When the Eagles traded away Nick Foles in favor of Sam Bradford it was viewed as a questionable decision, but one with potential to pay dividends especially when you take into consideration Fole’s soon-to-be free agent status. It was thought that Bradford needed to get as far away from St. Louis as possible if he wanted to salvage his career, but what if he’s already soured on the idea of playing in Philadelphia.
Before the trade was ever made, players were beginning to rethink whether Philadelphia was the player’s paradise it had originally been made out to be. Much had already been known about Chip Kelly’s rigorous practice schedule, but since he had taken on GM duties he began showing a “My way or the high way” type of mentality, sprinkle in a little bit of racism rumors and you have yourself a head coach that players would not want to play under. Hell just ask Frank Gore.
Sam Bradford then arrived in a city that didn’t want anything to do with him, with a head coach who had easily become the most scrutinized in football in a very short time. From the moment news broke of the Bradford trade, rumors began to swirl that the Eagles were attempting to ship the quarterback somewhere else in hopes of landing Chip Kelly’s pride and joy, Marcus Mariota.
To top it all of the Eagles wanted to restructure Bradford’s current contract so that the team wouldn’t take such a salary cap hit (And so they could pawn him off to the Browns). So to recap, Sam Bradford arrived in a city that didn’t want him amid trade rumors that his new head coach wanted to dump him off on one of the worst teams in the NFL in hopes of getting the quarterback he actually wants, all while trying to take money out of his pocket, talk about rolling out the red carpet for a guy.
The NFL Draft came and went, Mariota became a Titan, and the Eagles were stuck with their second choice at quarterback, since then things had mellowed out a little but its hard to say that the relationship between Bradford and the Birds was sterling.
Attempts at a contract extension have been made but progress between the two parties has been minimal at best. Bradford is more than content with playing out the remainder of his contract and trying to make the team break the bank in the offseason and for a quarterback of Bradford’s stature with his injury history, that’s ballsy.
There hadn’t been much controversy between the team and the quarterback through training camp, but that was up until earlier this week when it was announced that the team’s new signal caller would be held out of action until week two of the preseason. While this is strictly a precautionary measure, seeing as how Bradford suffered his second ACL injury early in last year’s preseason, the move did not sit well with the quarterback. When asked about the situation, Bradford did not hide his opinion in saying, “I haven’t sat out a practice, I haven’t missed a rep — this has nothing to do with the knee”.
If it isn’t his knee, as Bradford claims, then what could possibly be holding him out of the game? It could he is having a hard time grasping the offense, but in practices he has been described as “elite” at time when running Chip Kelly’s offense. It could be that he rubbed some of the coaching staff the wrong way, but nothing but good things have come out of camp about him, he’s stepped up as one of the team’s leaders. The only thing I could think it being is that the two parties aren’t on the same page about Bradford’s knee rehab and this is something that could be potentially dangerous.
If the Eagles don’t lock Sam Bradford up with a contract extension before the start of the season, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see Sam Bradford walk in free agency. And if that is the case, I’d expect next offseason to be just as interesting as the one before it and twice as unsettling.
Snowballs & Batteries 