Sam Bradford is the Eagles starter, Doug Pederson leaves no doubt
The odd thing about Sam Bradford’s trade demand is that it was always clear the Philadelphia Eagles wanted him to start Week 1 this season.
And just to let everyone know that hasn’t changed since Bradford skipped some OTAs hoping for a trade that was never going to happen. Eagles coach Doug Pederson said Bradford is his preferred choice over rookie Carson Wentz.
“He’s my guy,” Pederson said about Bradford. “He’s my No. 1 guy. I want him to embrace that.”
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Pederson doubled down, saying that even if Bradford were to get hurt, Wentz wouldn’t necessarily inherit the job because the team has highly-paid backup Chase Daniel too. See Sam? Nothing to worry about.
This could all change. Mostly because Bradford hasn’t shown in his NFL career that he can be a consistent producer. That’s another thing that made his trade demands so strange. Nobody with an 81 career passer rating should feel, at any point, that he has the power to tell an organization who to draft or not draft. But Bradford was apparently upset that the Eagles drafted Wentz second overall, and everyone knows Wentz will start eventually (for more on the dynamic between the two, here’s a report from Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson, who was at Eagles camp).
But with Pederson’s vote of confidence, the situation for Bradford is exactly as it was since the Eagles traded up to No. 2 for the opportunity to get Wentz. If Bradford does well in training camp, he’ll start Week 1. If he plays well to start the regular season — and any quarterback getting paid $18 million annually like Bradford is should play well — then he’ll keep the job. No matter how much the Eagles might want to play Wentz sooner rather than later, if the Eagles are in first place in the NFC East in November and Bradford is playing at a Pro Bowl level, Bradford isn’t getting benched. So, for the first time in his NFL life, Bradford will have to actually earn his spot and his salary. Doesn’t seem like too crazy of a concept.
What happens after this season is harder to figure out. While it’s possible Bradford could play so well that he forces the Eagles into starting him again in 2017 (and again, at $18 million a year, this shouldn’t be an outlandish scenario), it’s more likely the Eagles would look into trading him in the offseason with one year left on his contract. Wentz won’t sit for that long, not after how much the Eagles gave up in the trade to go get him.
That’s a problem for another day. Right now Bradford is the starter, and he controls how if he’ll keep that job for the length of the 2016 season. It’s just up to Bradford to play well. Imagine that.
More on Eagles/Bradford drama
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
