Morning Phil-Up: Kelly Won’t Leave Draft Without Marcus Mariota

The rumors of Chip Kelly going after Marcus Mariota just won’t die down.

Many insiders have trouble believing that he is truly married to Sam Bradford as his quarterback, and now a report from someone very familiar with Kelly has added more fuel to the fire.

Canzano: Chip Kelly Won’t Leave Draft Without Marcus Mariota – Oregonian

John Canzano, who writes for the Oregonian and has a good understanding of the way Chip Kelly thinks had some interesting comments about the head coach’s strategy.

Canzano believes that Kelly has his crosshairs locked in Marcus Mariota, and will find some way to leave the draft with his prize.

Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation took a look at the Eagles 2015 schedule and broke down both the positive and negative aspects of the slate of games.

Gowton believes that the schedule is a favorable one, citing that the Eagles only take one trip to the West coast all year, and they don’t play a single game against a team coming off of a bye week.

While there are some factors that work in the Eagles’ favor, I don’t buy-in to the idea that this is a schedule that favors the Eagles. Playing three of their first four games on the road is a tough way to start the year, and they’ve got a high amount of quality opponents coming their way in the second half of the year.

Luis Garcia Adding Another Dimension To Phillies’ Bullpen – CSNPhilly

One of the pleasant surprises of the Phillies’ season has been the success of reliever Luis Garcia.

Garcia has bounced around between the majors and minors during each of the last two seasons, but he turned in an excellent Spring Training and earned himself a spot on the roster.

Now Garcia is settling in as the team’s go-to guy in the seventh inning. He’s a hard thrower, and he’s finally over the control issues that hurt him in his previous stints in the big league. He’s currently on a streak of 13.2 scoreless innings pitched, dating back to last season.

With Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon nailing down the eighth and ninth innings, the Phils may now have a third top piece to turn to in Garcia. This bodes well for the team’s future when they eventually rid themselves of Papelbon and make Giles the closer, Garcia will be a candidate to take over the eighth inning duty.

Earl Wolff Expects To Start At Safety – NJ.com

One of the biggest questions remaining for the Eagles to answer is who will start alongside Malcolm Jenkins at safety.

Third-year pro Earl Wolff believes that he’s going to emerge with the job. Wolff has battled injuries and inconsistency in his first two seasons, but believes now that he’ll be able to put everything together in his third season and earn a firm hold on the job.

The Eagles are going to be relying heavily on Wolff, simply because they have no other legitimate options at the moment. They failed to bring in any additional talent through free agency, leaving Wolff and Chris Maragos as they only safeties that would be considered locks to make the roster.

With so few great safety prospects available to them, I don’t think the team will be using one of their early picks to bring in any competition.

Could Todd McLellan Be The Next Flyers Coach? – Philly Voice

Former San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan could be a candidate to replace Craig Berube as head coach of the Flyers.

McLellan won over 300 games during seven years with the Sharks, and was let go this past year after a down year. To be that successful and hold down an NHL coaching job for so long is impressive, and he could bring some stability to an organization that averages a new head coaching hire every two years.

McLellan has a calmer demeanor than some of the previous Flyers coaches, which could be a good change of pace from the usual personalities similar to Berube that the organization has tried to win with.