The NFL draft’s big question: What will Chip Kelly do?

The biggest variable in the NFL draft might not be a prospect, but a coach who has either been out-smarting the league with controversial moves or paving his path back to college, depending on what you believe.

Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly seems capable of anything. Kelly, who owns the 20th pick of the draft, didn’t make the playoffs last season and hadn’t made any draft-day trades (yet) was trending on Twitter on Thursday morning. That’s how intrigued people are with what he might do.

If you had to guess right now, will Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota end up with the Eagles? Kelly said earlier this offseason it was a crazy notion, but the rumors won’t die. The MMQB’s Peter King got the ball rolling on Thursday by writing that sources told him the Cleveland Browns believe they can acquire quarterback Sam Bradford from the Eagles. Well, that doesn’t happen unless the Eagles have another option at quarterback lined up … though maybe not, with Kelly pushing the buttons. Anything seems possible with him.

The most common rumors have had the Eagles shipping Bradford to the Browns, using the first-round pick they’d get in that deal (the most shocking part of any of this is that in one offseason two different NFL teams would trade valuable picks for Bradford, he of the two torn ACLs and the 79.3 career rating), and then send picks and players to the Tennessee Titans for the second pick. Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and linebacker Mychal Kendricks have been speculated as trade chips. The final price tag would be enormous, mortgaging the franchise of the future as some might say, but nobody seems willing to say that possible trade is dead.

And it would be very interesting to see Mariota land with the one team that would make his NFL transition fairly easy. He knows Kelly’s offense from Oregon. He ran that offense to tremendous success in college, even after Kelly left to the NFL, including a Heisman Trophy last season.

The Eagles, however, aren’t the only team involved. There was a report Wednesday, which was refuted, that the Browns offered first-round picks Nos. 12 and 19 for the second overall pick and would take Mariota. Even though the teams wanted to squash that rumor, it would be surprising if that type of trade hadn’t been discussed between the teams. Other teams could make calls to the Titans on Thursday, San Diego perhaps. Or the Titans could stay at No. 2 and pick Mariota. Or stay at No. 2 and not pick Mariota. There’s a lot in play.

But everyone is waiting for the Kelly domino to fall. The biggest surprise of the entire draft might end up being if wheeling-and-dealing Kelly didn’t make a huge splash this week.

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