. And he did: Over those three seasons, Kansas City went 30-16 when Smith started, and he threw three times as many touchdowns (61) as interceptions (20).
"Sometimes, I think you can take a Pro Bowl quarterback and put him on an average team, and he becomes average," Pederson said. "It also depends on the talent around you that really makes or breaks that quarterback. Something we did in Kansas City with Alex was surrounding him with talent, talented guys, and utilizing his strengths -- his athleticism, his brain, very accurate passer, doesn't turn the ball over. It became a recipe for success for us."
But what's interesting, and a bit puzzling, too, about the Eagles' offseason maneuvering to draft Carson Wentz is that they did the opposite of what Roseman apparently wanted to do with Foles and Pederson helped Reid do with Smith. The Eagles could have used the three net draft picks that they gave to Cleveland in the Wentz trade to select players who might have made them a stronger team overall -- to create conditions that might have allowed Bradford, another middling NFL quarterback, to flourish. Instead, they have gambled that Wentz will be another Brady, another Rodgers, truly great.
"Well, you can only deal with the fact patterns you have when you're making a decision, and sometimes you're dealing with a certain situation, and things change," Roseman said. "Circumstances change. You have to make decisions understanding that can happen and never look back."
All of what Roseman said there was gobbledygook, and none of it changes what the Eagles face. They need Carson Wentz to be much, much better than Nick Foles or Sam Bradford, whatever the circumstances, without disagreement.
@MikeSielski