Andy Reid didn't help the Eagles get Marcus Mariota

Are you upset the Philadelphia Eagles didn't get Marcus Mariota? Well, if you are, BLAME ANDY REID!

Via Peter King of The MMQB, it was the former Eagles head coach who suggested to Ken Whisenhunt that the Titans should just draft their quarterback instead of taking a big package of players and picks.

"That was Andy Reid’s first draft as the coach of the Eagles. He could have dealt one pick for six. But Reid knew his franchise was listless, without a solid quarterback of the future. Reid knew he liked Donovan McNabb. Reid knew there was no guarantee he’d be picking high enough in the draft to take a quarterback he thought he could win with. So it wouldn’t have mattered how many picks Ditka offered him; unless Da Coach guaranteed one of them would provide a quarterback as good as or better than McNabb, it would be a senseless trade.

"I was talking to Andy today,’’ Whisenhunt said late Thursday night. "He told me the story about Ditka offering a whole draft for his [Reid’s] pick. I understood what Andy was saying. It certainly helped solidify what I was thinking—that’s for sure."

Now, let me make it clear: Reid did not ruin the Eagles’ chances of trading for Mariota. That would be overly simplistic and, honestly, false. But it’s quite a coincidence that the coach Kelly replaced, in the hours before the draft, gave Whisenhunt one more reason to say yes to Mariota and no to Kelly."

...

OK, so Reid obviously wasn't a major factor here. The Titans were convinced Mariota was their guy based on their own research, not anything Reid had to say. Still, it's not like Reid helped the Eagles' case at all.

To suggest Reid intended to hurt Philadelphia seems silly. Reid once helped the Eagles hire Chip Kelly despite being fired by them.

Another thing to consider is that the Eagles claim to have never made a serious effort to trade up for Mariota. Whether you believe Chip Kelly or not is one thing, but Peter King is also reporting it via his own sources:

"The Eagles, as Kelly said Thursday night in Philadelphia, never offered players as part of a package to obtain Mariota. In fact, The MMQB learned Thursday night that Kelly never offered the widely rumored packages of either three first-round picks or two first-round picks and Sam Bradford, in an attempt to obtain the second pick of the draft. I can tell you this much is true: The Titans basically scared off suitors because they continually told teams they wanted to take Mariota, and it would take a stupid offer to obtain the pick. In the end, Tennessee GM Ruston Webster and coach Ken Whisenhunt stuck to their guns."