Peter King: 'Middle Finger To Chip Kelly' Narrative Is 'Nonsense'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Apparently, there's a false narrative floating around regarding the Eagles' trading to pick No. 2.
Howie Roseman pulled off something Chip Kelly couldn't: make a trade in order to move up in the draft and select a quarterback.
"I talked some executives too around the league, their initial reaction was, this is sort of another middle finger at Chip Kelly," CBSSports' Jason La Canfora said upon reacting to the Eagles-Browns blockbuster trade. "Like, 'Hey buddy, you weren't man enough to trade for [Marcus] Mariota who you coached in college and who you were telling NFL executives, while he was in college, this guy is gonna win multiple Super Bowls. He's going to be a superstar at the next level. You didn't have the sack to go get him?'
"Well look I went. Next year, I get back in charge, I went and got a guy and now you can't get him. Na na na, boo boo!"
Related: Mixed Reaction From Eagles Fans Over Trade With Browns
Well, according to SI.com's Peter King, that's ridiculous.
"It's a nice storyline," King said Thursday on the 94WIP Morning Show. "It's cute. It works. It's convenient for the anti-Chip, Howie-making-his-mark kind of storyliners in Philadelphia. I get it. It's not true. Tennessee Titans were not going to trade -- I mean you offer them eight number one's maybe they would have, I don't know. But the Tennessee Titans were not trading that pick. So, Chip Kelly was right. You say, 'Oh Chip couldn't get it done.' Well, God couldn't have gotten that done."
Listen: Peter King on the 94WIP Morning Show
King called the storyline of Roseman making this trade to attempt to stick it to Kelly, "absolutely total nonsense."
Related: Howie Roseman: Goff, Wentz Is Like 'Vanilla Or Chocolate'
"Ken Whisenhunt told me on draft night last year, after the Titans took him -- I said, 'Did you ever get close?' And he goes, 'No. We listened, but we never got close. We weren't trading this pick. We were taking Marcus. We wanted this guy.'"
"To the point Angelo, where the Tennessee Titans were so sold on Marcus Mariota that if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had taken Mariota number one, I believe Tennessee -- rather than taking Jameis Winson -- would have traded out of that pick," King continued. "They were totally sold on Mariota and weren't trading the pick."