They’ve been the butt of the joke since draft day, but there is some kind of method to the Philadelphia Eagles’ current madness when you look at their quarterback situation. It’s a bad scene, just because of the personalities and the emotions in involved, but as logical moves go, these haven’t been bad for Philly. Just costly.
Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz throwing side by side: https://t.co/0Tj2pLJypp
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) May 17, 2016
How costly? Well, this season alone the Eagles are on the hook for $24.175 million, give or take a dollar or two, to their three quarterbacks – Sam Bradford, newly-acquired free agent Chase Daniel and No. 2 draft choice Carson Wentz. Now that’s a big number, but when you compare it to the elite quarterbacks in the league like Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning and Russell Wilson, the Eagles are paying just slightly more for three quarterbacks than the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers. New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks are paying for one. That doesn’t mean the Eagles are getting some kind of bargain. It just puts it into perspective.
The truth is that if Carson Wentz turns into a legitimate franchise quarterback it’ll cost more than $24 million to keep him in five seasons so in this respect the Eagles are just working with an honest cap, building a team around a young quarterback at the prices they can afford. They won’t have to shed important roster pieces in four or five years like the Seattle Seaahawks and Carolina Panthers did when Wilson and Cam Newton needed to be re-signed. Philadelphia will have their team together, at the prices they can afford to make whatever run Wentz can take them on.
Carson Wentz' locker is next to Chase Daniel and two lockers from Sam Bradford. (via @SheridanScribe) pic.twitter.com/CMmzt1a5Cc
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) May 13, 2016
In the meantime the Eagles don’t have to play Wentz too early before he’s ready. He can sit and learn new head coach Doug Pederson’s offense and be perfectly primed to succeed down the road like Aaron Rodgers did with the Packers and Phillip Rivers did with the San Diego Chargers. Neither of those guys went through any real growing pains. The stepped in and took the baton, taking their teams to the playoffs. This is why keeping Bradford on the roster for a couple of years made sense. The Eagles obviously believe they can win with him. They don’t want to go through a couple of 5-11 or 6-10 seasons. They wanted to compete while their quarterback of the future learned how to be a pro quarterback. Bradford didn’t want to go along with this plan.
Let me be clear about something. I’ve always liked Sam Bradford. I’ve always thought he could be the NFL franchise quarterback the then St. Louis Rams drafted him to be. There were flashes, and then there were injuries and there were consistent issues that continually popped up, but the potential was always there. It still is.
Sam Bradford statement, released by agent Tom Condon: pic.twitter.com/hjudwu4KGG
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) May 9, 2016
But Bradford didn’t like the Eagles’ plan. He balked and asked for a trade that didn’t come. If teams really wanted him this offseason, they could have signed him to a free agent deal without giving up any draft pick compensation. No one did. Or at least no team was willing to match what the Eagles were willing to pay him to pave the way for Wentz. Either way, asking for a trade was ridiculous. Bradford wants the stability and to be “the guy.” I understand that, but the way to do that is to prove you deserve it on the field, not whine about it to your agent.
Sam Bradford's trade demand left many thinking he doesn't want to compete. Asked this of his agent, Tom Condonhttps://t.co/txjMEyrUCT
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) May 11, 2016
Bradford had every opportunity to be the guy with the Rams up until they traded him. They wanted to sign him to a new deal, long term, but he would need to take a pay cut. I’d imagine there would be lots of incentives involved in such a contract to where, say, Bradford led the team to the playoffs and beyond he would be financially rewarded, but he didn’t want that. He wanted guaranteed money. He wanted to bet on himself. So the Rams traded him and he played most of a season. While he didn’t lose that bet entirely, he didn’t win it either.
Bradford has made a lot of money in the NFL. By showing up and playing this season he’ll make $12.5 million more atop the already huge Scrooge McDuck-ian money bin he’s already accumulated. Sam doesn’t need to worry about Carson Wentz. He needs to worry about Chase Daniel, the guy the team is paying $5 million this year to be the No. 2 guy. He already knows Pederson’s system. He could legitimately beat Bradford out in camp. Bradford has never been forced to compete for a job and that’s what’s ahead of him in Philadelphia. He needs to stop feeling sorry for himself and win this job outright, prove he’s the franchise quarterback and No. 1 pick he was destined to be because, I guarantee you this, if the Eagles win the Super Bowl this year no one will be shouting for Wentz to take the field. It’s Bradford’s job to lose and he’s already done so much to lose it. It’s time to turn that around. The Eagles are begging him to.
