Philadelphia Eagles: Sam Bradford Requests a Trade

The writing has been on the wall since the Philadelphia Eagles acquired the second overall pick in the NFL Draft from the Cleveland Browns.

Sam Bradford has had a tumultuous tenure in Philadelphia. Since being acquired from the Rams, Sam Bradford has encountered both injury and performance issues. Last season Bradford started 14 games for the Philadelphia Eagles and went 7-7 in his starts. He completed 65 percent of his pass attempts, throwing for 3,725 yards with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

While those aren’t great numbers, Bradford was able to earn himself a two-year deal for 36 million dollars (26 million guaranteed) but it was clear that Bradford was not in the future plans of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Philadelphia Eagles began to prep for life post-Bradford when they brought in Chase Daniel on a multi-year deal for three years and 21 million dollars (12 million dollars guaranteed).

Eagles fans had also turned on Sam Bradford wanting the Eagles to draft a quarterback and take a shot on the unknown. (Speaks volumes of what the internal options were eh?) To guarantee that fans would get their wish, Howie Roseman orchestrated a trade to acquire the second overall pick from the Cleveland Browns.

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Roseman used the picks that he acquired from other offseason trades to move up and guarantee that the Philadelphia Eagles could draft whoever was left from Jared Goff and Carson Wentz.

The Philadelphia Eagles sent five draft picks to the Browns: the No. 8 pick in the first round, a third-round pick (77th overall) and a fourth-round pick (100th overall) in this year’s draft, a first-round pick in 2017 and a second-round pick in 2018. The Eagles will also get the Browns fourth-round pick in 2017.

This trade signaled that there would be some competition for Sam Bradford even though Howie Roseman said, “Let me be clear, Sam Bradford is our starting quarterback. We told Sam that. We intend to support him, and the moves we made this offseason, we believe, will give us a chance to compete this season.”

Sam Bradford requesting a trade makes it clear that he felt that the offseason moves were undermining him rather than giving him the best chance to succeed. He may have also feared for his job security for with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The plan was to draft a young quarterback and have him develop under Sam Bradford during the course of his contract. But plans change:

Howie Roseman came out today reiterating that Sam Bradford is the starter but this leaves the Philadelphia Eagles with a few questions, Who is the starting quarterback? Where does Bradford potentially get traded?

Let’s explore trade options.

The most obvious destination is that of another former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Mark Sanchez. Since Peyton Manning retired and Brock Osweiler shockingly signed with the Houston Texans the Denver Broncos have been on the lookout for a starting quarterback. They tried to trade for Colin Kaepernick but the contract details fell through.

Bradford would represent an upgrade over any of the options that are currently on Denver’s roster filling their only hole. The deal would make sense for both sides especially with Bradford’s current contract  status allowing the Broncos to prepare for the future. Ther could be other wild card teams like the Jets or Browns that are interested but it’s safe to assume that the Broncos are the front runners if the Philadelphia Eagles allow Bradford to be traded.

Who’s the starter?

Until further notice, Sam Bradford is the starter. The Philadelphia Eagles have no interest in trading him, nor do they need to. Soon enough Bradford has to stop whining and rejoin the team. But that doesn’t leave the Eagles without options. Chase Daniel has the makeup of a starter but lacks experience. If he impresses in training camp and the preseason he could be a viable option to start.

Even though the Eagles have said that they see value in sitting a rookie quarterback for the year you’d have to expect that if Goff/Wentz impress that they would be given a shot to lead the Philadelphia Eagles.

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The Bradford request puts the Eagles in a predicament but overall they hold all the cards. The Eagles don’t have to move on Bradford but they do have to monitor the situation to make sure that it doesn’t become a locker room cancer.