One day after Eagles coach Chip Kelly said he wouldn't "mortgage the future" of his team to try to move up in the draft for Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Heisman winner worked out in front of scouts during Oregon's Pro Day.
Word from those who watched Mariota is that his performance was "underwhelming."
Perhaps the strongest criticism was this:
Perhaps this could impact his draft value...
Mariota's subpar performance took a back seat -- at least in Eagle Country -- to what the first-round prospect said after his workout:
Wait, let me make sure I didn't misread that.
Okay, so Mariota met with the teams who have first and second picks in the NFL Draft. That makes sense. But the Eagles, who don't pick until 20th overall? That's a bit surprising. Even though it's hard, I'm going to try to not read too much into that. I'm sure he'll meet with plenty of teams before April's draft.
But for all you conspiracy theorists out there, I'm sure you're salivating right about now.
Did Chip tell Mariota to tank his workout so his draft stock would fall? Is this all part of some Illuminati-esque master plan by Chip to land his star pupil?
Probably not, but his poor performance combined with the fact that he met with a team not slated to pick until well after Mariota is projected to be drafted is interesting to say the least. However, don't read too much into his Pro Day workout...
Either way, I think it's safe to say the Mariota-to-Eagles dream is nowhere near dead, at least not yet.