Philadelphia Eagles Taking Big Risk Letting Sam Bradford Walk

Things like this can happen when a regime changes on a team.  New opinions become involved and players who were once coveted become little more than chess pieces to be sacrificed in the bold move to win the match.  Are the Philadelphia Eagles doing this with quarterback Sam Bradford?  It feels that way with free agency approaching and all signs pointed towards the 28-year old joining the open market rather than re-sign with the Eagles.  The franchise tag is in play of course, but it’s doubtful Philadelphia will use it given it would cost them upwards of $19.8 million.

Bradford wasn’t a star in 2015, but he was more effective than what the Eagles have had lately.  He finished 14 games with 3,725 yards, 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.  If they let him walk, they’re faced with a rather dicey situation.  The free agent market won’t offer definitive answers to their problem.  They could take a chance on Robert Griffin III, prepare a mad push to grab Kirk Cousins if he somehow isn’t franchise tagged by Washington, or try to lure Brock Osweiler away from Denver.

The draft is even more of a question mark.  As of now the Eagles hold the 13^th pick in the 1^st round.  Chances are at least two and perhaps all three of the top quarterbacks who are considered worthy of going in the top 15 will be gone by that point.  It seems their best hope is that the Los Angeles Rams cut ties with Nick Foles, whom Philadelphia traded to them last year, so they can bring him back.

At least one Eagles player doesn’t share this air of optimism.  Starting safety Malcolm Jenkins went on record saying he believes given the right situation that Bradford is just what the franchise needs to realize their title hopes.

“If you protect Sam and give him weapons to use,” Jenkins said, “I think he can be one of those quarterbacks to win a championship.”

"“I think it was kind of a tale of two seasons for Sam,” Jenkins said. “Early, especially in the first half of the season, I don’t know how comfortable he was in the locker room or being in the role of the leader on the team when he had just gotten here. “He’s got new guys. Then he got hurt, and when he came back, he decided to take the team by the horns basically. He really started to be a lot more vocal, he started to break down the huddles, he started to speak to the team before every game. “When he did that, he gained the trust of the teammates and he started playing better. The back half of the season, he played really well for us. “So, from a player’s perspective, we definitely got behind Sam in that back stretch and really would like to see him back moving forward. We think he can be the leader and the quarterback that we need.”"

A number of experts share this view.  They believe Bradford showed noticeable signs of progress at the end of the season.  Bringing back Foles would count as a regression since his skill set isn’t on the same level.

So this brings it all back to the situation at hand.  The Philadelphia Eagles are taking a tremendous gamble by letting Sam Bradford sniff free agency.  If that is their decision, they better be prepared for the backlash if it blows up in their faces.