PHOENIX -- Whenever Chip Kelly talks about Marcus Mariota, it qualifies as news. Not earth-shaking news, maybe, but news nonetheless.

The Philadelphia Eagles' head coach talked about the Oregon quarterback Wednesday. Mostly, Kelly discussed the reasons he isn't likely to be able to draft Mariota. But he also defended his former quarterback against the criticisms that have trickled out about his low-key demeanor and throwing style.

"It's the silly season," Kelly said. "The NFL draft hype is the most crazy thing in the world. Guys are going to go up, guys are going to do down, then guys are going to go up. Cam Newton couldn't play. There's no reason to draft him in the first round. All the sudden he goes No. 1. I knew it. It's crazy."

Mariota's qualifications speak for themselves, Kelly said.

"I think everybody gets overanalyzed," Kelly said. "I'll give the credit to [Fox Sports reporter] Bruce Feldman [who] told me, it's interesting that the knock on Marcus, his baggage is that he has no baggage. He's an outstanding leader. Look at his won-loss record. You judge quarterbacks on what their won-loss record is. You judge quarterbacks on touchdown-to-interception ratio. You judge them on all those things. He's off the charts. And he's off the charts off the field."

Kelly has heard the talk that Mariota's personality is too understated to thrive in the NFL.

"You evaluate everything when you look at him," Kelly said. "Just because a guy doesn't yell and scream at a guy when he doesn't run the right route -- ask any of those guys if they'd take Eli Manning. I don't see Eli Manning screaming and yelling at anybody, but you talk about a stone-cold killer in the fourth quarter. Look at how many fourth-quarter comebacks Eli's had."

Kelly had to laugh at the situation. In 2011, Jim Harbaugh left Stanford to become head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. The next year, Stanford's Andrew Luck was the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.

"How come no one asked Jim Harbaugh about trading up for Andrew Luck?" Kelly said. "Same scenario. Identical scenario. I never heard a word about 'Jim, are you trading up to get Andrew Luck?' Figure out what he said about Andrew Luck. I know how Jimmy feels about Andrew Luck."

Harbaugh had Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick, as a rookie, in 2011. At that point, Harbaugh certainly looked like he could have used Luck. But the Indianapolis Colts were holding the first pick of the 2012 draft and it was obvious early on that Luck was their guy.

"Just a curious question," Kelly said. "I was just curious why no one talked about Jimmy and Andrew. And Jimmy's professed love for Andrew, I can tell you that. And he's right. Because that guy's pretty good, too."