NFL Draft 2015: Day 2 Winners and Losers

Philadelphia Eagles

Finally, everybody’s favorite, the Mad Scientist Chip Kelly. No one can figure him out. He’s unpredictable and a bit wacky and all over the place, and seems to look at whatever common sense says and do the opposite. And that’s why we all love him.

But the truth is that he is actually a genius. It’s been said of some of the smartest men in history (and I know this is football, but by way of analogy I think this helps us understand Kelly) were all a bit wacky, misunderstood and underappreciated in their day. It was only after time had passed that their true genius was appreciated.

At a small level, that seems to be the case with Kelly as well. Even if I didn’t love Kelly’s draft, I’d probably throw the Eagles in here, just because I love to talk about Kelly any chance possible.

But his draft has been so good. He’s done something calculated—as everything clearly is with him in molding his team with a bunch of Oregon Ducks and Pac-12 football players. Why? Man-for-man, Pac-12 players are the fastest, most athletic players in the nation. The fastest athletes come out of two places primarily—Florida and California.

A large majority of football players—especially those drafted in the NFL—are from the State of California. In other words, Kelly is building a team that’s faster than everyone, that can run figurative circles around the competition and make good use of his chaotic tempo offense. He wants to do the same thing defensively as well.

In drafting Nelson Agholar, Kelly got a receiver who can fly, even though he came from the Trojan horse school (Trojan horses don’t fly). His second-round pick, Utah corner Eric Rowe also can fly, despite being a really big defensive back.

He also can play safety—he did his first three years at Utah. So the Eagles may have just taken the quickest/fastest safety in the draft. He can do it all, and he’ll look good doing it. As will the Eagles. They’re going to fly!

And that’s without even spending much time on inside linebacker Jordan Hicks, whom I love, and who just killed the conclusion to this piece. That, “they’re going to fly” line was gold, It was gold Jerry!