The Eagles set the NFL world abuzz right before free agency started this season with a trade that landed them Sam Bradford. The trade also shipped out a few draft picks along with Nick Foles as well. This was big news because it’s been widely reported that Eagles head coach Chip Kelly is going to sell the farm in an attempt to get Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota in the upcoming draft. If this is true, then why would the Eagles trade for Bradford and his hideous contract? How does Chip Kelly plan on using Sam Bradford moving forward?
Well, after getting rid of some draft picks for Bradford and effectively thinning their ammunition to acquire Mariota, my hunch is that Bradford is in Philadelphia for at least the 2015 season (his contract expires at the end of the 2015 season). But can the Eagles really rely on Bradford? When Bradford is on the field, he’s absolutely a special talent. Coming out of Oklahoma he was one of the top rated prospects to ever come out of college according to some draft experts. In 49 total games in his career he has a completion percentage of almost 60%, over 11,000 yards through the air, 59 total touchdowns, and 38 interceptions. However, the question that plagues Bradford has always been the same: can he stay healthy long enough to make a difference?
When he was in St. Louis, you could make the argument that he was injured a lot due to his bad offensive line. He got sacked 120 times in 49 career games. While this might be a valid argument to some, it doesn’t explain how he’s had major injuries when there was absolutely no contact made to him. His injury history is a decorated one. In the first game of his junior season at Oklahoma, Bradford suffered a third degree AC joint sprain in his knee and missed a few weeks. The first game after he returned he injured his shoulder and required season ending shoulder surgery. In his second season with the Rams, Bradford was plagued all season by an ankle injury that caused him to miss some time throughout the season. In Week 7 of the 2013 season Bradford tore his ACL just running out of bounds. In the preseason of the 2014 season Bradford re-tore his left ACL and missed the entire season.
As you can see, he’s no Brett Favre in terms of getting out there on the field every single week. Of course in Philadelphia his offensive line will improve dramatically and so will his run game (although two of the running backs on the roster, DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews, are quite injury prone themselves). The offensive line in St. Louis ranked 6th worst according to PFF (subscription) with a pass blocking grade of -55.1. The Eagles’ offensive line ranked eighth best with a pass blocking grade of -8.3. However, the Eagles will be without Todd Herremans (pass blocking grade of -12.5) and possibly Evan Mathis (pass blocking grade of 25.8). With Herremans’ lackluster grade you might think it doesn’t matter if they lost him, but as of right now his replacement as starter will be Allen Barbre, someone with almost no experience.
As I said before though, Bradford’s offensive line problems aren’t the root of a lot of his injuries. He has shown a propensity for suffering serious injuries on little to no contact. While this is something that should be deeply concerning for the Eagles and their fans, it should also be something they’re all too familiar with. After all, they’ve been through the injury laden years of Randall Cunningham (played in 122 games in 11 seasons with the Eagles), Donovan McNabb (played in 148 games in 11 seasons with the Eagles), Michael Vick (played in 54 games in five seasons with the Eagles), and Nick Foles (played in 28 games in three seasons with the Eagles). With all this being said, the Eagles can not rely on Sam Bradford in the 2015 season. With Bradford as their quarterback they will be going into every practice, every scrimmage, every preseason game, and every regular season game holding their breath. And if he gets injured again this season, there will be a collective, “Well, it was only a matter of time” coming from Philadelphia fans everywhere.