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Titans reportedly nixed mega-deal with Eagles to draft Marcus Mariota

Former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota holds up his Tennessee Titans jersey after being picked second overall in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

Former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota holds up his Tennessee Titans jersey after being picked second overall in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

(Eugene Tanner / Associated Press)
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Ken Whisenhunt will be coaching Marcus Mariota in the fall.

Chip Kelly will not.

But Kelly will still have the services of several other key players, including quarterback Sam Bradford and defensive end Fletcher Cox, that the Philadelphia Eagles coach was reportedly willing to trade to the Tennessee Titans in order to draft Mariota with the No. 2 overall pick on Thursday.

It’s important to note that after the first round of the NFL draft, Kelly denied offering any players to the Titans, only draft picks.

If that’s true, the Eagles would have found themselves with five quarterbacks -- Mariota, Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow and Matt Barkley -- unless some of the picks Kelly was referring to came from the Cleveland Browns, who had two first-round draft picks and were reportedly interested in trading for Bradford.

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Anyhow, back to the monster trade that never happened. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Kelly and the Eagles offered the Titans two first-round draft picks, a third rounder, Bradford, Cox, cornerback Brandon Boykin and linebacker Mychal Kendricks all for that coveted No. 2 pick, which would presumably be used to draft Mariota.

But instead Whisenhunt and the Titans kept it simple and drafted the reigning Heisman Trophy winner for themselves. And the Eagles picked up a weapon for Bradford by using their own No. 20 overall pick on USC receiver Nelson Agholor.

We obviously won’t know for awhile whether the teams’ moves (or lack thereof) work out. All we know right now is that things could have been a lot more exciting on the first day of the draft.

Twitter: @chewkiii

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