Philadelphia Eagles Have Little Time with Sam Bradford
By Regina Ham
The time is ticking for the Philadelphia Eagles to sign Sam Bradford to a long-term deal.
Time keeps on slipping, slipping into the future, according to the song lyrics.
The Philadelphia Eagles window to keep Sam Bradford is following along the same lines.
There was no question that the biggest off-season decision that the Philadelphia Eagles would be regarding their quarterback: Sam Bradford. There have been quite a few signings the past few weeks of some key players. The team recently signed tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek as well as right tackle Lane Johnson. These long-term- and expensive- signings ate into the Eagles salary cap. There is also the potential that in the next few weeks Vinny Curry and Fletcher Cox will be offered similar deals. While those might all seem like good signs for the Eagles, it harms them where they need the money the most.
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With the expensive signings surrounding the team, it is becoming less and less likely that the Eagles will be able to retain him. Granted, it’s a smart decision to make these long-term deals as it will be helpful later down the line but it will have a negative impact if the Eagles organization wants to retain Bradford. He’s on the verge of becoming a free-agent in the next month and that will be the Eagles’ downfall. There are teams that have the money to spend and need a good quarterback since their situations are even more dire than Philadelphia’s.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has even remarked that the team needs to start looking for another coach. Speaking to ESPN, Pederson said the team would “find the best quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles” and that hunt could begin soon. It’s a pretty open ended statement and could either signal the Eagles want to keep Bradford or start looking elsewhere. He didn’t start out 2015 with a particularly stellar season but he improved. The last seven games saw a form of Bradford that should’ve been seen from the start and was previewed in the preseason. He had a QB rating of 86.4 percent, threw for 3,725 yards and had 19 touchdowns.
Those numbers aren’t spectacular but for a team that’s struggling, it would be a welcome relief to have a quarterback that puts up half decent statistics. Yet if the Eagles keep him, those numbers could be a starting point to see him grow. Pederson and Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich both were former quarterbacks in their careers and that could help them to relate and work with Bradford. Bradford would be expensive to keep and putting a franchise tag on him wouldn’t be the best economic decision for the Eagles.
But if it’s not going to be Bradford, who else would be a good fit?
The question of “who else” is definitely going to be a difficult one to answer. There are a lot of second-tier quarterbacks that the Eagles could pick up for less than re-signing Bradford and even keep around Mark Sanchez. The NFL Draft would be another opportunity to pick up a quarterback and groom him in Pederson’s system. They have the No.13 overall pick but then don’t have another pick until the third-round. Their second-round pick when to St. Louis along with Nick Foles in the trade for Bradford. There isn’t exactly anyone hot on the free agent market so the “who else” that the Eagles need might be harder to find.
With the Eagles, there’s no doubt that the post-season in Philadelphia is about to become a lot more complicated.