Mychal Kendricks says he wanted to get new contract to make sure he was part of an Eagles that will make some noise. Photo by T.J. Engler / contrastphotography.com

Every player on the Philadelphia Eagles roster, from players on the edge of making the team such as offensive lineman Dennis Kelly, or standout players including running back DeMarco Murray and linebacker Mychal Kendricks, the common theme they all have is they want to be an Eagle, especially this year.

The idea of a pro athlete playing on the team that was the highest bidder for their services, does not appear to how this group of Birds was put together.

For this team it is about winning and winning a title.

“It’s all about winning,” Murray said at his press conference the week before the opener against the Atlanta Falcons (ESPN Monday 7:10 PM ET). “It’s not about how much you accomplish, it’s all about winning. Whether it’s high school, college or the pro level, it’s all about winning.

“Obviously you want to be out there as a competitor, lead the group, work as hard as you can work,” continued Murray, the 2014 NFL rushing champion. “But I think at the end of the day this a top-to-bottom league…all that matters is wins. It’s not yards, not records, none of that stuff. At the end of the day it’s about that one column – wins and losses.”

During the offseason, Kendricks was clearly not happy. He was entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract.

Was Kendricks looking for a bigger paycheck” Of course he was. The 6-foot-0, 240-pound inside linebacker had established himself as one the top defensive players in the NFC.

Kendricks said he wasn’t looking to break the Eagles bank, rather he wanted to be all-in on what many players, fans and observers believe is something special brewing in Philadelphia.

“One of the reasons I took the deal was we’re really good and we have a chance to win the Super Bowl,” Kendricks said in a one-on-one interview last week. “And that’s no bull.”

About two weeks into training camp Kendricks and the team agreed to terms on a long-term contract extension. According to multiple reports, the deal is worth $29 million over four years with $16.4 million guaranteed.

“It feels good,” Kendricks said about his new contract. “Everything was what it was and acted as such and treated it as such. There wasn’t much I could do with everything that was going on. But everything worked out pretty well.”

Head coach Chip Kelly talked about why he wanted to make sure Kendricks felt like he was part of the plan. He also wanted to dispel reports out there that claimed the Eagles were not high on the 24-year old drafted out of California in the second round (46 overall) of the 2012 draft by then head coach Andy Reid.

“Why?” the coach said. “Because he’s a really good football player and we like him. Much to a lot of people’s writings. We think he’s a really good player. I thought he’s always been a really good player, and we want to build our future football players around the guys that we think fit in terms of what we do.”
Kelly went on to talk about what makes Kendricks such an effective player.

“I think his physical attributes lend him to be a three-down linebacker which everybody’s looking for,” coach Kelly said. “And it doesn’t matter what defensive system you’re in. I think you value those guys, the guys that can run and physically be able to run with tight ends and running backs but also be big enough and strong enough to take offensive linemen. Mychal can do all those things and that’s why we extended him.”

Kendricks said the players have placed a high bar of expectations on this season.

“For us I think our expectations are sky high,” Kendricks said at his locker as the Eagles prepared to take on the Falcons in the season opener. “Everything that we’ve done in the offseason, things we’ve accomplished since we’ve been here, I think this thing has come full circle, and now is the time to take advantage of our work. The things that we have here, the guys that we have here…the depth, the talent, the smarts, we’ve got everything. There is no reason not to want it all.”

Dennis Kelly echoed what many saw in the preseason, where the Eagles outscored their opponents in the first quarter of the first three games 52-3. “We have a really good, deep team,” Dennis Kelly said. “I think we drew some attention through the first three games, hopefully it all works out.”

ESPN has picked the Eagles to win the Super Bowl. Kendricks said regardless of their own expectations they can’t look that far into the future.

“It (predictions) doesn’t matter to us,” Kendricks said. “We’ve got a game on Monday. That’s all we’re worried about. That’s how we approach every game. Just one game at a time and we’ll see where we end up. I’m pretty sure where we end up is where we want to be.”

Sitting on a stool at his locker, Kendricks paused for a moment, looked up, and added a comment to make sure we all know why he wanted to be an Eagle long term.

“We’re going to win,” Kendricks said. “And that’s the thing, I want to be on a winning team.”