In 2003 the Eagles had John Welbourn at LG and Jermane Mayberry at RG. That was a very good duo. Welbourn was a near-Pro Bowl type and Mayberry had been to one Pro Bowl. Both got hurt that year and the duo of Artis Hicks and Bobbie Williams ended up playing for them for part of the season. Hicks played well enough that the Eagles gave him an extension and intended to have him be a key backup. Williams got a big deal from the Bengals in free agency.

Just before the 2004 draft, Welbourn went on WIP and ripped the Eagles organization for not giving him a new deal. He had signed a contract extension 2 years before, but had outplayed that deal in his mind. He was being underpaid at that point, but had been overpaid at the beginning of the extension. The Eagles philosophy back then was to give out contract extensions quickly to avoid having to give huge deals to players once they were free agents and the market could set their value. Some players saw both sides of this. Welbourn didn’t. He wanted his money.

Andy Reid responded by trading Welbourn to the Chiefs. He got a 5th round pick in 2004 and a 4th rounder the next year.

The Eagles projected OGs were Hicks, with 4-career starts, and Mayberry, 31 and coming off a major elbow injury. All the talent and depth that had been there was gone. The team drafted OT Shawn Andrews in the 1st round, OT Trey Darilek in the 4th, OG Adrien Clarke in the 7th and OC Dominic Furio in the 7th. Andrews was not a knee-jerk reaction. Reid loved him and saw him as the replacement for Jon Runyan, whose contract expired after the 2005 season.

Andrews was inserted at RG in his second practice. He was too good to keep off the field. Mayberry slid over to LG. The Eagles thought they would be fine. Then Andrews broke his leg in the season opener. Mayberry battled injuries all year. Hick missed time. Things were so bad at one point that the Eagles played a key game with Steve Sciullo and Alonzo Ephraim as the starting OGs. The Eagles dominated in that game, scoring 47 points and piling up 542 yards of offense.

The Eagles finished the 2004 season by playing in the Super Bowl. Oddly, I can’t seem to recall the outcome of the game.

The situations are similar, but also very different. The Eagles got rid of a talented LG in both instances. Welbourn had to go because he made the situation toxic when he went on WIP and started ripping the team. That bridge wasn’t just burned, it was fire bombed.

Mathis never did anything close to that. He let it be known he wanted more money, but never ripped the Eagles publicly. For the most part, I thought he handled the situation pretty well.

Les Bowen wrote a good piece on the subject and also took up for Mathis.

We have come a long way in a year and a couple months, from releasing DeSean Jackson, who failed to show for his 2013 season exit interview, didn’t want to learn all the wideout positions, clashed with his position coach and had several priorities more important to him than team success, to releasing Evan Mathis, who sat out optional OTAs because he wanted a bit more money.

I think if you’d asked Mathis six months ago if he considered himself a Kelly disciple, he would have said yes. Keeps himself in top shape, owns a gym in Arizona, eats right, doesn’t do dumb stuff off the field. Made a point of not saying anything about his contract after he reported last year, to not detract from the team focus. Never grumbled about the pace of practice, or anything else.

As for Chip Kelly…

Chip seems to be building a roster of guys who will commit to what he wants exactly and unquestioningly. But that won’t last forever. At some point, at least a few of these players will want more money, or will otherwise get tired of being treated like 15-year-olds attending football camp for the first time. When that day comes, the Chipper had better be winning, and winning real, real, real big. Because players have choices in the NFL — unlike once they sign the letter of intent in college — and there are plenty of contending teams who offer an easier, more flexible atmosphere than Chipworld.

We’re going to find out this season whether culture really trumps scheme/talent, and we’re also going to find out a lot about maintaining culture, once it’s established.

There is some definite truth to this. Some players are only going to buy in to this if they think the reward is worth it. That means winning.

Other players will buy in because they think like Chip. I mean that in the sense of being competitive enough and desperate enough to be willing to try and do anything for an advantage. Bill Romanowski is probably the most extreme example there is. He used to send off his poop to be analyzed by a lab to tell him how to adjust his diet and vitamin intake so he could get his body to peak performance.

And Kelly can sell the idea of results. He has had multiple guys have career years under him. Nick Foles put up freaky good numbers. RBs and WRs have racked up big stats. Connor Barwin just got voted number 58 on the NFL Network’s Top 100 players list. Fletcher Cox has developed into an elite player. Vinny Curry has become a terrific pass rusher. Brandon Graham played well enough to become a starting OLB and get a big extension.

The big question now is whether Kelly’s methods can help turn some combination of Allen Barbre, Matt Tobin, Andrew Gardner and Dennis Kelly into a good pair of starting OGs for 2015. If that happens, Kelly will look all that much wiser and the team is going to be that much better.

The 2004 team got by with mediocre guard play and still went 13-3, finishing with a trip to the Super Bowl. Kelly isn’t interested in mediocre. He has high expectations for the guys on the roster. Kelly has seen these players look good for short stretches. The challenge is to get them to play well consistently, something Mathis did from 2011 to 2014.

_