Will Sam Bradford be playing in Philly?

a blog by La Kifo

It's the question that everybody in the NFL world has been asking. According to a teammate Bradford might be back earlier than many have expected.

Connor Barwin went on 94WIP to say, “I think obviously he [Bradford] didn’t see it coming and was surprised by it, but I expect it him to be back in the next week or two and be the starting quarterback next year... He’s still on the team. He’s got to come to work, and from my conversation with him it sounded like he was coming back sooner than later.”

Some pretty strong words from Barwin there. It would be a Greek tragedy if Sam was to retire as one sports talk radio host has eluded to. Reuben Frank of CSN Philly, claims that the situation between the Eagles and Bradford might end up the same way as Carson Palmer's relationship with the Cincinnati Bengals. Palmer was content to retire if he was not traded from the team. He ended up sitting out half a season before he was traded to Oakland a few days before the week 11 trade deadline. 

Bradford was signed to a large short term deal, 2 years $35 million. If he were to retire, it would result in $18 million in dead cap acting against the Eagles cap space for the upcoming season. If Sam really wanted to stick it to the team that blew his brain off when they traded a large stack of their future draft picks for Carson Wentz, he would retire or force the Eagles to release him. That way, they no longer have his services and they would have to deal with the massive amount of money acting against their cap space. 

Let's make on thing very clear, Sam Bradford is a bust. He was taken 1st overall by the St. Louis Rams in 2010 and what has he done? Miss the equivalent of two full seasons. In the seasons he was healthy, his numbers and overall play indicated the huge mistake the Rams made by selecting the former Oklahoma Sooner. It is not as if the red flags weren't there with Bradford, he missed his entire final season of College football with a right shoulder injury that required surgery. For the sharp ones out their, yes, his right shoulder is his throwing shoulder. To be fair towards Sammy, his play and statistics in college were phenomenal as he won the Heisman as well as voted All-American in the same season. 

Let's take a look at some stats only because I worked for nearly 5 hours on it because no one has any stats like the one I just made. I took an average of games started, touchdowns, interceptions and yards per attempt. This gave me a gauge of the average output for a starting quarterback in the NFL over the past 6 seasons. An average quarterback in the NFL has played 82.53% of games, thrown 123 (rounded up) TDs, 72 INT (rounded up), and 7.11 yards per attempt. Remember that is over the span of 6 seasons. Sam Bradfords stats look like this 66% of games played, 78 touchdowns, 52 interceptions, and 6.45 yards per attempt. That is bad, very bad. He is significantly worse in every category than an average QB.

The fact that this dude is "demanding" to be traded is pathetic and indicative towards the state of the NFL. Shit quarterbacks can make ridiculous demands because professional football has become so reliant upon Quarterbacks. Bradford is the last quarterback in the league to be making childish demands of the team that just overpaid him by several million dollars. Also I don't know what he expects his future in the NFL to be, but it won't be as a championship quarterback. He won't even be a starting quarterback on a playoff team. 

So stop bitching and moaning Sam. Just show up, do your job, and get paid more money than you are worth. It's that simple, besides they might even want to cut you after the season so if you really don't want your future to be in Philly you don't have to worry. Also, it is not like the Eagles signed you to a franchise deal, they signed you to a 2 year deal. So Sam I know your reading this, just take my advice and get your basically free money.