Sam Bradford’s Concern’s Realized as Eagles Take QB at No. 2
By Chip Rouse
The National Football League Philadelphia Eagles say Sam Bradford is the starting quarterback, but Bradford says he wants out.
The former Oklahoma Sooner and Heisman Trophy winner has voiced his desire to be traded. The Eagles exercised a trade with the Cleveland Browns last week, moving up in the2016 NFL Draft order to the No. 2 position in the opening round.
At the time that trade was made, it became fairly clear that Philadelphia wanted to put itself in position to select one of the top two quarterback prospects in this year’s draft class.
Despite just days ago signing Bradford to a two-year $35 million contract and veteran backup and free-agent Chase Daniel to a two-year $22 million deal as No. 2 to Bradford, the Eagles on Thursday selected Carson Wentz, who quarterbacked the North Dakota Bisons to back-to-back FCS championships, with the second overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
Philadelphia’s top brass said again this week that Bradford was the No. 1 quarterback of the Eagles, but the draft of Wentz with the first-round No. 2 pick says that while the former Oklahoma star may be in the driver’s seat at the QB position today, he is not being looked to as the Eagles franchise signal caller.
The Eagles are trying to say all the right things, but their actions say something very different. They say they want Wentz to learn from Bradford and be ready when his time comes, which appears to be much sooner on Philly’s time line than the Eagles are letting on publicly.
I believe Bradford’s concerns are valid, but to be perfectly candid, the former No. 1 draft pick (No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams in the 2010 NFL Draft) has not lived up to his high expectations in his six previous NFL seasons, largely because of a couple of serious knee injuries and a supporting cast with two different teams that lacked much to be desired.
The former Sooner looked very tentative this past season, as if expecting the next big hit on his twice-repaired injured knees. Bradford remains a very accurate passer and a smart quarterback, but he has never really been the same after suffering the first of his knee injuries, seven games into the 2013 NFL season.
The best thing Bradford can do under the circumstances is to go out and have a bang-up year, show what he is truly capable of and quiet the critics. He is still the incumbent, after all, until he gives it away or someone takes it away. Stepping it up a notch on the field will at best will keep him on the field, and, at worst, will increase his trade value.
The former No. 1 draft pick may not like the way things are shaping up in Philadelphia, but the harsh truth is with his $35 million contract, $22 million of which is guaranteed, his trade value is going to make him a lot more difficult to move than he and others may realize.