Kelly reshaping Eagles roster with more moves to come

Once again, Chip Kelly is setting speed records. Free agency does not officially open until Tuesday at 4 p.m., but already the Eagles coach, general manager and king of everything has reshaped his roster with more additions and subtractions than any other team in the NFL.

Legal tampering to Kelly is like lollipops for 3-year-old kids. His phone must operate exactly like his offensive linemen. Once he hangs up with one agent or general manager, he has to be back on the line within five seconds.

How much skill he has at his new position remains to be seen, but we do know he is currently lacking in players at the skill positions.

Starting now, the moves become official and there is no reason to think Kelly is about to slow down. It is fun and fascinating to watch even if we have to wait until the owners meetings later this month in Arizona to get answers about what has been racing through Kelly's brain as he remodels the kingdom.

By then, the Eagles are sure to have done a lot more, but based on what they have done so far it is difficult to predict Kelly's next move.

The coach suddenly finds his team with a gaping hole at running back on the first day of free agency because Frank Gore came and went without ever actually being here. There were reports that the Eagles had an agreement with Gore on Sunday, but the story on Monday was that the durable and dependable veteran running back decided to take his services elsewhere.

That leaves the 5-foot-6 Darren Sproles, who will be 32 next season, and 5-10 Chris Polk, who has 57 rushing attempts in three seasons, as the running-back tandem of the moment. The Eagles, in other words, are short both figuratively and literally at a position in which they had one of the NFL's best just a week ago. If Kelly is willing to pay for the position, Dallas' DeMarco Murray and Baltimore's Justin Forsett are still out there.

Jeremy Maclin decided Sunday that more money with the coach who drafted him was worth leaving the offense in which he flourished like never before last season. Does Kelly think he needs a top free-agent wide receiver to replace him?

Based on what we saw from Riley Cooper and Josh Huff last season, it would seem unlikely that Kelly would feel comfortable with those two joining 2014 rookie standout Jordan Matthews as the team's starting wide receiver trio. With Kelly, however, you never know.

He obviously has a strong attachment to Cooper, and Huff was one of his recruits at Oregon. The coach and king may see something in those two loyal subjects that the rest of us seem to be missing. It is slim pickings at wide receiver on the free-agent market, with Baltimore's Torrey Smith and San Francisco's Michael Crabtree topping the list.

Does Kelly think he needs a top free-agent offensive lineman to replace Todd Herremans or does he think Andrew Gardner, Allen Barbre and Matt Tobin will be just fine competing as potential replacements? There are some decent options out on the market if that is how Kelly chooses to spend his royal currency.

Is 2015 going to be the year that tight end Zach Ertz becomes the focal part of the offense the way Rob Gronkowski is in New England?

No Eagles story these days is complete without speculation about the quarterback. Kelly threw us a curveball Sunday by bringing Mark Sanchez back into his mix of football hurlers. We still have to wait until the end of next month to see if Marcus Mariota is the Pigskin Prince that Kelly must have running his kingdom or if Nick Foles will remain as the Duke of Now at the game's most important position.

The extra attention Kelly is paying to defense ranks as the most likable thing about his pre-free-agent moves. It did not matter how fast or efficient Kelly's offense ran or who was at quarterback unless the team's weakest link was significantly upgraded.

By making cornerback Byron Maxwell his top free-agent target and acquiring inside linebacker Kiko Alonso from Buffalo in the LeSean McCoy trade, the Eagles became bigger, younger and faster on defense.

As difficult as it was to see Trent Cole leave after a decade, it was time to move on and Brandon Graham proved last season that he can be a suitable replacement. Cole, a class act, said several times last season that he hoped Graham would get a chance to be a starter and now that chance has arrived.

More attention still must be paid to the defensive side of the football, but it's possible that could be done in the draft. It would have been nice to have added Devin McCourty at safety, but who can blame a man for returning to the place where he won the Super Bowl?

It will be interesting to see if the Eagles go for one of the second-tier free-agent safeties - Denver's Rahim Moore or the Giants' Antrel Rolle - or if they wait and try to upgrade the position during the draft. It is not a position that is considered a draft strength, but it still may be the Eagles' best option to find someone to play alongside Malcolm Jenkins.

As things sit right now, the Eagles still have some significant holes in the defensive backfield, a lot of questions to be answered on offense and an oversized barrel of money at their disposal. It will be great theater to see how the coach, general manager and king of everything spends the cash.

Maybe he'll decorate his kingdom in Kelly Green.

@brookob