Philadelphia Eagles: Chip Kelly’s Super Bowl Roster

Dec 7, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz (86) runs against Seattle Seahawks cornerback Byron Maxwell (41) during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field. The Seahawks defeated the Eagles 24-14. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

We entered the offseason with roughly $48,000,000 in cap space and we’re down to approximately $6,000,000. A lot of money has been spent to retool the roster and to create the atmosphere and identity that Chip Kelly has wanted in Philadelphia this entire time. Very few of us understand his plan, but there has always been a method to his madness and this is no different.

On the surface a lot of these moves are questionable. Throw in the fact that the majority of the players being brought in have strong injury histories and none of it really makes sense. After all, Kelly has always preached that durability is a crucial component to his culture and the way he runs things. So, bringing on a bunch of replacements with injury histories isn’t exactly par for the course. The truth to it though is that all of these players have significant value despite those setbacks. Each one of these guys has a purpose and Kelly handpicked them for a reason.

If you had asked Eagles fans about DeMarco Murray prior to the 2015 offseason kicking off, most would have told you it was unlikely the Eagles would bring in someone with his injury history. If you dig deeper, you find out exactly why DeMarco fits the Eagles’ offense so perfectly. Last year, Murray averaged 4.9 YPC on first down runs. This is a crucial number as Kelly’s uptempo offense thrives on getting up the field as quick as possible. Securing large chunks of yards on each first down goes a long way in achieving that goal. Murray was also second in the league in YPC last year when running out of the shotgun formation. It’s no secret that the Eagles spend 98% of their offensive play calls in that very formation.

Oddly enough, the only RB who averaged more YPC than Murray out of shotgun is none other than Ryan Mathews. Coincidentally, Mathews was the other RB Kelly signed this offseason.

The other big change on the Eagles offense is the change from Nick Foles to former St. Louis quarterback Sam Bradford. This change caught everyone off guard. When the trade was originally announced, it was expected the Eagles were trying to move Foles for picks to move up to get Mariota, but that wasn’t quite the case.

Next: The Team is Coming Together