Philadelphia Eagles: Thoughts On Sam Bradford Trade

Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles finally have their quarterback of the future on the roster and its former number 1 overall pick Sam Bradford. Just as we all predicted, right? When the trade was announced yesterday, I instantly believed that Bradford was Chip Kelly’s guy. The Eagles media was still going crazy over Marcus Mariota (who knows, maybe we will somehow get him) but I think Bradford fits what Chip wants.

Chip Kelly has been head coach of the Eagles for two seasons.

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In that time, Chip has drafted Matt Barkley and described him as a player that the Eagles had a second round grade on. He’s signed

Mark Sanchez

(twice, if reports are true) and gone into a season with Nick Foles as his starter. Since when was mobility the number one priority for Chip?

Chip wants someone who makes extremely quick decisions, has a quick release and is accurate. I’m a big fan of Nick Foles but last year he was not very good at all. He made bad decisions and he’s never been a quarterback with a quick release. He also struggled with his accuracy at times because of his poor mechanics.

But what about Mariota, Chip’s so called chosen quarterback? It appears that Chip Kelly does not reveal his draft plans to anyone, he never has. I have absolutely no idea why reporters were so confident that Chip was obsessed with Mariota but it appears he wasn’t too fussed about getting him.

Here’s a crazy thought – maybe Mariota won’t be that good. Seriously, who knows if Mariota will be a successful NFL quarterback? The things he does in college do not translate directly to the NFL, there’s a lot of unknown involved if you draft him. Chip doesn’t run the same system as he did in college. If you compared Bradford and Mariota’s college career, Bradford was the better prospect. There’s a reason he was the number 1 pick, he’s very talented.

So, I thought the whole reason everyone wanted Chip to get Mariota was because they wanted Chip to get his own quarterback? They didn’t want to see him fail without getting to hand pick his guy. It looks like Chip has got his quarterback and its Sam Bradford.

Therefore, we essentially got Chip’s quarterback for a second round pick and Foles. Going to get Mariota may have cost us three first round picks, a second round pick, Mychal Kendricks or Lane Johnson and who knows what else. However, the majority of people seemed okay with that because Mariota was Chip’s choice. Why is there such a high level of trust in Chip giving up our future to go and get his guy just because he coached him in college but not giving up a second round pick to get him if its Bradford?

I’ll cover Bradford in more detail in the near future but I do understand the concern over injuries. However, Kiko Alonso has torn both his ACLs and most fans liked that trade. Jeremy Maclin has torn his ACL twice and a lot of fans (myself included) wanted to sign him back. I’m not a doctor but if the Eagles medical staff said that his knee is fine now, what’s the issue?

Lastly, this might surprise you. On Daniel Jeramiah’s latest podcast, he said that he spoke to five NFL executives around the league and asked them who Mariota compared to last summer. One of them compared Mariota to Sam Bradford. I’m not kidding. The reason was, he has a quick release, is accurate and makes very quick decisions. He said Mariota and Bradford are very similar in that sense.

Maybe its not as crazy as we all think. In college, Sam Bradford played a no-huddle system that had very similar concepts to what Chip Kelly runs now with the Eagles. If Bradford is a success, the Eagles just got their quarterback without having to trade away multiple picks or players. That sounds good to me.

Next: More Questions Than Answers On Free Agency Day One

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