Get over Mariota; Bradford is Eagles' QB

Sam Bradford is still the Eagles' presumptive starting quarterback.

It is worth reminding everyone of that fact in the wake of what happened Thursday night - that whirlwind of speculation and source-speak before the NFL draft that indicated just how much Chip Kelly wanted Marcus Mariota and how far he was willing to go to get him.

Two first-round picks, a third-round pick, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Boykin, Mychal Kendricks, and more? As reported by the NFL Network, that offer was perhaps the most generous that Kelly and the Eagles made to the Tennessee Titans, in the hope that the Titans would hand over the No. 2 pick and the opportunity to select Kelly's ideal quarterback.

They did not, and minutes after all those TV cameras showed Mariota at his own personal draft party in Hawaii, cupping his phone to his face as he learned that the Titans were indeed picking him, Tennessee general manager Ruston Webster slammed the door on all those conspiracy theorists searching for an opening where Mariota might yet find his way to Philadelphia.

"We're not trading him," Webster told reporters in Nashville.

So enough now. Enough with the debate and the discussion and the curiosity over whether Kelly and Mariota could replicate the success they had together at Oregon here in the NFL. Sam Bradford was at the top of the Eagles' depth chart Thursday morning, and he remained there at 8:19 p.m., one minute after the Titans' selection of Mariota became official, and everyone - including Kelly and Bradford - must move on now.

Start with Kelly, who tried and failed to acquire a quarterback he reportedly has said will win several Super Bowls, who did everything short of offering Jeffrey Lurie, Mayor Nutter, and a five-year supply of Tastykakes to the Titans and couldn't get a deal done.

There has always been an all-or-nothing assumption coloring the way people viewed Kelly's pursuit of Mariota, as if because Kelly preferred Mariota, he wanted nothing to do with Bradford, beyond using him as a trade chip. But it is possible for Kelly to think two things simultaneously: that Mariota would be the Eagles' best option at quarterback, and that Bradford is a better option than Nick Foles. Those notions aren't mutually exclusive, and it's on Kelly to prove that Bradford is an upgrade from both Foles and Mark Sanchez, to design an offense that maximizes Bradford's strengths.

Kelly also has to hope, above all else, that once Bradford finishes rehabilitating his torn left ACL, he never has to rehabilitate it again - that once Bradford gets healthy, he stays healthy. Kelly can do only so much to prevent a defensive end from charging around Lane Johnson or Jason Peters and sending Bradford back to injured reserve, but that doesn't matter. He chose Bradford. He picked a quarterback with a heavy history of injury. He took this chance. He's responsible for the result.

Now, Bradford. There is something else worth remembering where he is concerned: He was Marcus Mariota once. No, he was Jameis Winston. He was the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, the prospect who immediately became the fulcrum of a franchise, a cautionary tale for everyone who is so certain that Mariota will flourish in Tennessee or would have flourished here. You don't know. You never know. No one does.

What Bradford gets is an opportunity: He will be paid $13 million for a chance to show that he can remain upright over a full season, that he can secure himself a contract extension, that he can be the quarterback that the St. Louis Rams thought he would be when they drafted him five years ago. And if his ego is wounded by Kelly's attempts to trade for Mariota on Thursday, he needs to get over it and get over it now, because after those two recent ACL tears, after a spotty 49-game career in St. Louis, he has to re-earn the benefit of the doubt.

"I still think he's an elite player," said Josh Heupel, who was Bradford's quarterback coach at Oklahoma. "He's a couple of years removed from being rookie of the year. But because of the injuries, he hasn't had an opportunity to compete."

He will get one. He will play in a system that helped Foles - a third-round pick who went 1-5 as a rookie NFL starter - compile maybe the most surprising great season by any Eagles quarterback: 27 touchdowns, two interceptions, an NFC East championship. That system helped Sanchez - a quarterback coming off shoulder surgery and a lost season, a quarterback who had never completed more than 57 percent of his passes in any season - set the team's single-season record for completion percentage (64.1).

Sam Bradford, not Marcus Mariota, is at the center of that system, and out of all the stories and speculation, maybe this turned out to be Chip Kelly's greatest gamble of all Thursday. The Eagles decided they had a quarterback, and they were not trading him.

@MikeSielski