For a stretch of time leading up to the draft, the Philadelphia Eagles and Marcus Mariota were linked in this enigmatic sort of relationship.  To some it was a match made in heaven, for Chip Kelly’s protege was coming to steady the ship to unleash fury on the NFL.  To others, it was an expensive risk doomed to set the franchise back for years. Barring some almost impossible set of circumstances, we’ll never know what Mariota and Kelly could have done together with the Eagles.  Perhaps the only certainty we’ll ever know is that the Eagles are arguably better without Mariota than with him.

This isn’t to suggest that Mariota wouldn’t be a great quarterback, or even worth the gamble.  The reason the Eagles are better off without him is entirely based on the price it would’ve taken to acquire him.  Mychal Kendricks, Brandon Boykin, Fletcher Cox, Nelson Agholor, and a bunch of premium future picks would be gone.  We’re not talking about replaceable depth players here.  Those guys are going to be heavily-relied on players while they’re here, especially Cox who is the centerpiece of the whole defense.  Take a look at the roster without those players on it, and then with the difficulty of replacing them in the future.  Kelly would have been a busy guy next year trying to replace those players without the top draft picks to do it with.

Of course, a lot is going to depend on what happens with Sam Bradford.  It’ll be easy to buy that the team is better off if Bradford plays well and shows some promise.  In that case Bradford won’t even have to be lights-out, he’ll just have to show that this team can work with him under center better than with Mark Sanchez.  No one can claim Mariota would’ve been worth it if that happens.  Perhaps that’s the real genius in trading for Bradford — Kelly could have found top-level quarterback potential without having to pay the massive Mariota price tag.

With Mariota here 2015 would’ve been a chalked-up season, a season of giving Mariota experience and finding out creative ways to fix the holes that presented themselves.  But by not pulling the trigger on him Kelly has this team in a great position to contend right now.  Granted, there’s a lot of moving parts that need to work out for that to happen, but the potential is there.  And the best part is Kelly didn’t have to pay a ton to make that happen.  Given that, I’m happy things with Mariota didn’t pan out.  I’m more than happy to keep wondering what might have been.

Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.  Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.