Howard Eskin called himself a dinosaur on Saturday morning on WIP – and he’s right.

Compared to most members of contemporary sports media, he’s a relic. You see, Howard continues to do things the old-fashioned way:

• He develops contacts.

• He expands those contacts into networks of connections that lead to additional contacts.

• He works hard.

• He employs integrity.

In other words – pardon my French – he doesn’t make shit up.

And that’s where he differs from most members of contemporary sports media. Because during these seemingly interminable weeks leading up to the NFL draft, there’s been a lotta sports media members – pardon my French once again – making shit up.

Like what?

• Like the Eagles offered a package of – you pick how many you want to include – Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks, Sam Bradford, Evan Mathis, Brandon Boykin – to the Titans in exchange for their draft pick so that Chip Kelly could draft Marcus Mariota.

• Like the Eagles offered a package that included Sam Bradford to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for their 19th pick so the Eagles could package that pick with their 20th pick to move up in the draft to get Marcus Mariota.

• Like Chip Kelly was trying to move up in the draft to get Marcus Mariota.

Folks – none of those “likes” mentioned above ever happened.

Contrary to the widespread rumors and speculation, Chip never considered moving up in the draft to get Marcus Mariota.

Let me repeat that – Chip never considered moving up in the draft to get Marcus Mariota.

If he never considered moving up, then he never named any players he was willing to deal to Tennessee to get Mariota.

How do I know?

Because – like Howard Eskin – I’m also a dinosaur. I’m also a relic who was schooled to do things properly. Even though I’m not officially a member of the Philly sports media, I do those same things I specified above. And by adding charm and diplomacy into the mix, I develop contacts of my own. And rather than repeating rumors and speculation and quoting unnamed sources – or creating my own rumors and speculation – I rely on what I interpret to be the truth.

It seems that today, there’s a tremendous urgency to be first with news. In fact, the urgency is so omnipresent that truth takes a back seat to speed.

On Saturday, I came face to face with someone connected to the Eagles hierarchy. I asked just two questions.

(1) Did Chip specify any players that he was willing to trade to the Titans?

(2) Did Chip try to trade up to get Mariota?

The order of those two questions is important.

And here are the answers:

(1) No.

(2) Chip is too smart to do that. He knew he had no chance to move up that high – and he knows he had too many holes to fill.

So Chip’s been telling the truth all along. He wasn’t going to mortgage the Eagles’ future on a pie-in-the-sky whim. But some members of the media just weren’t willing to accept it because it blew their versions of the truth out of the water.

And now let’s examine his motivations making the picks.

First Round – Chip wanted a wide receiver in the first round. He and Ed Marynowitz had identified several wide receivers as potential first-round picks. They were willing to sit and wait for their turn at number-twenty – and they were pleased to see that USC’s Nelson Agholor was available.

Second Round – Chip wanted a defensive back. He had three targets. When the first two were taken, he moved up to get Eric Rowe out of Utah.

Third Round – Chip wanted an offensive lineman. But his targets were a reach for the third round, so he took the best player on the Eagles board – linebacker Jordan Hicks out of Texas.

Fourth Round – In Chip’s estimation, none of his targets were worthy of a fourth-round pick, so he traded out and added a pick for next year’s draft.

I didn’t ask about motivation for the late-round picks or the free-agent signings.

And that’s the way the Eagles draft went down.

So move over, Howard, I’m a dinosaur in the room with you.

Barry Bowe is the author of Born to Be Wild, 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant, and 12 Best Eagles QBs.