Why Sam Bradford Demanding A Trade Is Good For The Eagles

When the Philadelphia Eagles traded up last week with the Cleveland Browns to nab the #2 overall pick in this week’s upcoming NFL Draft, everyone assumed it was a move that could shake things up. Even when the Eagles committed 2 years and $35 million to Sam Bradford in March, speculation started as to whether the Eagles would actually bypass their free agent prize and actually go quarterback and choose between the top two prospects in this year’s draft: Jared Goff and Carson Wentz.

​Now Sam Bradford has demanded a trade out of Philadelphia. That’s enough of a shake up as to the direction the Eagles are going on Thursday .

If I’m the Eagles I immediately auction Bradford off to the highest bidder. It’s not to say it was a mistake the re-sign him in March because we spoke about this in previous blogs and podcasts in the last 6 months that the market at quarterback between the upcoming draft and free agency was bare. One could’ve argued that Bradford was the best of the bunch given the availability.

But that was then.

This is now.

The Eagles sitting at #2 gives them the opportunity to properly reassess their long term direction plus opens opportunities to angle Bradford’s public discourse into possible future draft picks for their rebuilding program. Sure Bradford was looked at as stop gap to “hold the fort” down for a few years but moving up the draft gave the perception that Philadelphia was more than likely targeting Goff or Wentz. With Bradford’s demands today, perception has now become reality.

There are teams currently in need of quarterbacks. Many teams in fact that would actually benefit from having a Sam Bradford — injury prone as he may be — on a roster.

The Eagles should already be fielding phone calls from teams like the New York Jets who haven’t resolved their stand off with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The Denver Broncos while publicly are committed to Mark Sanchez as their guy, you have to assume they’re keeping one eye open for a “different option”. Bradford could be one especially with their Super Bowl winning defense and great offensive playmakers at their disposal.

Philadelphia needs to prioritize value and equity for the long term over everything else and moving Sam Bradford beforethis Thursday’s NFL Draft  would go a look way towards the future.

These next 72 hours are going to be interesting.