PHOENIX — No one in the NFL is more unpredictable than Chip Kelly, but the Philadelphia Eagles head coach appears resolute in his message that he will not mortgage the team’s future to move up to select former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.

“Philosophically, I want to build through the draft,” Kelly said at the NFL owners meetings on Wednesday. “So if you gut yourself for one year and one guy, philosophically I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”

Kelly acknowledged that there are exceptions to every philosophy, but he does not envision any scenario in which the price tag would not be far more than he is willing to pay to move up and snag his former protege.

“More players are better than one player. Philosophically,” Kelly said of his philosophy of building through the draft. “Just look at the history of the game. Study all the trades. What set the Cowboys going forward? They traded one player (running back Herschel Walker) for multiple players. The draft isn’t an exact science. You’ve got a better chance of hitting if you have more draft picks than if you have less draft picks.”

Barring an unforeseen slide from the Heisman Trophy winner into a spot where Kelly would be comfortable trading up to in the first round, the Eagles appear set to enter training camp with recently acquired Sam Bradford competing with Mark Sanchez for the starting job.

Kelly has not seen Bradford on the field since acquiring him in a deal that sent Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams. The Eagles are hopeful that Bradford’s second recovery from ACL surgery is on track to have him participate in at least a portion of the offseason program, but Kelly is limited in his ability to have contact with players at this stage of the offseason and isn’t even sure when Bradford next meets with Dr. James Andrews to review his recovery.

Kelly did shed some light on what prompted the swap of Foles for Bradford. He believes the offense needs to be more efficient, from reducing its 36 turnovers from last season to improving on the accuracy from the quarterback position. Eagles quarterbacks completed 61.8 percent of their passes last season and Bradford is a career 58.6 percent passer, but Kelly sees an accurate thrower who will fit well into the scheme.

“Just looking at where we are and what we need to do, we’ve got guys open and we need to put the ball on them in certain situations,” said Kelly, who reviewed every one of Bradford’s passes during his NFL career before pulling the trigger on the trade.

Kelly also said he did not want to include Foles in the trade, but the Rams were not going to part with Bradford in a deal that included only draft picks.

Kelly has sold Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie on his vision for elevating the Eagles to a great team, which the coach said includes improving the offensive efficiency and the defense as a whole — beginning with a secondary that gave up far too many big plays last season. Lurie said Tuesday that identifying a franchise quarterback is key to that equation. Can Bradford, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract, be that guy?

“You hope so. But I’m not a predictor guy,” Kelly said. “I’m not gonna put a label on anybody.”