How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Sam Bradford
Posted: March 11th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1,099 Comments »The trade for Sam Bradford has to be part of a move to get Marcus Mariota, right? Just has to.
Or does it?
You and I see Sam Bradford as the guy who tore his ACL in October 2013 and then against last August. We see the guy who failed to look like a franchise QB in St. Louis. To us, while Bradford might be a great guy, he’s been a disappointment since being the top overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.
It is very possible Chip Kelly sees something different.
Let’s go back to Bradford the college star. He absolutely deserved to be the top pick. While at Oklahoma in 2008, the Sooners set the NCAA record for points in a season and most games scoring 60 or more points in a row. Bradford had some good pieces around him, but he was spectacular at running OU’s up-tempo attack.
Bradford was used as a pocket passer at OU, but was more athletic than most gave him credit for. He had a strong arm and was an accurate passer. Bradford looked like the total package. He had NFL size. He was a skilled passer. Bradford was athletic enough. He had no character issues. This is a guy you wanted to build your franchise around.
Life hasn’t been so good in the NFL. Bradford played for a highly dysfunctional offense. As a rookie, his top 2 receivers were Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson (Eagles castoffs). His LT was Rodger Saffold. Peyton Manning stepped onto a field with Marvin Harrison, Marshall Faulk and Tarik Glenn. See the difference?
The Rams tried to fix the offense each year, but struggled to add good pieces. WR Brandon Lloyd was the offensive weapon Bradford got in his 2nd year. Andy Reid didn’t give Donovan McNabb star receivers, but he always had a good OL and TE.
Beyond lesser skill players and poor blocking, Bradford has played for very conservative coaches. Pat Shurmur was Bradford’s OC when he got drafted. Shurmur got the head job in Cleveland a year later and Josh McDaniels took over for a season. Then Brian Schottenheimer ran the offense from 2012-14. Bradford hasn’t come close to playing in an offense like the one from Oklahoma.
Bradford put up okay numbers. In 2012 he had a rating of 82.6 and threw for 21 TDs. In 2013 he finished with a rating of 90.9. Those don’t seem great, but remember who was blocking and who was catching. Isaac Bruce and Orlando Pace were long since gone.
Some high picks fail to show they can play at all. Jamarcus Russell was awful. Joey Harrington never threw 20 TD passes in a year or had a rating of 80 or more. Blaine Gabbert was awful. Vince Young was highly erratic in his bizarre career. And so on. Bradford hasn’t lived up to his draft status, but he’s better than those players.
You wonder if Bradford could have a similar situation to Alex Smith. Smith played on a bad offense from 2005-2010. Injuries, poor coaching and little talent around him were too much for Smith to overcome. Then Jim Harbaugh came to town. Smith played much better in 2011 and 2012. He’s now the starter in KC and has had good success there.
Bradford is bigger and stronger than Smith. He has a better arm. Bradford isn’t as mobile, though. If given the right coaching, put in the right system and surrounded by the right talent, you wonder if Bradford could have a similar career rebirth.
It seems like Kelly is guessing that could happen. Part of success is in the NFL is due to character and work ethic. Shurmur coached Bradford for a year. I’m sure Kelly is leaning heavily on what Shurmur says about Bradford the person.
Even if Bradford is a smart, hard-working guy who still has untapped talent, there is the question of injuries. As Kelly himself likes to say…the number one ability is durability. Bradford has played in 49 of 80 possible career games. Even Kelly would have to admit this is an issue. But look around the NFC East. RG3 has dealt with injuries since getting to the NFL. Tony Romo has a bad back. Nick Foles got hurt each of his 3 years. Eli is the only player who can stay healthy. Finding talented, durable QBs is easier said than done.
Back to Foles…this would seem to show that Kelly simply didn’t believe in him. There is no denying that Foles regressed from 2013 to 2014. The question is why and if the regression is permanent. Time will tell. Kelly did not like what he was seeing.
If you’re Kelly and heading into Year 3, you need some real answers. If you didn’t like Foles, who were you going to get? There are not great QB options. Bradford was available. He is a high-risk, high-reward player. Kelly liked what he saw and must have felt this was a good gamble.
I’ve written previously that you must take risks in order to build a great team. Jimmy Johnson traded away his best player (Herschel Walker) for draft picks. Bill Belichick traded Drew Bledsoe, his franchise’s greatest QB. Pete Carroll traded for Marshawn Lynch at a time when he wasn’t playing well and couldn’t stay out of trouble. Sean Payton acquired Drew Brees when his shoulder was a huge concern and no one knew if he could play, let alone play well.
Chip Kelly has taken plenty of risks in the past couple of weeks. They could help build the Eagles into an elite team or they could end up being a series of disasters that will hurt the team for several years. Only time will tell.
Forget whether you like this deal or not. Focus on trying to understand it. I hated Jeff Fisher getting passed over for Rich Kotite. I hated Reggie White leaving in free agency. I loved drafting Barry Gardner. I loved drafting Ryan Moats.
We’ve got our feelings. We’re going to be right and wrong over time. Kelly is putting his reputation into this move. He’s got something more than an opinion on the line. That doesn’t mean the move will work, but understand there is a lot of thought and effort that went into this. Kelly didn’t wake up today and do the move for the heck of it. He sees this as something that can really help the Eagles.
I hope he’s right.
Bradford isn’t a bust, but you can’t label his career so far anything other than disappointing. Kelly thinks playing behind a good OL in an aggressive system will change that. The 2015 Eagles will be the most talented roster Bradford has ever been on. This will be Bradford’s chance to show the world he can stay healthy and play at a high level.
This will also be the most pressure Bradford has had to deal with. He’s now the QB of a team with a rabid fan base and one that expects to win. And he’s got the NFL future of Kelly and himself riding on his 2015 performance.
What a crazy start to the offseason.
* * * * *
Tim McManus wrote something pretty great recently.
Some of the qualities that make Kelly attractive and successful are the same ones that make him dangerous. He’s an original thinker and a risk-taker. He has strong convictions and he pushes through resistance and at times conventional wisdom to stay true to those convictions. That allows him to break new ground, but at times might send him to land that more experienced men know to be infertile.
Kelly’s approach has worked very well for him for the most part to date, and from that you can draw confidence. He has a history that suggests if you allow him artistic license, he can create something pretty special. But this is a new realm for him, and he’ll have to find and toe the line that separates bold from reckless. As long as he operates in that space, it will never be an easy, comfortable ride. But it will be entertaining.
Dead on the money.
* * * * *
Some people are holding out hope this move helps with a trade up for Mariota. That’s not the feeling I’m getting, but here is Jimmy Bama with a theory.
_
Comparing Sam Bradford to a world-ending bomb is not helping with my optimism, Tommy.
Darn up vote button broke only let’s me up vote once.
For the people about to compare Tommy to Spuds, just stop right there or I’ll sick D3FB on you. Also, first.
I am officially off the chip train. He traded a $10 bill for a $5 bill and threw in some draft picks. There are 3 receivers on the roster and chip has gotten rid or let go of 3 offensive gamebreakers in the last 12 months for a linebacker coming off of a knee injury. Back to the laughing stock eagles again. No need for the nfl package next season.
There’s no place for optimism at a time like this. I’ve officially given up on Chip. It’s sad because I know he’s a great coach, but he’s taken this team to the point of no return. We’re stuck with a crappy QB on his last legs and no good skill players. It’s time to stop drinking the kool-aid and be realistic.
Having watched a 1 1/2 of his 2013 games i think the Alex Smith comparison is very fair. He had all the physical tools then (lets see post 2x ACL). But did nothing to wow me at all, was very conservative on 3rd down, and struggled to go threw his progression consistently.
I think he can be a top 15 QB, But he showed me nothing in those games that says he can be a great QB, and i fail to see why you give up on Foles, or trade assets for average.
Alex Smith = Two 2nd Round Picks = More than what some thought Nick Foles was worth.
Plus I think Sam Bradford has more upside than Alex.
I guess my biggest problem is this – how has this move got us closer to the superbowl? feels like a step toward mediocrity rather than excellence.
Bradford is an average franchise Qb, not a top QB.
exactly gave up a lot and committed to a guy that is at best top 15 at the QB position.
Sounds just like Foles only 13 times more expensive
These threads are going to be amazing in a year.
Bet on special talent, guys. Always.
What?
But he has yet to show any ‘special talent’. He has great tools, i understand why he was a top pick watching him. But he has an average feel for the game, does not go through his progressions and so far has no ‘clutch’. The special stuff that Brady/Rogers/Russel where they can manufacture a play (different ways all 3) he has never shown.
He’s saying bet on talent, unlike chip betting on scheme
Oh never mind
I have a harder time judging him based on his play in St. Louis than you do. Mediocre talent and mediocre coaching there.
Brady / RW have always had phenomenal coaching.
And Aaron Rodgers is not of this planet.
I will watch more tape and try to find some sizzle. The 2013 rams offence was not that awful in the games i watched – Oline held up well enough and WR’s got open, they were no all pro’s but they were not the total trash some people are trying to portray them as either.
Bradford played a huge part in neutering that offence, and i fail to see how that changes with better scheme (he currently wont have better weapons)
Totally fair opinion. I think Sam has shown better tools than Nick and I believe in Chip to get more out of him than the St. Louis staff was ever able to. But that’s definitely a reasonable stance at this time.
If a mediocre supporting cast and mediocre coaching were holding Bradford back in St. Louis, please explain how it is that nobodies like Shaun Hill and Austin Davis came in and outperformed him when he got hurt with that same supporting cast and same coaching.
True franchise QBs can elevate a mediocre supporting cast. Bradford has never shown the slightest sign of being able to do so.
Keep on drinking that Kool Aid.
I’d love to bet on special talent. Unfortunately Sam Bradford, even when he has managed to stay healthy, has shown no sign that he possesses it. At least on the NFL level.
Special talent like Jackson and Mccoy? Chip got rid of all our special talent.
How many Super Bowls did we win with that special talent? Shady, McCoy and Jackson all on the same team and we couldn’t even sniff the Super Bowl. I loved having all those guys on the team, but the fact is, they made us good enough to win games and watch exciting football games but couldn’t lead us on the deep playoff run we all desire. With that crew together we had two playoff appearances and 0-2.
I’m glad Chip is doing something different. Shake things up. Take risks. Its been 11 years since we’ve been in the Super Bowl. People keep throwing around mediocre… What have we been the last 7-8 years?
Tommy, you talk about how the Rams had no weapons for him, no one to throw to, no one to run the ball. Well, neither do we. Now you might say, hey, they’ve got draft picks they can use on that now. But Chip’s drafting is a complete unknown at best & a disaster in waiting at worst.
Luckily for us, the Eagles have top tier skill players, and our OC is…um…huh.
I don’t blame Tommy for saying that. I think it comes from wrote memory. In the past that was always the case. Unfortunately it appears it no longer is.
Exactly, Polk, Cooper, Matthews, Huff, Celek = zero world beaters.
I was gonna say… “This is the most talented team Bradford has ever played on”… Really? I’d take Danny Amendola over Cooper and Huff any day. Ditto Steven Jackson over Chris Polk and Darren Sproles.
But chip is not old shurmur to be a little fair
Sanchez under Chip/Shurmur had the same 3rd down problems as Bradford. Always threw short of the sticks.
Four days ago this was definitely the most talented team Bradford has ever played on.
Tommy, give it up. Chip got swindled badly today and it spells the end for him. It’s ok to be critical sometimes. You don’t have to agree with Chip all of the time to be a fan.
This is a joke. I understand that I don’t like this move – not for what it got us, and certainly not what we paid for it.
And nothing in this write-up does anything to put the off-season (so far) in any perspective. In short, it’s been an unmitigated disaster.
Wait until the draft when Kelly takes a Duck in the first round who was slated to go in the 3rd.
When we look at FA pickups it’s not changing wins, losses that much. Jets, bills, raiders, jags palease, I’ll believe em when I see em. Detroit no. Like what Mia, sea are doing. Do all these moves make what Eagles do, don’t do more painful? Probably not but coaching matters, just hate the ego of losing skill guys. Lot of holes to fill and can still get qb for project. Can’t do anything without franchise qb so keep gambling just get and keep good players. Bradford could be one yr test with Hundley learning. Yes, I will continue to rationalize, apologize and spin. As fans, don’t we have to. I may not fully believe it but I have to try until I see it fail.
Your exactly the type of fan that Jeffrey is counting on
Duh, don’t give me that money making diatribe. As a fan forever it’s somewhat true, it’s ingrained in me. We rooted for rich kotite teams whether we thought they’d stink or not. Some part of you as a fan buys into something.mlike I said, so I really believe it will work is different. They can coexist
If he stays healthy, I bet he lights it up in this offense. Everybody needs to find a tissue and settle the hell down.
What are you betting?
If they both play 10 games, 5 bucks says he finishes the year with a better QB rating that Foles.
So can the eagles trainers and doctors meet with Bradford or Alonso?
“The 2015 Eagles will be the most talented roster Bradford has ever been on.”
As Ray Didinger said today, the Eagles went from arguably the best set of skill players to arguably the worst in the NFL over the course of the last year.
Yeah, losing Maclin to me just mangles that offensive roster. Been saying that ever since. I can get RB by committee but not that wr group, ugh
You have noticed that many veteran players have been thrown away, as you put it, by several teams?
I think if anybody had told Eagles fans that in 2 years Chip Kelly would throw away LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and have nothing to show for it but an oft-injured linebacker from Oregon he would have been lynched as he stepped off the plane.
Every team has FAs that they can’t / won’t pay. Not fair to throw Maclin into that group.
Got a fair return for Shady.
The DeSean situation is what it is.
You guys act like Chip broke up a team that was competing for the Super Bowl.
Chip playing a little chess perhaps. Another game that takes time to develop.
Why would you ever think that? Chip has no experience as an NFL GM. It’s ludicrous to think that a series of awful moves means Kelly knows more than everyone else and has some super complex master plan. Occam’s razor dude: Chip Kelly bit off more than he can chew and he’s really bad at this job he’s never done before.
copied from above. from Bill Walsh. Of course you probably don’t know who he was, either, so never mind.
“Everybody’s got an opinion. Leaders are paid to make a decision. The difference between offering an opinion and making a decision is the difference between working for the leader and being the leader.”
You are right. Chip Kelly is being paid to be a leader and make the decisions. Unfortunately pulling a salary for doing a job doesn’t necessarily ensure competence.
he built oregon.
We didn’t compete for a Super Bowl so let’s get rid of all our best players?
It’s amazing someone hasn’t given you a GM job!
Let’s be careful. Maclin is not in that group. No one “got rid” of Maclin. he was payed more than he was worth by another team, after reviewing a more than fair offer by the Eagles. We don’t like the outcome, but it’s not the same as Jackson.
those players weren’t getting it done. we haven’t won a playoff game since 2008…
Thrown away is too harsh. Desean you can make that argument, but he was never going to fit Kelly’s locker room. Shady straight up for Kiko given the salaries was actually a good deal for the Eagles. Maclin I’ll miss, but I can’t blame them for not wanting to pay him 11m per season. People are up in arms over paying Maxwell 10.5 and you want to pay Maclin 11? All of those moves made sense in a salary capped NFL. The Foles and picks for Bradford move, not so much.
Is this karma for fleecing Arizona with Kolb??
No for fleecing skins with mcnabb…
With the 20th selection in the 2015 draft, the Eagles select Dr. James Andrews – knee surgeon.
MY question is could foles really have been that bad? like THAT bad you have to do a crazy trade for sammy B.
give up a 2nd round pick drop from 4th to 5th round and take on 13 times as much of a cap hit for your starting qb. Is Bradford really THAT much better than Foles?
I agree, the draft picks add further insult to this.
it’s not that bad – trade looks worse b/c we had to negotiate the conditionality on the back end. no conditional picks on the back in the straight swap probably looks better.
Ok so the only way the trade looks good is if Bradford is so much better than 14-4 Foles that he’s worth Foles a second and dropping a round from 4th to 5th plus being 13 times more expensive. So essentially he needs to be 20 times as good as Foles has been OR the other way the trade looks good, according to you, is if Bradford ends up being worse than Foles (meaning injured or unable to beat out Sanchez) which means we traded a better QB and a second round pick plus dropping our 4th rounder for a 5th in exchange for a 3rd round pick. Yea you’re right the trade looks so much better when we consider that if its a total failure we gave up a potential starting QB and a second round pick for a 3rd rounder. Stop trying to justify the trade its retarded.
I apologize completely and immediately…I just disagreed with you in a really snarky way even though u just agreed with me that having to negotiate the conditionality makes this even worse. My apologies
So if we get demarco, does this get better? Do they go for him?
How much $$ for him?
Not sure, saw a tweet there was some interest.
They need to pick up some playmakers, that’s for certain. Otherwise it completely invalidates Tommy’s argument that our roster is notably better than what Bradford left on the Rams. I will hope for Bradford’s success, but I will never agree that this was a good trade.
now we might not do much more in FA since we have draft picks, i was going off the fact that we don’t have any draft picks. but if we do then i’d get a WR / RB in the draft.
I can see why gore and dre wouldn’t want to come here.
If I was a vet and played on the offensive side of the ball, I’d be begging for the chance to play for Kelly. Look at how many of our guys put up career years in his offense. I have no doubt Gore and Dre would have succeeded had they come here, but I won’t cry over them either. I just know we do need to replace talent on the offensive side whether it be through FA or the draft.
eh organization is a mess personnel wise.
Yeah, the Eagles are a stepping stone organization. Play for Kelly for a year or two, put up career numbers, get thrown away, and get rewarded for your success somewhere else.
Ugh, I hate to admit it, but if I were a player, that’s exactly how I would look at it.
Sounds better than Gore but more $ im sure. maybe chip pays for the right vet…
Last I heard, he was talking to the Eagles, Jaguars, and Raiders. So apparently he isn’t concerned with playing for a winner.
yeah but the longer he doesn’t do a deal the more you have to suspect that he’s just using the 3 teams (including the Eagles) as leverage to get a better deal from the Cowfucks.
No. He’ll only blow out his knee
Smith is a good comp for comps. smith has playoff experience but their career stats have some similarities and both are 6-4.
I love this trade!.. I knew this would happen, i am such a crazy homer i would force myself to love the trade.
This is now a tale of three QBs. What is the one thing Foles and Mariotta have in common that Bradford does not? Foles and Mariotta have had the opportunity to play best in a Chip system.
So Chip can compare Foles and Mariotta (even though his college O is different than his NFL O) based on what they can do in his offense. With Bradford he can only project what he will be able to do.
The five years with the Rams and the injuries in Chip’s mind might just be brushed aside in terms of stats for Bradford. He still shows the arm strength etc that made him a number one pick. And Chip seems like he will just gamble with the knees, like Maclin and Kiko.
What would Bradford have done in Oregon’s offense? Hard to argue any worse than Mariotta.
If Bradford and Mariotta came out the same year, would Chip think Bradford had the better arm etc and chose Bradford over Mariotta? Maybe.
It might be Mariotta is ideal for Chip’s college offense, with QB running more a part of the system. And it might be that Bradford’s better arm, makes him better than Mariotta, in pure skill, for Chip’s NFL offense.
Hypothetical. MANY QBs could theoretically do well in Oregon’s offense.
At least I don’t have to read rueben franks tweets on nick foles every day now… Well maybe for a few more days — grasping for any silver lining
I wouldn’t be so sure. If Foles bounces back to anything close to his 2013 level of performance in St. Louis you will be hearing about him for a LONG time. It will make the bellyaching over Earl Thomas look like nothing.
what makes you think that will happen in that divsion? playing seahawks twice a year with a crappy offense and a poor run game.
Not sure that it will. I’m by no means sold on Foles. But it could, and if it does, it’s an absolute nightmare for Eagles fans.
He’s not going to.
I know your opinion of Foles shah. Please stop repeating it. You bore me.
No, I irritate you. There’s a difference.
It just amused me so much that you continue to hang on to the idea that Foles could merely resume his 2013 performance in the face of all evidence or reasoning…such that I bothered being snarky to you.
Of course, Foles will have to throw to a bunch of guys who he will actually have to make good passes for. They aren’t so bad as they were a couple of years ago, but these guys aren’t going to carry a QB. Additional humorous feelings…
I have no idea whether Foles will recapture his 2013 form or not.
But now that he’s no longer around to inspire more of your tedious, condescending, evidence-free, long-winded dissertations about what makes a good NFL quarterback, I suppose I must admit this trade does have a rather large silver lining after all.
And trust me, you bore me. You’re only an irritant in that you don’t realize just how boring your repetitive bloviating is.
/me winks…
…and whispers…”The Great Pumpkin is not real.”
Just remember, there is no fighting in the war room.
+1 purity of essence!
Kind of my problem with this trade. The Rams by no means denied us their essence.
if your reply was any funnier i’d have to make you answer to the coca cola company!
Kempski is writing for the Voice?! I didn’t even know he was gay! (not that there’s anything wrong with that)
this off season is putting “in chip we trust” to the test in a big way. whether these moves to turn out to be right or wrong we know one thing for certain; this IS chip kelly’s team
worst part is there’s literally nothing for the media
haha i know right
like you trade QB and RB — give a press conference of some sort…lucky eagles are die hard fans.
Good news is the buck stops with him. If this backfires, he has no one to blame but himself. The bad news for us is that if it really backfires, he won’t be here long and the Eagles will be digging themselves out of it for quite some time.
Not as long as the they would for a Mariotta bust, we have that
True, but I’d be less worried about a – Chip getting fired in the next year and b – Chip quitting in the next year with Mariota. It would be at least three seasons maybe more before he’d give up or the Eagles would give up on him. I’m still a huge fan of Chip the coach. Chip the gm has shaken my faith.
yup, but he built oregon though
yeah, but he can’t have Nike buy him players in the NFL.
Indeed, well put
And all in one whole day?
In one move. One horrifically, idiotic, illogical, indefensible move.
My exact sentiments. I’m very much on board with Chip the coach, but have been very skeptical about Chip the personnel decision maker. Today just adds more fuel to the fire.
Get the shovels men!
😛
God I hope not, but my optimism is completely tapped.
Had we just stayed put, we would be looking for a new HC in 2 years no matter what.
The fact that Lurie will know exactly whom to fire for running the team into the ground is small consolation.
Here’s the underlying problem, though: We’re lacking both a #1 WR and a #1 RB at this point. If we have kept Maclin (by overpaying before FA started) and been able to reel in Frank Gore, yes, I could see the possibilities. But not now. I can easily see 6-10 on the horizon this year with Sanchez being inserted as the starter late in the season.
or early. But the fact that we get compensation if he never starts for us makes me think that he’s trade bait and if the trade doesn’t work we get the pick back and draft a qb.
Hope they draft a qb anyway
Not really. If he gets injured and never plays for us, we essentially traded Nick Foles and a second round pick in addition to dropping a 4th to a 5th round pick for a 3rd round pick. If we trade him we get the difference between him and a 4th vs Foles a 2nd and a drop from a 4th round pick to a 5th round pick. Not great unless he’s a franchise QB
6-10? So you’re an optimist, then…
What makes you think Sam Bradford can beat out Sanchez in training camp?
I think you’re making Tommy’s point. Chip probably doesn’t believe in having resources dedicated to a #1 WR and #1 RB.
He may prefer to allocate his resources into OL, QB, CB, and LB.
I generally like to reserve judgment on this sort of move but it’s hard when even your mother texts you this:
Did you ever figure out what to do with the garlic?
i just hope bradford doesn’t get injured on the plane ride over to philly
tears an acl in the medical exam
Still doesn’t explain the compensation draft picks-wise or the financial issues. Is anyone, even Chip, that sure that Bradford, even IF he can stay healthy (which is a big if), 13 times better than Foles based on their salaries?
You need to factor in the picks we traded away as well. For this to make sense to Chip, you have to believe he thinks that Bradford is somewhere between 17 and 20+ times better than Foles. I don’t understand how even the biggest Foles critics or Bradford fans can come to that conclusion.
official details:
Eagles get:
QB Sam Bradford
2015 5th round pick
Rams get:
QB Nick Foles
2015 4th round pick
2016 2nd round pick
the Eagles will also get a conditional 2016 pick from the Rams. It
will be a third-round pick if Bradford does not play at all, and a
fourth-round pick if he starts less than 50 percent of plays.
__________________________
Holy shit Chip Kelly is really bad at this GM thing. Does he know you can negotiate deals? Can someone tell him that you don’t have to take the first offer?
Imagine the high fives and laughter at Rams HQ after they pulled this off.
I guess on the bright side teams are going to have Chip Kelly on speed dial when they want to make a deal.
there were other teams that he had to beat out for Sam Bradford. Though the conditionality on playing time leads me to believe that he’s a flip candidate. Otherwise how do you trade all this shit for a guy that you’re contemplating cutting.
I think we had to pay extra for optionality b/c we can walk a away from the trade and we are basically swapping picks.
Who says there were other teams competing for Sam Badford? Dave Spadaro doesn’t count.
Peter King, for one.
Are you mocking me??!
Is anyone who is considered a good NFL reporter saying that other teams were competing for Bradford?
Peter King is exceedingly good at pointing out the obvious after the fact. So I actually believe him on this.
What people don’t know about Peter King is that when you rearrange the letters in his name, you get: Pink Egret.
What a noble beast.
This may be the diet talking, but it looks delicious…
Poor Sam Bradford. He was in St.Louis behind a banged up O-Line and without WR hell. And now he is in Philly without a RB, without No1 and No2 WR (no Cooper isn’t) and behindert an old Line missing at least one key part. Yeah Jordan Mathews might be a good slot WR. Even the Huffster may turn into something. But for now he is in the same or worse situation he has been. And it’s not about the Xs and Os (aka Chips sheme) it’s about the Jimmies and Joes (aka Cooper, Sproles, Mathews).
I’m hoping I’m so wrong but I’m not sure where we are heading.
I disagree with your analysis of the OL. Peters may have a few years left at a HOF level. Lane Johnson and Kelce are dynamic young linemen.
Quotes from Bill Walsh. You know, the college coach who came up with a new-fangled offense and drafted an underrated quarterback with chicken legs. Wonder how that so-called West Coast Offense did? By the way, it took the 49ers a couple of years to show improvement. Apparently any newcomer who brings a bit of fresh thinking to the process is greeted with lots of disdain.
“A resolute and resourceful leader understands that there are a multitude of means to increase the probability of success. And that’s what it all comes down to, namely, intelligently and relentlessly seeking solutions that will increase your chance of prevailing in a competitive environment. When you do that, the score will take care of itself.”
“The culture precedes positive results. It doesn’t get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they’re champions; they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.”
“Everybody’s got an opinion. Leaders are paid to make a decision. The difference between offering an opinion and making a decision is the difference between working for the leader and being the leader.”
I don’t see it Tommy. I know you want to stay optimistic and trust chip. But in the short period of time chip has had full roster control he hasn’t done anything I would consider a smart move.
Guy is making Ruben Amaro Jr. look like a genuis gm. Nick foles and a second for sam bradford a player worse than foles? That’s just insane.
Ir’s late. Get some sleep okay.
I agree. There was a clear decrease in offense after DeSean’s release. We’re to expect that the same type of ripple effect isn’t going to happen without Maclin and McCoy? This whole offseason is the beginning of the end
A clear decrease in offense?? You had better get some sleep.
In every meaningful statistical metric we went from top 3 offense to middle of the road 15th or so rank. The drop off in offense was clear
As if Desean not being there was the only difference.
O-line injuries, Sanchez…and the fact that Foles kept missing a wide-open Maclin downfield (who still managed to basically replicate Jackson’s numbers in this offense).
Sanchez? the guy Kelly just gave 5.5 million guaranteed?
Wide-open Maclin? the guy we couldn’t find an extra few million for one day before we sign up to pay Badford 13 million?
Apparently Chip wasn’t seeing the same thing you were.
I’m pointing out things that were different between the 2 seasons. I have no clue what you are going on about.
What proof do you have that Sam is worse than Nick?
every meaningful qb stat available but other than that … yea nothing
I think the big difference is the system. Foles’ stats are elevated because of it. Even Sanchez’ stats were elevated.
Not saying Bradford will be good, but it isn’t exactly an apples to apples comparison.
yeah but it’s not like bradford ever looked like a world beater. but maybe they like what they see in terms of decision making.
I think we’re flipping sam bradford. This would be the first time a starting QB is hired and (a) hear nothing about a deal and (b) no press conference.
So a guy that hasn’t played in a year and a half and was never very good when healthy is supposed to be some magically great upgrade now? I don’t buy it.
With a trade like this, you can’t look at past performance. You have to look at the ceilings. You don’t have to agree with Chip’s thinking, but we all must understand that Chip thinks his best chance to win Super Bowls is with Sam Bradford running his offense.
Is this the same successful Alex smith that threw precisely zero TDs to WRs this year and who’s offense sucked something awful this year.
Looks at the roster for guus with acl tears… calls Chip #everyGM
Post trade mock:
Round 1 Pick 20: Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State (B)
Round 2 Pick 20: Lorenzo Mauldin, OLB/DE, Louisville (B+)
Round 3 Pick 20: Garrett Grayson, QB, Colorado State (B)
Round 4 Pick 14: Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Texas A&M (A)
Round 4 Pick 20: Javorius Allen, RB, Southern California (B)
Round 5 Pick 20: Chris Hackett, FS, TCU (C-)
Round 6 Pick 20: Damian Swann, CB, Georgia (D+)
Round 7 Pick 20: Austin Hill, WR, Arizona (B-)
Going with the not having a right guard approach next year?
I think we have enough competition for it on the roster and I got Cedric who has a high ceiling. I could have gotten Hickey there if I wanted.
yeah but cedric is more of a stash for 2016 guy because of his injury
Two round 4 picks? didn’t one of those just go to the Rams?
Also it’s pretty tough to take any mock draft seriously if there isn’t at least two overdrafted ducks on it.
next year
oops my bad u right
2 rd 5 picks now we have
Two picks in the 5th are perfect for picking up ducks projected to go undrafted.
They haven’t updated it yet on first-pick yet, Captain Salt.
Here’s my post-trade mock:
Round 1 Pick 20: Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA (B-)
Round 2 Pick 20: Garrett Grayson, QB, Colorado State (F)
Round 3 Pick 20: Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor (D-)
Round 4 Pick 20: Bryan Bennett, QB, Southeastern Louisiana (F)
Round 5 Pick 9 (STL): Connor Halliday, QB, Washington State (F)
Round 5 Pick 20: Sean Mannion, QB, Oregon State (F)
Round 6 Pick 20: Brandon Bridge, QB, South Alabama (F)
Round 7 Pick 20: Gary Nova, QB, Rutgers (F)
Almost the perfect draft, but you forgot to have at least one duck (I guess priority UFA would still count)…
True… but I did get a former Duck and three Pac-12 guys…
I stand corrected… It IS the perfect draft.
Unmitigated train wreck. I feel the same way I did about Jackson trade as I did this move.
Not only did the Rams get out from under Bradford’s contract entirely but they got a starting QB who is arguably as good if not better making next to nothing with better draft picks to boot.
Read the guys in the St Louis Dispatch who cover the Rams and they can’t believe how the Rams made out in this trade. Desperately need to have a good year too because of the stadium issue and a lot of people on the fence about them.
mmmm… strong arm… yeah… I suppose compared to me… yeah… compared to the NFL QBs… no. I guess compared to RB position yeah.
“You and I see Sam Bradford as the guy who tore his ACL in October 2013 and then against last August. We see the guy who failed to look like a franchise QB in St. Louis. To us, while Bradford might be a great guy, he’s been a disappointment since being the top overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.”
>>Sure, great guy… was hoping for more of a guy who could pass the ball effectively.
“It is very possible Chip Kelly sees something different.”
>>That’s for sure. All sorts of people see something different.
“Let’s go back to Bradford the college star. He absolutely deserved to be the top pick. While at Oklahoma in 2008, the Sooners set the NCAA record for points in a season and most games scoring 60 or more points in a row. Bradford had some good pieces around him, but he was spectacular at running OU’s up-tempo attack.”
>> back when OU seemed relevant and they didn’t have a playoff to eliminate fraud teams.
“Bradford was used as a pocket passer at OU, but was more athletic than most gave him credit for. He had a strong arm and was an accurate passer. Bradford looked like the total package. He had NFL size. He was a skilled passer. Bradford was athletic enough. He had no character issues. This is a guy you wanted to build your franchise around.”
>>most of thought his arm was weak and he couldn’t read the field. Horrible spot to have to take a QB. It looked like a spread passer going up against NFL defense in the championship game. 6ypa.. a good metric that would haunt Bradford for his pro career. Chip thinks he can turn that into gold? Good luck with that.
I believe what Dick Vermiel once said “I used to be a terrible coach, then I got better players and now I’m a genius”.
Chip really needs to adapt to a reality that nobody is going to be fooled over and over by hurry up offense and the linebackers and safety positions are so much more aware at this level. Coaches find out they need to handle talent carefully and take it where you can find it. My guess is this is the beginning of the end of the beginning of Chip’s NFL run; but also that is the beginning of the end of it.
i think the beginning of the end of Chip’s NFL run came when he jettisoned Jackson and got nothing in return. That was the first indication that he doesn’t realize that the number of really good players in the NFL is limited and that, if you let really good players go and don’t have equally good players ready to replace them, you’re going to make your team worse.
I hope someone punches Chip Kelly right in his big fat doughy face.
Well, there’s always the remote possibility that the Eagles draft Marcus Peters…
Or that we acquire LaGarette Blount.
“Bill Belichick traded Drew Bledsoe, his franchise’s greatest QB.” Brady had already replaced Bledsoe before Bledsoe was traded.
Here is a simple question, will Bradford be ready to take the field during OTAs (or whatever the off season workouts are called)?
I think there’s a better chance of the field taking Bradford during OTAs…
I love this blog because Tommy always tries to find the silver lining in a typically negative realm (Eagles football), and I always felt agreeable after reading his posts. I just can’t do it this time. I just don’t understand the angle of CK’s moves since he became GM. Why did CK value Bradford so much higher than Foles (a 4th this year and a 2nd next year higher)? What is so different about their respective abilities? Why dump so much offensive talent prior to bringing him in? Why does he keep acquiring statue QBs (especially a porcelain doll QB) in an offense that still shoves the read-option down opposing teams’ throats? Why trade/give away healthy proven talent for recovering injury concerns? Why trade for a QB who most likely would have been released (we had the cap room to compete with any team for his services)? I just keep asking questions to find the angles, and nothing makes sense. Unless its a means to an end (meaning Mariota), I can’t fathom Bradford being the QB that leads the Eagles to a Lombardi Trophy. I will keep the faith, I always do, but I hope CK is not betraying the trust that so many have placed in him.
I think we’ll tell over the next couple of days what sammy b is. Why is dave spadaro the only one talking?
chip won’t be forced to meet with the media until the end of the month.
yeah but typically for a QB there’s a press conference, even above every other position. winston already had a press conference in TB.
Any photoshoppers out there that can put Chip’s head on the gladiator in the “Are you not entertained?” meme would probably be spending their time wisely. Especially if you can do it at work.
This isn’t animated – I don’t have that “skill.”
Wow, make a request at 3 AM, unable to sleep and have it filled before I get up? Can’t get that kind of service everywhere.
Well, at least when we trade 7 draft picks to move up 5 spots and draft Brett Hundley, he’ll be the least shitty QB on the roster.
Howie come back baby, I already miss coming out of every trade feeling we got the best deal.
I’m pretty damn excited by this trade. After last season, I was pretty convinced that Foles wasn’t going to be what we hoped he would be. Bradford is a clear upgrade from a talent perspective and he’s not much more injury prone than Foles.
I’m not sold on Bradford as a franchise saviour, but I’m also unconvinced that Mariota is as good as people would have you believe either. Upgrading the QB position without selling the farm for Mariota was absolutely the best move here and Chip still has plenty of picks left to build through the draft.
I know it’s not fashionable right now to think Bradford is (or, at least, could be) a good player and that Chip knows what he’s doing, but I think he nailed it here.
My biggest problem is not Bradford, but given up Foles+2016 picks+his contract.
If Bradford was paid half of his current contract, I would be much happier, but right now we are almost paying 20 mill for Bradford+Sanchez
if we keep him that number will surely go down.
I wouldnt mind given him a 2 or 3 year deal to bring that number down (that also means we have him cheaper if he exceeds most people thought on him)
yeah it’ll be interesting to see what happens
Let’s wait and see the whole situation play out before we judge that. There’s one unguaranteed year left on his deal and he’s not going to get close to that number in FA next year. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see reports in a few days that he’s signed a 4 or 5 year deal with half the cap hit.
sam is inconsistent. vick had talent too. two acl tears is more concerning.
Sure it’s a concern, but let’s not forget Maclin just had a career year after his second ACL tear (at a position that puts more strain on knees) and people were after paying him the big money to stay here.
It would be better if he hadn’t had the knee injuries, but let’s see how he actually recovered before we write that off.
Funny is the two ACL’s is not really a problem for me. As you said, nobody had any problems with Maclin now and most people have zero problems with Alonso
Sam has had injury issues going all the way back to college. He’s played approximately 60% of the games he’s been eligible for as a pro and you are trivializing that. Maclin has had how many healthy seasons? He tore his first acl in college and one in the pros. Outside of that year, he’s been on the field more than not. Alonso has only been a pro two years and lost one. While that’s not a great ratio, it’s not a big enough sample to consider it overwhelming evidence.
“He’s played approximately 60% of the games he’s been eligible for as a pro and you are trivializing that.”
With the exception of his two ACL injuries (which, IIRC, both happened under ‘freak’ circumstances) he’s played 88% of the games he’s been eligible as a pro.
Presumably his physical will involve checks to make sure his ACL isn’t chronically weakened to increase the chances of another injury and, if that is the case, there’s no reason to consider him more injury prone than any other player.
1.)there is zero evidence Bradford is an upgrade on Foles. His conventional stats don’t support that contention, his advanced stats don’t support it, and his record as a starter doesn’t support it.
2.)Bradford costs $12 million more than Foles. That’s $12 million that can no longer be spent filling the numerous gaping holes that Chip’s Adventures in GMLand have opened on this roster.
3.)Bradford can’t stay healthy.
4.)Kelly gave up draft picks – high ones, too – to make a deal for a player who is older, more expensive, and less accomplished than Foles.
Time will tell as to the results of this trade. But the verdict being decided will be whether Kelly made a terrible trade and got lucky or whether he completely and utterly crapped the bed. “Nailed it” is not an option.
Im not defending the trade as I think there was no need for it, but
1) cant really compare Bradford with Foles that way, because one had Chip Kelly as his HC where the other had Spags and then Jeff Fischer, two defensive minded HC
2) what numerous holes as Chip opened? Maclin left on his own accord in FA, we fixed ILB, we replaced Cary Williams with Maxwell, we replace Cole with Graham, we replace Herremans with Barbre. Its only at RB we have a hole created by Chip and everybody always say how easy they are to replace.
3) neither can Foles
4) The 2nd round pick next year is my only problem
be interesting to see how foles performs next year.
Consider he has no OL and zero weapons and been coached by Jeff Fischer, I have zero confidence in him doing good.
Numerous holes? Let’s count. RB, WR (letting a guy walk in free agency counts), RG, OLB (Graham was here last year)… Not to mention the holes we already had (S, CB) which with the exception of ILB he has made no progress toward plugging.
I bet you Kelly do not see a hole at WR, RG, and OLB (Graham+Smith) like fans do
If that’s true, he’s delusional, because the holes are most definitely there. I’m sure he has some sort of plan to fill them, but given how his attempt to plug the one at RB went there’s no guarantee it will succeed.
1. I struggle to contextualise the stats, partly because when you watched Foles play in 2013 he didn’t look any way close to what his stats suggested. Likewise, Bradford didn’t have anything close to the supporting cast Foles did. From a pure talent perspective, I’d put Bradford ahead and I expect him to play better in Philly than Foles did.
2. His contract can (and probably will) be restructured.
3. Neither can Foles.
4. Older, yes. More expensive – let’s see what happens when they both sign extensions. Less accomplished? I’d say neither has really accomplished anything to date.
I couldn’t disagree more with your last paragraph. People are only considering this a terrible trade because of the distorted perception of what Foles and Bradford are each worth. I think this was a decent trade with sound logic behind it and, whether it works out or not, was a good move based on the information available at the time.
plus they can get out of it easily
Being able to get out of it easily is not a defense of the trade. That means you just traded Foles and superior draft picks for inferior draft picks. There is no way to parse that such that it becomes a good move.
they got the former no. 1 daft pick to drop 20 picks this year and maybe 20 next year if he doesn’t play.
For whatever reason chip didn’t think Foles had it.
If being a former number one draft pick is a valuable trait then they could’ve signed Jamarcus Russell for free.
1.)Stats may be imperfect, but they are really all we have to go on besides subjective opinions, which are worthless as a metric for comparing because they are, well, subjective.
2.)Restructuring won’t change the fact that he costs a hell of a lot more than Foles, and hasn’t produced more.
3.)Fair point, though Foles’ injuries have been broken bones rather than ligament tears (which are harder to recover completely from).
4.)He is unambiguously older and from the point of view of this year more expensive. As far as accomplishments go, Foles has been to the playoffs, made a Pro Bowl, compiled a winning record as a starter, and put up one of the greatest single game performances in NFL history and the best passing season in his team’s history. None of those make him Tom Brady but they’re all more than Sam Bradford has done.
1. Sure – but if the stats are imperfect and you have a guy (Chip) who is paid for his subjective evaluation to be better than everyone else’s, maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt rather than just assuming this is a bad trade.
2. He will cost more this year, but Foles only has one cheap year left and then they’ll be in the same ballpark.
Chip cut DeSean Jackson and gave Riley Cooper a huge contract and wanted to draft Taylor Hart in the 3rd round. I see no evidence that he knows what he’s doing or should be given the benefit of the doubt as a talent evaluator.
Howie gave Cooper that contract and he wanted Hart in the 4th, not the 3rd, but lets twist facts to fit a narrative.
Pretty sure Chip was involved in the Cooper deal as well since they were collaborating on personnel at that point. Dumping Jackson by all reports was all Chip. As for Hart, well:
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/1/4/7489891/chip-kelly-draft-jordan-matthews-nfl-draft-2014
Let’s actually know the facts before we accuse other people of twisting them to fit a narrative.
Problem is comparing stats, is you are projecting Bradford in the Eagles offense based on his stats in the Rams offense….
No, you’re the one doing the projecting. You and every other person who supports this trade are comparing Sam Bradford, former #1 pick, who was once considered a very good prospect to Nick Foles who you have watched the last two seasons and have had lots of time to pick apart. Foles detractors have decided that it’s only the system responsible for his quality statistics. Meanwhile you have also decided that Sam’s struggles are also solely due to his poor team and coaches.
You are entitled to believe that Sam Bradford is a better overall prospect than Nick Foles. Evidence in the form of pro statistics do not support this belief, but an opinion doesn’t require evidence. That opinion doesn’t make this a good trade even if it is correct. Sam may end up being a wonderful QB for the Eagles, but it is still a horrible trade. Every quality reporter I have read has either questioned or openly scoffed at trading away a younger, cheaper, more successful QB for a more expensive, equally brittle, and less successful QB at the pro level.
Frankly, I’m baffled that there are fans who actually are trying to rationalize this decision outside of the fans who openly hated Nick. For those who indulge in that, any trade that involves Nick leaving would be considered a positive.
Im not supporting the trade. I hate the trade, I just think its stupid to compare two things that cant be compared.
There is no stats so far that tells us who is better in Chip Kelly’s system, so we cant compare it.
i’m watching the balls over 15yd video — he throws a pretty ball. his recievers are terrible.
offensive line is terrible.
rams drop A LOT of balls
ball really jumps off his hand, but he can also throw with touch.
just did too, yep but he’s inconsistent and can be like Vick – incredible or bad.
he’s fast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H84nK2lSw7E
I was impressed how he was picking apart the opposing CB’s in the first couple games… then I realized it was Nnamdi and Cary Williams.
yeah surprise surprise
On the other hand, maybe he has a lot of confidence after going against Bradley Fletcher in practice for all those years…
I was watching too. Stronger arm then I remembered.
gotta say it looks sort of impressive when compared to what we see from foles / sanchez
Yeah agree. If anything I thought he could have taken something off his fastball on a few of those throws and put a little more touch on them.
The back shoulder throws stood out since we didn’t see many of them last season.
Always was…
Substantially like a bigger Teddy Bridgewater, down to the issues with not having a great high arc deep ball that land where it’s supposed to. Although, Bridgewater started hitting on more of these as the year went on.
He does overthink. He is conservative, but he is nowhere near as bad as Alex Smith, and has much better arm.
yeah deep ball not arc-y for better or worse. his receivers were terrible.
If he stays healthy, he will be really good in the Kelly system, particularly if we still had the weapons we were supposed to have. At this point, we are very, very, dependent on Huff maturing as a receiver.
Actually, where Bridgewater *really* has killed it, is in his pocket movement. That has, understatedly, made a ton of difference.
yeah think that was biggest difference between sanchez and foles.
also need to consider with Bradford how he operates out of shotgun, decision making, how he does on screens, etc. try to project him into our offense.
On that note, I sure hope Kelly has actually spoken to him before pulling the trigger. While Bradford doesn’t seem like it, you certainly can’t put a dullard behind center.
While he did score a 36 on the Wonderlic, that is only 6 times better than Vince Young…
too funny. interesting about wonderlick
Kap scored 37. Doesn’t strike me as book smart however.
Bradford projects very well into our offense. He is not a QB you want taking off, but he has both experience from the college spread (but he also took snaps under center) and has heavy knowledge about the WCO that is a big part of what we do.
When has he ever been a good player at the NFL level though?
He has never been a great player, but he had a promising rookie season (under his best OC in Pat Shurmur).
Bradford has been much better QB so far than Mark Sanchez ever has and Mark Sanchez looked pretty decent at times in this offense
In his “promising” rookie season, he threw 18 TDs and 15 INTs. That’s worse than the ratio than Foles put up last year in a season that had people (rightly) questioning whether he was the future at QB. And Austin Davis put up better comparable or better passing numbers last season playing in the same limited offensive scheme as Bradford.
Yup, and Austin Davis did it the exact same way Foles did. Rely on a handful of things he did well. When the jig was up, so was Davis, and so was Foles.
This isn’t to say that Bradford didn’t have something of an Alex Smith reaction. OTOH, the preceding 2009 Rams team is often cited as one of the least talented teams in modern NFL history. Foles and Davis played with considerably more talent, and in 2012, you couldn’t really say that Foles’ initial year was that great, either.
I was talking to a guy the other day, and he couldn’t stop citing the 2009 Rams as one of the least talented teams in modern NFL history.
So we are comparing Bradfords rookie season where he had zero talent around him with Foles 3rd season where he had great talent and coaching around him?
Bradford made his talent look lesser as well. He has to take blame for the aborted fetus the Rams offence was at times.
I will say this, if healthy and that is big IF (but it was with Foles as well), Bradford is the best QB we have had under Kelly
depressing statement.
Yep, so its amazing that we have been 20-12 under Kelly
Nah, Vick was better, particularly with the tools in 2013. Ideally, pre-2012 beatdown Vick, but still… Sam Bradford has never been as good as Vick. More precise? Sure. Know stuff? Sure. However, Bradford has never been anyone who could carry you over the finish line–much more of a facilitator type player. I’m happy to have him, but I’m not exactly going to say he’s gunna be a STAR! Real QB do not grow on trees, and I’d rather have Bradford than Sanchez, Foles, Mallet, Fitzgerald, Orton, or any of that set where we pretend he belongs.
Fitzpatrick? I’d be excited to see what Larry can do with the ball in his hands, though.
Sorry, it was my turn to be that asshole today.
I can totally see where Chip (and Shurmur to be sure) can come to the conclusion that Bradford is going to be a really good player for this team given his health comes around. I really don’t mind that part of the move.
What I do mind is Chip getting abused in this deal. All of the people fluffing the team claimed that the cap space for this year being cleared was a reason that the Eagles shouldn’t have also received a draft pick for Shady from Buffalo along with Kiko Alonzo coming off of an injury.
Now we trade Foles and greater draft picks for Bradford and lesser draft picks. I don’t get that imbalance in the deal. Especially because of the high salary of Bradford that is supposed to have “value” in a trade if one can get rid of it.
I don’t mind sitting here today with Kiko and Bradford at all, but I do mind not having moved up in round one, not picking up a conditional 2016 pick, and not having an extra 2015 pick from Buffalo.
I think people overrate the worth of cap room, consider the Rams get same amount of cap room by cutting him as trading him.
This is not the NBA where you cant cut players.
Yes I among others was caught in the moment
Ok, but if cap room is overrated why did people claim we needed to count that for what Buffalo took on with Shady as opposed to expecting a draft pick as well?
Because people overrate cap room worth in the NFL. There was rumors the Eagles was going to cut Shady hadnt he been traded, so in essence we got something instead of nothing
Similar to the rumors that the Rams were going to cut Bradford? I don’t accept that the Eagles needed to be pressed because Shady may have been cut but the Rams didn’t have to operate under a similar construct.
Not sure I follow you. The value for trading even an average QB is higher than trading a superstar RB (I mean Mark Sanchez is going to get almost same money as Murray)
I don’t think Bradford had value in excess, or even equal to Foles, if one were to consider salaries in the process. More should have come along to the Eagles, not the Rams.
Well clearly Kelly thinks Bradford > Foles from watching film of both and I can see why (but Im also super down on Foles).
An underrated problem still exists; we don’t have a RG. Bolling resigned with Cincy last night, so we’re stuck with the same quitters and underachievers from that position last year.
There isn’t much suitable left on the market.
I still believe we can get work done at safety, CB, WR, and RB however.
We have Barbre, have we totally forgot him?
He spent last year laying down on the job, how can I trust he’ll be plug and play (or play well enough) at RG?
So because he was injured last year, we cant expect him to be healthy and ready to go now?
Correct. He needs to prove that his is both healthy and ready to go along with having enough talent to be good at the position; both on speculation because he’s never been healthy enough to prove he can play well.
Barbre showed us that he is good enough to play both LT and RT, so why shouldnt he be good enough to play RG?
Also its not like his injury was an ACL or achilles, it was an high ankle sprain
When did he show he was good enough; he played one game last year?
TC and pre season. Just because he havnt seen him do it, does not mean the Eagles havnt.
Sort of like the other backup o-linemen who played great in training camp and pre-season according to the coaches and reporters, but then played terrible football when we needed them to step up in the regular season?
You mean Tobin who played with an high ankle sprain?
No, I mean Tobin (and the rest) who didn’t play well enough.
But you give Bradford a pass and are intrigued and accept giving away picks as well as a cheaper QB who’s had success here for him? Wow. That’s actually hysterical.
I don’t accept giving away picks at all. I’m intrigued by Braford but upset at getting the bad end of the deal. Read the whole post.
Apologies then. I’m not saying that Bradford cannot be successful here. He may turn into a pro-bowl QB playing for Chip. Still doesn’t excuse or explain the logic behind this trade.
And in fairness to you, my upset at the value in the trade is in next comment thread down (or up if you’re sorting by oldest)
We still need to fix the RG, CB, WR, and RB problems, agreed. However, bringing that up when your choices at QB are a guy made of glass or one who’s been a turnover machine his entire career and trying to say the QB situation is ‘fine’ is delusional.
I guess I’ll trust the talent decision with Bradford’s potential more than you will, but I get your point.
I’m literally praying that Sam never takes a damn snap on an Eagles jersey
I’m intrigued to see how good he can be.
I’m not. He’ll just get injured anyway
Are you praying the same for Kiko? Or were you praying the same for Maclin last year?
Not praying for him to get injured I’m praying that this dude gets traded
But you said he will get injured.
As I said last night, I don’t think the chances for a 3rd ACL tear are that high.
Dude has missed 33 career games he’s been healthy 1 year
2 but lets not lets fact gets in our way
Foles has missed games in all 3 of his seasons too.
There is a difference – it is in the same leg, normally ACL actually heal stronger, but with 2x injuries there is a chance he had done long term structural damage.
So has Browner been officially released by the Pats?
They didn’t pick up his option so yeah he’s free.
Your reply doesn’t make sense.
He’s a FA but he was released the same way Revis wsdnt released his.option just wasn’t picked up
Good. Because I want him.
Woke up hoping it was all a nightmare….so much for that.
So, no other news broke last night regarding who else we’re interested and and will/may sign?
So you’re saying that Bradford is “the Bomb”?
If the decision had been made that Foles was not the future, this was an extremely low risk move, taken to fill the most important position in the game. Thank goodness teams are not run by the fans.
Saw where a sports radio guy in Saint Louis said we were one of teams interested in Rahim Moore.
Honestly, who cares at this point. I’m pretty much rooting for this to become an even bigger debacle so we can move on from Chip with just the damage from this offseason as rebuild.
I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLDkYravNA
watching this, its clear that Bradford has a far stronger arm than both Foles and Sanchez. The balls just flies out of hands oppose to Foles or Sanchez who has to put everything into a deep throw
Bradford has all the physical tools – he throws a pretty pretty ball. He was considered close to a Luck level prospect when he came into the league. The issues is his reading of the game and 3rd down struggles. We will see if he can overcome that in Chips offence.
and injury prone…
The injury problem is out of anyone’s control. Doesn’t make any sense to linger on that. Lets just try to sit back and see what this kid can do.
Shefter is reporting that we have signed Walter Thurmond
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
2m2 minutes ago
Eagles reached agreement with former Giants and Seahawks CB Walter Thurmond, per source. Thurmond now teams up again with Byron Maxwell.
Another guy who gets injured way too often. No surprise, Oregon guy. Played in Seattle so scheme fit.
Difference is Thurmond is actually a good (not great) CB when healthy
love the title
After arguably the greatest shocker last night since Brian Dawkins’ departure, let’s stay focused on this still young Free Agency.
I want:
– Browner/Tramon Williams/Peanut Tillman
– Forsett/Murray/Spiller
– Moore/Gilchrist
– Cecil Shorts/Jarrett Boykin
Edit: How on earth did I not include Thurmond on that list! lol
We signed CB Walter Thurmond.
I guess we could still sign another CB and trade Boykin.
My thinking! Why not go for Browner and copy the former Seahawks trio??? Thurmond in the slot was great for them.
Chip needs to get a decent return for Boykin though.
Lol. No chance with Chip as the GM. We might give up picks for Boykin too…
Didn’t Boykin get into a feud with him last year.
Glad we didn’t get Tillman. Hell of a player a couple years ago, but has really fallen off a cliff of late. Almost any safety signed and we’d have to consider the defense well and truly significantly upgraded.
I’m going to choose to trust Chip and ignore all the folks in this thread who apparently are now actively rooting for Chip to fail so he can be shipped out. Ridiculous. Chip Kelly is one smart mofo. I’m not going to bet against him. Let’s see what he creates with the ingredients he’s buying first before going crazy. I’m fine with being critical of the moves, but many of the comments have just been beyond reason.
Sorry, you can ask around and you’ll see I was always a Pro-Chip guy. I understood not matching Maclin, trading Shady, everything. But
“many of the comments have just been beyond reason”
The one who has been beyond reason is Chip Kelly. Even if Bradford turns out good (he never will because he will be injured again), the trade was just horrible. One of the dumbest in recent years.
And that’s not just the negative fans talking. EVERYBODY is making fun of Kelly. If you have 80-20 against you, you can still be right. But if no one takes your side, you lost.
Consensus fallacy.
P.S. Certainly not hoping that Chip fails. Hoping against hope that all his mad scientist moves work out and we are Superbowl bound in the next two seasons. Just think he’s made his own job much harder with the Bradford trade and particularly the picks we lost in the exchange.
As an investor, you make the most $ when you buy something that everyone else is passionately opposed to. the greater the muck flung in your direction, the greater your upside.
Bradford is 15 months older than Foles (who has also missed time in each of 3 years to injury), but comes with 5 years of NFL experience and something to prove. So Chip gets the closet thing to a win now franchise QB and doesn’t have to trade an entire draft or 2 for it.
Chip got the closest thing to a torn ACL. And if he keeps being the smartest guy in the room, he gives him an extension while Bradford retires after his third season ending injury. Just because, you know, who cares about dead money.
As an investor you buy when stock is down. Ok, I can see that with the decision to take a flyer on Bradford. Problem is that when you buy a stock everyone says is down, you pay as little as possible. We paid top dollar on a stock that everyone else was dumping as fast as possible.
Well said. Nobody said anything against taking a flyer on Bradford like Chip did with Sanchez. Cheap, you don’t give up anything than a roster spot max. You can do that. But not the way Chip did it.
I understand Chip feeling Foles is not the answer, but while we have a good oline, our skill positions on offense is not going to really help Bradford succeed. Yes, more moves will happen and we will add a WR and a RB, but we had a great RB and a top 10 WR we let go, both of whom would have helped Bradford be successful. The move just doesn’t sit well with the rest of the offseason in my opinion.
If anyone bought into Chips ” culture ” it was Foles. Players are going to start looking at him in a different way.
Bradford will have a running game and Alonso could be a great player…defense can help your Qb. a lot.
Defense wasn’t exactly the problem with the Rams.
It seems to me we could have traded McCoy and Foles for draft picks and moved up in the first round to get a shot at drafting Mariota.
Kelly doesn’t seem to be maximizing our assets – as Hinkie would say.
Well unless you think that Kiko and Bradford are better ‘assets’. I mean Kiko as a 2016 2nd rounder you would probably do right?
Or Kelly deemed it impossible to trade for Mariota
I care more about a quarterback then I do a linebacker.
Damn!!! I was sick in bed for the last 3 days and couldnt keep up with everything.. but sam bradford?? coming off 2 acl tears AND we gave up a 2nd round pick??? Hate it. I dont see him helping us to land mariota because of that loss of 2nd round pick!! smfh
appreciate the article but I can’t read an “it’s ok” and a “Hey Bradford is good” story. Hey look — we signed another Duck.
…..
I’ve tried to hold out hope about Chip. Including this article, we’re 3 years into – hey you have to trust Chip. 3 years worth of trusting him and so far the results are — get rid of good players and sign Ducks.
…..
If it smells like sh*t, feels like sh*t, taste like sh*t(cheech and chong reference) — it’s certain sh*t. Well, good thing we didn’t step in it!
….
I get the Kiko thing. And you can make some sort of common sense about Mac and Shady. How do you explain, taking one QB and trade for another QB who has the same assets AND take on a bigger cap AND lose draft picks??? AND a second rounder too(that true)? That deal, no matter how many ‘oh, it’s ok’ articles come out — smells.
What if the Bucs or Titans already told Kelly they’re talking Mariota and this is his stupid ass plan B
I’m hearing that they had to put extra guards around the Liberty Bell because Kelly was trying to trade it. Something about ” culture”
Its cracked mate, recovering from a major injury – its not getting traded anywhere.
Betsy Ross bridge ? Gotta be something .
So let’s give up a second
It’s old and broken – just what Kelly covets.
just missing the “it came from Oregon” part…
Zach Berman
@ZBerm
59s59 seconds ago
Can confirm the Walter Thurmond signing. They agreed to terms on a one-year deal.
Sounds like just taking a flyer on him. Wouldn’t surprise me if they add another CB.
They might think Watkins has a shot at starting.
10th Duck
Now, if only we had a goose…
First time I’ve laughed since we lost Shady.
Just need a Safety to be satisfied with our D. On paper looks much more formidable. Too bad the offense is a mess now.
Big thank you to you, Greg. Your updates are faster than I would ever keep up otherwise.
Well at least the D will be better, probably not good enough to carry a crappy offense ala Seattle
They will be on the field alot with these 2 Qbs.
Why will the offense be crappy? Because no way Bradford is worse than Foles and Sanchez and no way OL is worse than last year
Skill positions are a hot mess, Brad may be no Better Foles and he could just not be healthy.
I disagree on the skill position.
Why? TE is fine and maybe we sign Murray but we tool a hit and even if we do sign Murray will he be better than Shady?
Murray was better than Shady last year, also RB is easy to replace and Kelly has proven he can manufacture offense
Rb might be OK but wr looks bad and QB doesn’t look good if Bradford ass isn’t healthy, and we gave up picks!
Well QB didnt look good last year even with a healthy Foles…
can’t agree or disagree — we don’t have any…lol (down 1 rb – who maybe just signed) and down 1 wr…
OL certainly isn’t better at this point. There’s no way you can actually know that Bradford will be demonstrably better than either Foles or Sanchez. Even if by some miracle he does manage to be better, the odds are he’s injured and off the field for a good portion of the season.
So he is no difference than Foles who cant stay healthy? and yes I know Bradford is better than Sanchez, because Sanchez was the worst starting QB for the stretch he started.
Sanchez was lights out better than he ever was in NY and he still wasn’t nearly good enough. I don’t argue Nick’s health issues but Sam’s are just as bad. Sam has never managed to be more than average as a pro. I suspect he’ll improve under Kelly, but then Kelly thought that Matt Barkley would look good in his system too. Barkley was once touted as a possible 1st rounder til his lack of arm strength made it obvious that was never going to happen. Now we have a guy who’s never managed to stay healthy or produce as a pro that also has the benefit of being incredibly overpaid.
I really wish I could share your optimism, mate.
No way Bradford is worse than Foles? From the hospital?
And then we have Sanchez as our starter. A QB who can’t throw for more than 5 Yards if his life is on the line. A bad version of the already bad Alex Smith.
That’s a way to lose games in this league.
Not to pile on but can’t help think that Smith also is willing to use his athleticism to run when the D ignores him. If Sanchez ever figured out how to run the read option, he might actually have been tolerable.
the eagles jersey wearing face-painted alleged fan that boo’ed Donovan up at the draft at radio city must be exahausted
Philadelphia Wounded Ducks
ACLs are overrated.
Sam and Kiko certainly hope so.
That’s what Maclin said last year.
So popcorn time – actually going to willingly listen to Angelo this morning. should be spectacular….
On a serious note – i like the thurmond signing. Only thing i don’t like is that it is only a 1 year deal. Think he has the skills to be decent outside, and is a cheap pick up that we can develop behind.
Just need a Safety now and we have an interesting young defence.
Of course we are bringing in Ryan Matthews for a look today we don’t have enough injured players on the team.
He is also a low risk high reward kind of player, if we add a draft pick that’s a really smart move imo
We shall see.
Yeah Chip must REALLY believe about sports science can cure it all, because these are interesting move. Saying that i will totally draft him in Fantasy Football – can be a seriously good back if he is not broken down.
One good night of sleep and I look at it differently. I loved foles but clearly chip didn’t think he could win with him, I trust him to do what it’s best for his team. If he considers bradford could be that guy, well I do really think it was a smart move, barring injury (it can happen to anyone, look at how maclin perform after 2 ACLs). Bradford has a huge upside, if he fails, then we didn’t break the bank for him. It’s not like we gave 3 drafts for him and found out he was a bust. I do feel however that the 2nd round pick in 2016 is too much and it will hurt us. But if rumors are true and the market for bradfor was important then we were in a context of a high demand and chip made the offer the market asked. Let’s wait for the draft, I want a good WR and RB and O depht and I think we have a good roster to contend, we definitely upgrade our D.
Wow, I should have caught up on the comments before writing the exact same thing 17 minutes after you did. It was just that the way things have been around here, if you read the comments first, you will never get a chance to write one.
why don’t you two just get a room already!!! Kidding of course.
So can we lock in Crabtree at this point? or am i missing another WR who is high upside and coming of an injury?
Shorts?
Yes! And he’s been injured!
Crabtree’s been underwhelming in SF, but he’s probably the best remaining receiver available. No idea if there’s any interest.
To be fair to Crabtree, he’s had Smith and Kaep throwing to him there – that’s going to put a damper on your numbers as a WR. Since Chip doesn’t seem to be averse to reclamation projects, I’d love to see them sign Crabtree.
As long as we don’t pay him like he’s Dez, Megatron, or Julio and I won’t complain.
Yeah, I would hope that wouldn’t need to be said. But I guess it does, at this point.
The one thing Spuds is usually pretty honest about, because it suits the Eagles, is letting us know a few individuals that the Eagles are not interested in, and he made it sound as if there’s no interest in Crabtree. That’s still my preferred replacement for Maclin, and maybe the new regime uses Spuds differently.
Stevie Johnson? We have his former coach
https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/575632693402079235
Well, there goes the dream of Demarco joining the team. Matthews is basically a more fragile and less talented version of him. Guess I’ll have to try to live with it. Doing a lot of that lately.
I’ve always liked mathews, very explosive and run hard, health is definitely an issue though.
Haven’t watched a ton but know from reports that a – he’s been hurt a ton and b – Chargers were never that thrilled with him. Hope he surprises us.
yeah it’s mostly b because of a. But I think if healthy he would do really well here.
Eagles must really believe sports science can work magic. To be fair, one way of aquiring value is to take high talents who are undervalued due to injuries.
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! anyone but him!!! he is the softest RB in the NFL. Please NO!!!!!! Please NO!!! just go with Polk if this is what you are thinking… he is a younger ronnie brown as far as im concerned. for me this will be the worst move of the offseason
Starting Polk would certainly fit Chips current philosophy of depending on players who have an overwhelming history of not being able to stay healthy. #smoothies
. mathews isnt some posterchild for durability genius…
More than scheme bradford suffered from a lack off talent on the rams offensive side. Hope chip has a plan to bring a true 1st target.
Bradford has the tools. Rams, year after year of drafting OL in the 1st round — still was not a good OL. AND talent was missing all around him. I don’t think anybody questions that. Everybody is questioning — why give up so much for a guy that’s pretty close in talent to the one you have? There’s really only 1 reason to believe in — Chip does not want offensive skilled position players that were “handed” to him.
I hate to admit this, but after sleeping on it, this doesn’t seem so bad. Originally I hated the idea of sacrificing the future for a player now, but decided Chip needs his guy. If this is his guy, a 1st overall talent derailed by injuries, so be it.
Besides, how many of us wanted Maclin and his two ACL repairs to return to the position that runs the most, yet are labeling Bradford as too fragile?
Preach
We certainly seem to be of like mind. I read your comment after writing mine.
I think the main reason we were all so upset yesterday is that when we initially heard about the trade most of us assumed that Foles had a higher value than Bradford so we would be getting extra picks back. When the draft picks went the other way, I was shocked. But maybe it won’t be so bad.
I don’t have a problem with Bradford himself and actually going into the offseason, he was someone I liked to take a chance on if he was dropped by the Rams.
How, exactly, is this Chips guy? Or are you saying — because Chip traded for him, it must be Chips guy? I think, Chip wants his own people, so he got rid of what was here. I understand that, a lot of coaches do that. If that’s true, Chip wanted to get rid of Foles and Bradford was available. Fine. Way overpaid, but fine. That doesn’t mean though, that this is Chips guy….
I really, really like this trade. Let’s say Bradford is the Eagles’ guy and he’s not being traded. He’s significantly faster than Foles for the read option and his TD-INT ratio’s been excellent the last two years he played. Branch Rickey said you get guys at their low value and trade them at their high value. Everyone says why do you want an injury prone disappointment – Chip says, that’s when I get him! He’s the best QB the Eagles can put on the field next year. The fans here don’t like Foles and they don’t like Sanchez, but someone has to play. You’ve traded a second rounder for a former first pick who had a 90 QB rating the last year he played.
Kempski’s scenario is plausible also, as he remembers that Bradford’s name has been mentioned by teams on the top of the board.
I’m walking on sunshine.
A lot of pro GMs are terrified to make trades that look this bad when they hit the headlines. Whatever our opinions, what matters is how it looks in the future. I’m very, very impressed by what the Eagles FO has done so far. They have six pro bowl level players on the D’s front seven and a no. 1 corner, and now they have improved the QB position. To all the worriers out there, I send an affectionate Q CAYP to y’all.
If Chip’s drinking the Kool Aid, I’m swimming in it.
* Question Chip At Your Peril
If they run the read option with Bradford they are madmen, we need to protect the lad and rebuild his confidence after 2 years of injuries and rust, getting him beat up makes sense.
Bradford is going to be under MASSIVE pressure to perform straight away, because this fanbase will get on him so fast if he does not start off well.
If Bradford stays on the team he’s running the read option. That doesn’t mean he’s going seeking out contact. Sacks are more of a worry, but guys come back from ACL injuries and play physically, like Mr. Maclin.
omg I hope they do…. i hope chip runs him into the ground and gets this kid killed….. DOUG COLLINS JR..
Technically, we gave up a 2nd and a 3rd (foles) for a former 1st.
lol nice change of narrative clown lOL
i still hate this but it’s better than pulling a ditka for MM.
I’d rather pull a Dikta
good news then – there’s still plenty of time. we could, technically, be mid-ditka.
Don’t worry . We still have draft day for that to happen.
The Novacare center just put up a big red cross , so the new Eagles players know where to sign in.
If the set it on fire, SAS is going to have a field day.
Somebody needs to send out an SOS. This ship is sinking.
At least we can still dream of all the Kevin Whites, Abdullahs and Collins in this world…!
I hope so. The proposition of Bradford throwing to Pooper as his number 1 is absolutely terrifying.
This trade makes perfect sense when you realize the one very important difference between Bradford and Mariota…. Bradford is just *SO MUCH WHITER* than Mariota
Bradford is native American.
Uhh yeah like 1/16th…
Damn everyone were signing is fragile as hell
Everyone is kidding about it, but seriously, how much more injury prone guys can you sign?
If there is no Mariota move on our way (it could be, but the odds are against it) this season is over. In March. How freaking sad is this?
And remember. We now have two RBs who can’t stay healthy. And a QB who can’t stay healthy. If we’d have a good QB I could life with Matthews (well, with a version of Matthews who could stay healthy, for christ sake).
But Chip is just filling this roster with players fresh from the hospital. And remember, our great STs comes from the fact Chip is investing the back end of the roster for ST aces. So we only have guys who will get injured and have guys like Braman und Maragos to replace them. Chip really is the king.
God I’m angry.
We have a QB made of glass with a really old offensive line that was leaking like crazy last year.
On top of that, we have Riley Cooper as our number one WR.
This is going to be bad. Really bad. With all of these injury prone players we are signing, it’s not even like you could say we are rebuilding.
since i wasnt allowed to be angry in peace 3 days ago when i saw this coming, you arent allowed to be mad now 🙂 rejoice, the sam bradford era is upon us LOL IN GUS BRADLEY WE TRUST lol opps i meant chip…
“…i wasnt allowed to be angry…3 days ago when i saw this coming…”
The new narrative continues to develop. Again, fascinating.
geagle give it up man
I simply disagreed with you on Maclin. But I can’t deny that Bradford put me over the top. It was a good Offseason, imho, until yesterday. But yesterday was so bad, and all Chip does is continue this stupid ride by signing the only RB who’s able to miss more games than Bradford.
If I’d be Lurie, I would walk into Chips office and ask him wtf is happening to his 800m investment at the moment.
Chip can save it all (for me, damn sure not for everyone) if he somehow gets Mariota with Bradford as the most absurd asset ever. But if that doesn’t happen, and at the moment, I don’t think it will, he just lost us the season. And pretty sure his job after the season.
And then the bad side of hiring a great, innovative College coach will strike us: he just goes back to College like nothing happened.
I am not talking about a single individual move jesus christ what is wrong with you people… i was up[set over a coach decided to rebuild in year 3…. jesus christ
You were angry, mate. Just like I’m angry now. Not re-signing Maclin, for me, had nothing to do with rebuild in year 3.
Trading for Bradford, on the other hand, is not even rebuild, it’s a disaster.
No, our offense isnt rebuilding in year 3? New QB, lost 2 WR, a RG, and our #1 RB… WTF do you call that? just arguing for the sake of arguing because you cant admit it… what a waste of time.. enjoyt your day
re-tooling rebuilding happens through the draft
Yep, of course you saw this coming. You also demeaned folks for worrying about the possibility of Maclin leaving while telling us to wait til Wednesday morning and all of us commoners would see that Maclin was back with us. Still waiting, Nostradamus. If you are going to constantly pat yourself on the back for being right 1% of the time, please reference the other 99% of your bold assertions that are absolute bollocks.
the REBUILD in year 3 you donkey!!! WHO THE FUCK SAW THIS COMING? MORON. your inferiority complex that makes you cant wait to jump down my throat is making you stupider by the day… go respond to someone more on your wave length
Yessir, I am the moron. Apparently I use too many curse words and insults to get my point across. On top of that, I attempt to treat others with respect, regardless of their point of view. You are a class act and make contributions to this page. Actually, when I look down and see 1500 comments on a Tommy article, I am intimidated to click the comments section due to the fact that I know that 1400 of the comments will be from your beautiful mind and contain coherent and sensical information. Sir, you are an institution here, and please do not change for anyone.
You’d think after getting messages like this once a day, it would sink in and you show some humility.
No one here thinks you know anything more than the rest of us. You’re just louder and more abrasive. And that’s why people show glee in pointing out how obviously wrong you so often are. Admit it, just once, maybe promise to try and change…and people will be a lot nicer to you.
If you want to fashion yourself as the most knowledgeable dude on this blog, that’s fine. But how come the other knowledgeable posters seem to never interact with you? A thought…
“step off the ledge”… “getting a kick out of watching you go thru all the stages of greif” LOL,,… I cant wait to get home tomorrow. Cant wait to hear this city lose its mind
the introduction of players during the games will be kind of hilarious, “….. University of Oregon”
rather have foles, but truth is, any trade that keeps us from trading our draft to get a college QB works for me… after the holes created on offense, trading a bunch of pics for MM would be my nightmare. Id rather have Bradford plus get to use the draft to rebuild our offense, then to have MM losing a bunch of picks that keep up from building this team
…
Of course ideally, i would have just kept foles and used the draft to strengthen the team, but since this coach has QB ADD and clearly doesnt give a crap about continuity being allergic to sitting on his hands and just building on what we did the year before, im happy that a trade was made that i hope keeps chip from being able to trade away half our picks
True that, I do believe that this draft will be mostly on the offensive side. We need youth and talent. I actually prefer chip as a offense talent evaluator than defense, don’t know why ;).
doesnt really have a choice… the one positive is the holes we have on our offense come at positions that give you the best podds of drafting a rookie that can step in and play right away in september. think about it, RB, WR and Guard, 3 positions that rookies transition to the NFL the quickest…. so as long as you dont piss away our draft picks on a QB,. if he drafts the right players we can still do some good via the draft and re-tool this offense
He already traded two picks away for an injury prone underachiever. How this can be construed as a positive, I will never understand. Saying that having Bradford is better than Mariota just because Bradford is a pro while Mariota is still a rookie is cutting your nose off to spite your face.
He still has Cox,Kendricks, and Boykin ,along with the draft picks, to get his next duck.
On a positive note, we can look forward to the Draft which is deep in WR and RBs, one of our biggest needs!
WR, RB, G the easiest positions to draft kids that can start as rookies…. so our holes are manageable via the draft, thats my positive note…. now if you give away all the picks for a QB we have a MAJOR problem
Yeah and if Bradford does not turn out well, Chip is out of town and we have a young roster with few holes. The one thing i do trust Chip to do is to draft good offensive weapons.
DOOM AND GLOOM CITY!!! jeez.. If you like Chip, just let him do his thing.. if you don’t like him, keep complaining…
I’ll reserve the right to complain about this decision, but I still think Chip is a brilliant coach. In the overall scale of things, he’s made one incomprehensible decision and a bunch that I can support. I don’t want him fired and I’m not going to root against him. Still, can’t understand this decision at all.
A great HC doesn’t have to be a good GM. Sadly.
Too bad that they all take forever to realize that.
I mean, I can’t even blame Lurie. He saw he had a great coach in place. A coach who would have just resigned if you don’t give him more power.
Great HCs are hard to find. Like QBs. If you have one, don’t let him go. You have to think he’s shocked right now, too.
Or he isn’t shocked, because there is a plan we all don’t know about. I will withdraw everything I said if that’s the case. I just doubt it, at the moment.
Exactly.
Lol. 0-1 in the playoffs, at least Andy got deep.
10-6 in back to back years. Better than Andy in his first two years and the loss to St. Louis was probably our best shot at winning a Superbowl with Andy. Don’t bury Chip yet.
Andy didn’t inherit the talent Chip got from him.
No, he was just lucky enough to get the third best QB of his generation on his team from day one. Andy also inherited a lot more defensive talent. It’s an apples to oranges comparison.
Mcnabb the third best? Lol come on man. Talent is talent, Chip is creating his own core group of guys and no one sane likes it. Can’t blame them though.
I wouldnt call Troy Vincent, Brian Dawkins, Bobby Taylor, Duce Staley, Trotter bad talent.
Reid also inherited a chance to draft a great QB, something Kelly never had the chance because Reid decide to blow a year too late
Look at what Chip got and then tell me that you would rather have that over what Rhodes ggave Andy
Consider QB is most important position and hawing a future HoF is way better than anything we had after 2012
Are we not just going in to year 3 of Chip!?
Ok..not really thrilled with the stopgap signings so far. We still need to draft for those positons.
Chip’s in full heel mode..this offseason will make more sense once i see him running out of the tunnel with sheldon browns hockey mask on his face and the chainsaw he used to shred the offense
Kelly bought a lot of stock in Novacare last week. He called it a culture investment.
Brandon Graham, Sam bradford, Ryan Matthews, Thurmond, Chip is in love with the 2010 nfl draft. Do you know some others FA drafted in 2010?
he’s in love w injury guys
Suh lol
No significant injuries in his medical history disqualifies him.
so sign JPP to an offer sheet?
It would be more in character of his recent moves, so sure.
So I guess that report on nj.com in Dec was true that they soured on Foles.
F it at this point just sign Hankerson, draft a wr round 1 and pray Bradford stays healthy
bradford could be a ploy, make people think he won’t take MM
That’s an expensive ploy. More likely that Bradford is necessary for the trade for MM, and that’s seeming less likely the longer it takes for the other shoe to drop.
No, not at this point. Eagles didn’t move up in the draft. Eagles lost tradable draft pics. We’re stuck. Might not be a bad thing that we’re stuck, but we’re not getting MM.
I’ve past the denial stage, I hate it but no point not accepting it ;(
No Eagles fan should be praying for Bradford health from a football perspective (of course, on a personal level you do, the guy has done nothing wrong!!). He stays healthy for one year, signs a big deal and is injured in 2017 – but this time, we’re f*cked like the Rams were because of all the dead money in the extension.
Can you imagine how dangerous they would have been in the last two years if they would have had a QB? And now, imagine a less talented team.
If they’re dumb enough to think he’s the future I assume they will restructure him
And in the end, the only dumb ones would be we, the fans. And Lurie, of course. While Chip is building a College into a powerhouse.
who cares about hankerson? we added enough scabs… no point in signing more just for the sake of it… not to mention we probably dont have much money left after trading for the King of IR
mathews is a bigtime talent…sad he has issues
We can use a roster spot for someone like that. Oh, wait…
Chip concluded Foles is not the guy. Maybe Bradford can be. Maybe Chip is not willing to pay the price to get to # 1 or # 2 and/or doesn’t think MM will be taken by those teams. So he can go with Bradford but if MM slips he can pay the smaller price to the Jets at 6.
redskins said they’d take him at 5
I’m sure everyone will say they will take him.
yeah i think that was the problem
so now Chip can play his hand slower. If he can do the deal at 5 or 6 it will be well worth what he gave up in the Bradford trade.
But if someone takes MM earlier, or someone else jumps ahead of him, Chip’s left with Bradford and Sanchez in lieu of some other assets. Plus, if I’m the team on the other side of the trade, when I see “Kelly, Chip” on the caller ID on draft day, I prepare myself to call every bluff imaginable. I’ll know I have Chip EXACTLY where I want him.
Best time to have that deal in place was immediately.
Chip is ok with Bradford. That allows him to let MM drop and negotiate a fair deal at 5 or 6. It’s not a bluff. You could only do the deal now if you are willing to pay to get to # 2 or 1, and apparently Chip was not.
I think we agree. I don’t see MM in the cards, but I won’t rule it out entirely, because clearly Chip doesn’t follow conventional wisdom in valuing his and others’ assets.
it’s hard to evaluate without knowing what (if anything) tampa or TE asked for. If they asked for the moon, and Chip knows Foles is not the guy, this makes more sense. Now he has another plan (Bradford) with some risk, but how impossible is it to upgrade QB? near impossible. And he can wait and see if MM falls a little.
lol if they do
A report came out days ago saying the Rams had upped their offer for Foles, and that Foles had been shopped around. Could it be, just maybe, that we don’t know the actual trade value for Foles and that the Eagles who shopped him around know more than us?
It seems like a huge percentage of the complaints (mine included) are based on our own perceived trade value of Foles.
Brad probably had way more value than we think especially if other teams called for him
It’s not about Foles (for me), it’s about the price for Bradford. Even if you exclude Foles, you have a bad deal.
And with all the contracts for crap QBs like Cassell and Sanchez, a guy like Foles should have at least some value. I mean, even if you don’t believe he can repeat 2013, there was 2013.
Certainly possible, but that means his intrinsic value to the team outweighed his trade value. If you’re paying someone to take your player, which is what we thought the Rams were doing with Bradford, you only do that if the cost of the player is hurting you. Foles wasn’t.
Watching a guy play hard, win, and bought into what kelly was preaching, is not perceived value.
Cant be… I mean Nick Foles was 14-4 as a starter and former pro bowl MVP…..
having digested all 6,000 comments I know this is sarcasm. But the other responses are just telling me that I am wrong and they know the value of the trade better than the team.
My point was I take some comfort in that the Eagles were clearly shopping Foles and should have multiple 3rd opinions on his value.
yep, people act like Foles had this great trade value.
I thought the NFL might overvalue Foles based on 2013, but it seems the NFL is smarter than fans
“but it seems the NFL is smarter than fans”
Well, at least one NFL team is dumb enough to trade for a disappointment at the QB position who can never stay healthy.
“Well, at least one NFL team is dumb enough to trade for a disappointment at the QB position who can never stay healthy.”
This describes both QBs tho
Well, Foles had one bad season. After a great one before.
But that’s not the point. If you’re unhappy with Foles missing many games, literally the last guy on this earth you think of as a replacement is Bradford.
Especially if you pay Foles 1m for missing 8 games and you pay Bradford 13m for missing 16 games.
Im not happy with Bradford, but I think he is a upgrade in terms of talent (Foles drifting 10 yards back after the initial drop back or throwing of his back foot has me soured)
If Molk is his center for multiple games, I bet Bradford starts drifting back and throwing off his back foot.
The one place this is valid is that Chip could have admitted that he had damaged Foles’s confidence too much by having him drop back so much behind that sieve. Most times, young QBs don’t recover their confidence after those kinds of beatings, and Chip knows that, I assume.
At least Foles was able to walk 10 yards without tearing his ACL.
Yes. Its ridiculous at this point. Apparently Nick Foles was worth two 1st round picks.
We upgraded at QB for the price of a 2016 2nd and fans want to burn the Linc down.
Kind of amazing.
It also seems we have set this franchise back a decade
I’m happy this with this move. Bradford, if healthy, can be great, espescially in this system. Foles was never going to stick here long term so not much lost (except a 2nd)..
I hope we stick with Bradford and do not get MM. Nobody really knows what Chip wants so not even worth guessing
and if we crash and burn at least it is entertaining. I think as a fan we should hope for a team being good, and if not good, interesting. The Eagles have interesting no doubt
if Ryan Mathews is an eagle then this coach got played. softest RB in the NFL.. thats the LAST RB that should play in this tough city. I swear id rather give every carry to polk or sproles then to put this dude in the Game…. there have been bad decisions, but Ryan Mathews would be the worst!!!!
Torturing us…one banged up player after the other. Wouldnt be surprised if mathews, bradford, thrumond all are hurt at the same time during the season
i swear that every time i watch Mathews play, i say that he will fumble, and he almost always does, he lacks toughness, he isnt a rookie that should be fumbling like this,… i dont want to see this soft back take a single snap away from Polk… i despise this RB
Foles was put in an unbelievable situation the more I think about it. Arguably the best o-line of the past 5 years (and they all stayed healthy), a consistently dominant run game, a star WR who also was able to stay healthy unlike usual, Cooper getting over the top of defenses and using his size for once, and Chip Kelly with the design of the offense.
Look what happens when the offense went more towards….”above average.” O-line injuries, a star WR but a decent at best #2, and an inconsistent run game. Great QBs make it happen. He didn’t. Chip Kelly didn’t want to feel like his glorified baby sitter anymore that had to make everything perfect in my opinion.
Now you look at Bradford. Played on a cancerous team and somehow did alright given the circumstances as a rookie. His 2013 performance pre-injury is still vastly underrated. 5 games in his entire career with more than one interception, and I wonder how many were drops…which his receivers had a ton of over the years. Chip saw a guy that was working with absolutely nothing and still didn’t completely suck.
Ultimately I can see why he was valued over Foles by the organization.
Pooper outplayed his expected value by about 500% that year. Things were working well.
OK, not saying I agree with your rationale. However, even if Sam was valued higher than Foles, that small bump in value has to be mitigated by the big cap figure for Sam and the low number for Foles. Also factor in that Sam cannot stay healthy with his knees. I just think we gave up way too much in value in terms of draft picks.
This is why I felt Year 1 was our best chance to win it all. Chip’s O was taking people by surprise. The team’s health was off the charts. We had the luck of missing opposing starting QBs left and right. We had immense talent at the skill positions. It was always a longshot, and it didn’t fall our way. Last year, we fell back to the norm (while winning the same # of games, O and D performed much worse), and now with the talent drain, there is good reason to think the meter is still pointing down.
I think something terrible has happened…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKu7TYWNxqA
Well…Bradford came cheaper than a pick to get Mariota would have. (Neglecting salary…) I still wonder if this is 2/3 of a three team trade that will not blossom until the draft.
If they want to trade I hope they do it now
please stop messing with my feelings
For my sanity, that would be a good thing.
If they do, I think they have to wait until draft day. You would not want to trade with NYJ to get #6 just for TEN to take Mariota at #2 or WAS at #5 or some other kind of shenanigans.
OK, I’ll learn to stop worrying and I’ll try to love Sam. I’ve still got to believe Chip got robbed by the Rams. It’s hard for me to imagine Bradford was really so sought after by other teams that we had to give up that 2nd rounder in order to get ahead of the competition. Chip has no experience trading players because it doesn’t happen on the college level, and I think he is getting taken by more experienced personnel guys.
I agree. This is where Howie Roseman would have shined. Actually, I bet Howie is loving this. He probably is playing the talk radio stations in his office and smiling like the Cheshire cat while the city burns.
be fascinated to see an alternate universe where Howie was still the GM but chip was calling the shots, and chip told howie, get rid of shady, Maclin, Desean, Foles within the first two years….. i would be curious to see what Howie could have gotten in return for losing those players compared to what little we have to show for losing so much talent now
For me, this is the bottom line. For the four players you mention that we lost, the core of our offense, we got two guys who have three knee surgeries between them.
I mentioned this in an early post but NFL.com is doing a 7 day free trial for GameRewind. If you don’t already have this package give it a shot. Maybe do some research on Sam Bradford before we decide to jump off of a cliff into a burning house full of venomous snakes. I have only watched two games so far but it was clear he had shaky protection, he actually has way more arm talent than Foles ever will, his receivers were plagued by the drops and couldn’t get separation, he does love to checkdown but some of that was by design and some because nobody could get open, occasionally pulls a McNabb and throws the ball at the feet of the receiver but that was mostly when the receiver was covered, and he had way more pocket mobility and presence than Foles. I still wish we could’ve kept our second next year but Sammy B-Rad may just turn out to be our new franchise QB.
” but Sammy B-Rad may just turn out to be our new franchise QB”
Thought the Rams… for 5 years.
there is no research needed. everyone knows the deal.. legitimate TALENT at QB, major durability concerns… i dont think people need to see bradford, because i actually think Fans wouldnt be too upset about it if they didnt think he was made out of glass…. the durability is the real concern, not the talent he brings..
Agree with this and add in the price tag.
There is just as much durability concern with Nick Foles in my opinion. Dude has broken three different bones in the past three years plus at least one concussion.
lol you sound like Tom Lawlor this time of year LOL… no worries, im used to it, i already know there is noithing that the eagles can do wrong on this site every single year from January to may… i already know, so no need to take this discussion further… actually im surp[rised how many people here are actually mad at the trade, normally its just mindless sheep this time of year. finally the eagles can actuially do something fans think is wrong… took 3 years to get here lol
im not the least bit mad. truth is, this is better then where i thought we were headed trading away our ability to build a team for one player……but I must saw that as the face of this franchise chip has ROCKED it to the core in every way possible, its shameful of him if he doesnt stand up and talk to this city and its fanbase… personally i really dont care because chip wont tell us anything anyway even if he does talk, but I understand how fans and media most be going crazy today in Philly, and if chip has the balls to do this to our franchise, then he should atleast stand up and talk to the people that have been rocked by this…if Lurie allows him to do this without having a press conference and calming some people down, shame on lurie and shame on chip…. this isnt his 7th grade science project.. he has an entire natin of rabid fans that he needs to calm down
but chip doesn’t care about rabid fans or not.
After a disappointing losing season with Mark Sanchez as your 15+ games starter, Lurie will.
can’t disagree. but like @disqus_3nCgh4qyec:disqus said, Chip wont talk to the media on his own. Lurie will have to tell him to do it for him to do it. I dont think he cares about what the outside says. He’s a guy who’s been told by everyone that his system won’t work and bla bla and he’s out there trying to prove people wrong. There’s a plan. we just dont know it.
You might be right, but it would certainly be decent to hold a press conference and answer some questions. Eagles fans won’t stop supporting the team, but why not communicate with the fan base just because it’s the right thing to do? I wonder how Lurie feels.
If we hold our hand over 1 eye and just look at the talent we have, so far, we’re looking ok so far. The problem is, when we uncover the other eye, we’re saying — we’re hoping our newly acquired pieces: QB, LB, RB(assuming he’s signed) never get hurt — that’s a lot of ‘hoping’
I’m thinking Tommy is orchestrating all these moves so that Iggles Blitz becomes the most active blog on the internet.
this is odd… i woke up today and i dont look or feel 998 years older… im worried, i think I might have that “Benjamin Button disease”… what Year is it?
i have a different definition of “fun”
wait…wtf happened? who did we actually sign since the foles trade?
..
is ryan Mathews really an eagle? pleasse say NO.. it would be the worst signing of the offseason.
…
did we get walter thurmond?
..
did Rahim Moore sign with anyone? gilchrist? need to get back in the USA, missing free agency like this is horribl
the QB who you swore would be here in 2015 got traded.
http://www.funnyjunk.com/Superbad/funny-pictures/5140410/
I am willing to bet that Nick Foles is injured next season before Sam Bradford is.
whatever…
Bradford mainly has his injury prone label due to the two torn ACLs in consecutive years which are mainly freak accidents and I doubt it will tear again. Foles has broken his hand, a finger, his collarbone and has had at least one concussion with many of us thinking he has had more undisclosed. We traded one glass QB for another one with higher upside.
Neither one of their injury histories are of the type of preventable injuries – sometimes bones break, sometimes ACLs tear. The simple facts are 1) Bradford’s missed a higher % of games due to injury, and 2) while neither guy has a contract past next year, Foles is making peanuts and Bradford’s making a ton.
Basically, to defend the trade, you have to believe Bradford, right now, is a significantly better QB than Foles. I guess I’m still in the “trust Chip” camp, but I can’t say that I don’t have serious reservations at this point.
Injuries happen in the course of the game so who knows when anyone will get injured. what ifs…
For everyone trying to defend this trade. Would you rather trade a 4th and 5th for Haloti Ngata or a 4th, 2nd next year, and our current starting QB for Bradford? Who made the better trade, hmmm?
Technically we also got a 5th in there somewhere…
That makes it sooooo much better.
Plus if Bradford is as fragile as everyone thinks he is we will get back a third… I know I am not helping your current mood.
There will be media availability.
Bradford available for the media is a bad sign, actually. Not that the odds are great that he will be traded, but if you send him to a PC, odds are even worst.
They could have send Sanchez, f.e., if they would want to trade Bradford.
I think the trade now if it happens is wait and see at 5 or 6, don’t pay the ransom to move to # 2 or 1. So it has to be draft day.
bradford is our QB… chip is dead serious lol
If that’s the case, I hope his NFL career is dead soon.
Next signing, Greg Oden.
I said it before and I’ll say it again, he’s doing a Hinkie so he can get the #1 pick in 2016.
who is the best qb next year?
I don’t know, but my comment reflects that my sarcasm meter is set to heaven. I don’t really think that, but since I didn’t drink last night to prevent sclerosis of the liver, I’m kind of miserable that I’m sober and this is still a thing.
haha gotcha, still curious.. FA season is wild.. chip is even more so.. hope it works out..
Me too. Today is about letting go and just trusting the process. Either it will work or go down in flames. Either way, you’re right, this is all wild to me.
Some guy in Michigan, isn’t it?
Won’t happen, he didn’t play at Oregon.
But he did play in Portland, a somewhat connection.
Sorry Tommy, can’t go with you on this one. Chip is an amazing coach. But he hasn’t done a thing to earn the benefit of the doubt as a GM.
On the personnel side of being a GM:
Year 1: We were introduced to Chip’s vision as the QB being a point guard, get the ball to the play makers. The system will get the playmakers open, it’s up to them to do the damage after the catch. Oops, actually we need play makers who can beat man coverage, system can’t do that for them. Nevermind, the only thing that matters is the O-line and QB and system, they will carry the team, away with the play makers! Sike! Sam Bradford has a chance to be a great point guard, time to find some play makers again! Aging preferably.
The understanding value side of being a GM:
Sorry, we got Kolbed (see what I did there). Here’s the thing, that was 2011, and those poor fools could watch game from 2010 where he looked really good against a legit defense in that Falcon’s game and have a reason for false hopes. The very best we can do is watch a game almost 2 years ago and say, look he was merely bad against the best defense in football on a bad offense instead of terrible. Either he over valued Sam Bradford or under-values draft picks. That’s fine in itself, but if you don’t understand the league value you are going to pay too much for assets you want, and undersell the assets you have and don’t want.
Hope for the best
I wish we’d have just taken Hundley and kept our picks and I hate Hundley as a prospect.
lol
i swear Ryan Mathews might be one of my least fav players in the entire NFL..
..
i thought people were joking, we actually signed this soft injury waiting to happen Ryan Mathews? injured thurmond? injured kiko? king of injured reserves Sam Bradford? has this coach lost his friggin mind? unless our sports science has some breakthru stem cell technique where we can regenerate ligaments or frankenstien the hell out of our players that are falling apart….what the hell is this coach doing?…. the trainer and team doctors probably have more research to do on the players we are considering for trades more then the coaches…thats probably not ideal
…
not ideal is an understatement here. a major injury is now a requirement to sign with us
He has lost his mind.
Nothing against Thurmond, I liked him in Seattle. But why do you sign a slot corner if that’s the one freaking position you have a young player?
Matthews and Bradford, that’s just Steve Spurrieresque.
wow. u just SPURRIERED (?) Chip ? are we there already ?
Never thought I’d say this yesterday at around the same time. But if you do an epic bad trade out of arrogance or whatever it is, Spurriered is one way to describe it.
But like I said from the beginning, if Bradford is just a way to get MM – fine with me. I just can’t accept this guy as our QB. Bradford/Sanchez – boy, does that suck. Between injuries, only short passes, bad decisions – there is so much to not like.
short passes, bad decisions… we could bring back Captain Checkdown Kevin Kolb. he would fit right in. and he’s always injured (plus value) !!!
At this point Chip is just trading away all of Howies picks i.e. Boykin and replacing them with injured ducks i.e. Thurmond.
Thurmond started outside in Seattle over Maxwell
wait he signed Walter Thurmond? I actually called that one lol.
And now, like Kendricks… Boykin is totally expendable. In fact, that is the name of this off-season… The Expendables.
I thought it was:
Breaking Brad(ford)
Why is Kendricks expendable? They needed to put an ILB next to him to make the defense better. Getting rid of him puts you back at square one.
I’m still on the MM wagon. We keep Kiko and Meco and send Boykin, Bradford, Kendricks packing with some picks to get MM. I really think that’s Chip’s plan.
You should post some more about how you don’t like Ryan Matthews. I’d love to hear your thoughts on him again.
Confident in Chip. He has earned our confidence and believes he is improving the team. Chip Kelly got the most out Foles and Sanchez and we have no reason to suspect he won’t do the same with Bradford. Moving from the 20th pick in the 4th round to the 9th pick in the 5th is a insignificant drop – in terms of available talent at each spot. The cost of a future 2nd is a steal for us, if he becomes a franchise QB under Kelly. If he is injured, we are protected. Seems strange that any would say we were fleeced. Why? Because he has a bigger cap hit this year? I would think his next contract will be more team friendly than Foles next contract. Bradford is already set for life and has a lot to prove. Foles is looking for his first payday after paying his dues. We will see. But we should trust in Chips vision.
what future second?
The one that the Rams get no matter what?
We gave them a second rounder next year in the Bradford trade
how is that a steal for us? If WE got the 2nd, it’s a steal. that’s what I don’t get. that’s too much for a “if he stays healthy AND if he can handle offense”….
Disagree, it we got the 2nd it would have simply represented fair value, not a steal.
Foles is = to Bradford. Getting anything else is a steal. Rams got a steal.
Foles may = Bradford as a player but not when you factor in salaries.
that’s the point — Eagles took on(for now) 12 mil AND gave up picks for someone that is not better than what they had….
Lol who’s saying this is a steal…? Read the 3000 comments from last night. We are all pissed. Today we are trying to rationalize what he was thinking but we’re still having trouble.
Fair enough, this is your opinion. For me, he hasn’t earned my trust. Between last years draft and this year’s off-season (at least so far), I haven’t seen anything that would make me want to bet on the guy as a personnel man.
I feel sorry for you, mate. You will learn the truth about the draftpicks the hard way.
But on the other hand, we all went though this.
You got the 2nd round pick backwards. We are paying it, not receiving it. The injury guarantee only says we can receive a conditional 3rd or 4th depending on how much he plays back. We’ll still have paid a 2015 2nd round pick. That pick could be 33 or it might be 64. Either way, a very steep price to pay for a one year rental of an injury prone underachiever.
That’s how I read it too…lol… then maybe he was saying — maybe we got a great QB for the price of a 2nd round?
that is the bet.
this is what cult members say….. get help
I’m sorry but you loose me with the second round pick thrown in, that is ridiculous. Foles for Bradford I would not of cared about. Plus nobody can tell me that Buffalo would not of thrown in a 5th at least. I have NO FAITH in Chip until He proves otherwise.
We all lost faith in his GM assessments yesterday.
when i heard the news yesterday I felt like tying a good one on and burning all my Eagle jerseys. I figured there would have to be more to this, that no way we go into the season with bradford or sanchez as our starter. Well, apparently Bradford flourished under Shurman at OK. I love Foles but lets face it he wasn’t the brightest guy when it came to reading coverage or knowing when to throw to wide open receivers, which got him into trouble with all his interceptions. I for one was not happy with Foles or Sanchez coming in as our starter, or for a rookie QB, who by the way is not proven in the NFL. Apparently Bradford is accurate, smart when it comes to reading D’s and can run this O. Give it a shot, why not, we have nothing to lose at this point.
I am willing to take it a step farther. If Sam Bradford gets injured before Nick Foles I will change my screename to GEAGLE’s Bitch or whatever one of you hates this deal wants for the entire season.
I don’t necessarily disagree that Foles could get injured first, I’ve said in a post before that getting rid of Foles could be due to his injury concerns.
That said, I like taking bets. It’s fun and I lose nothing here, so I’ll do it!
But you have to choose a screen name for me. 🙂
So if Bradford is injured before Foles you get to change your name to I <3 Smegma
Done!
Then a gentleman’s bet we have. I want to say good luck to you but that means our new “franchise quarterback” is going to be injured.
LOL – it’s all in good fun.
Better than to pay our “Franchise QB” guar. money. Which will be dead money after he retires because he had his 3rd major injury.
Feel bad for Bradford, he’s not to blame for Chip being stupid. But that’s the way it will end.
i have enough bitches around here, you dont wanna make them jealous LOL… cant read 10 posts without seeing my name in one LOL
lol my lord tommy, what is spuds paying you
I don’t want to have Spuds job right now, to be honest. Everyone has to sell some kind of bs from time to time, but Bradford is a whole new level of bs. And all you can do is laugh and tell everyone how great he is.
While on the inside, he’s probably saying; well, Chip send me turd and I have to pretend it’s pudding.
Count me among the group that doesn’t mind Bradford over Foles but can’t understand the trade compensation. I’m waiting to see the contracts if/when Foles and Bradford get extended. I would have thought Foles would command a bigger contract at this point in their careers, which should mean he has higher trade value and should have netted us picks – not the opposite.
hahahaha rewind back to thursday when we had 50mil to spend and fans were expecting the greatest free agency we have seen in years lol…… fast forward a week, and i would have rather done nothing… just bring back the same exact team, minus shady plus Kiko……. i would rather have Cary and Bradley as our CBs, then to have all this new trash…
I like Maxwell and I thought you were cool with Carroll. Maxwell/Carroll > Cary/Fletcher.
not if it means having to eat all these other changes
We get a safety and I think our defense is fine, though I don’t know how that’s going to play out.
On offense? I think we can get some value at WR/RB in RD 3 with 2 picks (or 2nd). I won’t be surprised if they trade back from their spot to pick up an extra 2nd or 3rd.
If he does that and gets G, WR, RB, & G/T in Rd 2 & 3, I don’t think I’d be upset.
What Safety? we shouldnt have made a single stinking move until we fixed the safety position. should have been the 1st things we did…. we dont even have any money…rahim Moore? settle for Gilchrist, who we only like because Nate sucks so bad? do we even have money? crappy safety draft and we need to draft offense…
…
no matter what they do in the draft, shouldnt have to count on rookies the way we will have to… Coop is our #1 veteran WR, which is absurd ESPECIALLY if your QB is sanchez or sam….. our #1 RB is a soft bum from San Diego….. its so not fair to have to count on rookies, how dysfunctional… i could understand filling a RG position with a rookie from Oregon of course, Jake Fisher or Grasu..
…
having Bradford as my QB, I like his talent, but cant trust him and he puts me too much at risk to get stuck watching Sanchez
And just think, he may not be done putting all his ducks in a row.
“…ducks in a row.” Good one.
enough with this duck crap… soon im gonna snap, look for the closest pond and just start drowning every duck i see!!! the only two ducks i want Dion and Kyle Long I cant have… tho i do love me some kiko, and would rather get rid of Ryan Mathews and pick up LaGarrett Blount if he gets cut
This is Howies revenge. Chip will be gone if the team stinks for the next two seasons. Shouldn’t have screwed with him Chip.
Is the effect similar?
http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Montezumas_Revenge_SMS_ScreenShot1.jpg
Chip wont make it to the end of the season does not work. the Philly fanbase will run him out of town, People forget how angry this town can get about their birds. People gave Andy a bad rap – but he had wins and history.
Exactly. I’ve said this before, Chip will either be known as the guy who wins us our first Superbowl or set us back for the next ten years. Andy might not have had the hot start that Chip has but he had a good stretch of postseason success.
How is Chip setting us back for ten years? What of real value (and Foles had zero) has he traded away that would have been off the team in a year anyway?
if you know what to do with a 2nd round pick, just trading Nick for a 2nd rounder had value….. maybe he isnt worth a top 20 pick in round 1, doesnt mean you completely devalue him and dump him…..of course i havent got the slightest clue about how GMs really value Bradford,. I heard the rumors too, but I have no clue what Sam Bradford can get us in a trade, so maybe it turns out that we end up getting more value then we think for Sam, then it can turn out to be a good trade for us…or if he stays healthy and gives us 7 years of QB play it can be a good trade for us…. but right now, Too many Ifs, cant expect fans not to have serious concerns
Still a missed 2nd round pick do not set you 10 years back
I can’t tell if you’re trolling me or you deliberately pretend that everything will be ok. This isn’t just the Foles trade. This is about his questionable ability to run a team and his ability to win a Superbowl with said team. This team already had a small window and now it’s barely open for the foreseeable future.
No, Im asking seriously, lets say Kelly stinks and is gone in 2 years, what moves has he made that is setting the franchise back that many years?
i despise angelo Cataldi… but i swear i would pay money to hear his next interview with Chip..LOL i will actually feel sorry for angelo
matthews over bradshaw?
Which one? apparently we have to be careful cause one name has 2 T’s in it.
demarco Murray?
That is just ridiculous. We don’t have second round draft picks!
My kids can’t wear their foles and shady jerseys anymore (though shady’s name does look great in pink). But at least I can still rock my barwin one. For now.
No one with a lick of sense would buy an Eagles jersey for the next three seasons or so. The odds of the player being gone before you ever wear it are too high.
Go retro. #92 will never be out of style.
I buy the $10 ones that trickle down to Marshall’s/TJ Maxx. I’m hoping for a Cole jersey to make it this year. The Babin and Nnamdi jerseys aren’t so stylish.
Yeah I took the Asomugha off mine to make it a plain 24 jersey.
Well I am off to watch every single professional pass Bradford has attempted in the next two days. Yay for having random weekdays off.
so which WR and Safety were injured last year and played for Oregon — that way we’ll know what 2 signings are next…
John Boyett.
Assuming terms are reasonable, Ryan Mathews is exactly the type of hedge at RB you would want with a deep RB draft class. Younger than Frank Gore, high ceiling, one cut runner. Injury history makes him a value signing.
If 2015 picks end up going to fetch Mariota, you’ve got an RB committee participant with Polk. If we end up sticking with Bradford, you can invest in deep RB draft class without regrets because you have not over-invested in position.
he sucks… even worst, he is soft…. its a travesty if he takes a single carry away from Baby Huey Polk…
Is that supposed to be an endearing nickname?
Is there a GEAGLE translator on Google anyone could send a link to? I honestly can’t understand what is written in these posts.
Unless someone has found the link to a GEAGLE filter?
hE SUCKS!!! he is soft!!!!!
it means: you don’t know anything, I know everything, I told you all this would happen, you are all stupid
There is no GE translator, but there is—the dialectizer!
For example, allow me to dialectize your post:
Is dere some GEAGLE translato’ on Google any sucka could drow some link to? ah’ honestly kin’t dig it whut be written in dese posts.
Unless some sucka gots found da damn link t’a GEAGLE filter?
http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/
The “Chalatan” Doug Collins got me Bynum…… Chip got me Bradford(cant list all the jacked up knees chip added, it would be my longest post ever)…
..
“Its a hard knocked Life for us, Its a hardknocked Life for us, everyday we get Stiffs, so much for TRUST IN CHIP…..Its a hardknocked life”,…
Trade value seems… accurate? I’m willing to admit that I’m overrating Foles, but the trade tells me that the Rams/Eagles saw the two as roughly equal, with the tie going to Bradford. We swapped a late 4th for an early 5th, and the conditional picks coming back for the second make it interesting. Assuming he never plays in 2015 *for the Eagles*, we’re swapping a late 2nd for an early 3rd.
Writing on the wall there seems pretty obvious.
What gives you any confidence that we’ll be picking late in the 2nd or the rams early in the 3rd for that matter? I’d put good money on the Rams having a better record than us next year.
True. I was using this year’s values. My mistake.
Is the condition dependent on him playing *for the Eagles*? Or is it just games played? I’ll be surprised if it’s the former. But I’ll feel slightly better (because I think the longer it takes for the other shoe to fall, the less likely it is).
I’m going by what Sheil posted and assuming his wording is accurate to what it means.
“There is also a conditional pick in 2016. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, if Bradford doesn’t play at all for the Eagles in 2015, the Birds get a third-round pick back. If he starts less than 50 percent of the snaps, they get a fourth-rounder. If he starts 50 percent or more, they get nothing in 2016.”
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/03/10/report-eagles-swapping-foles-bradford/
Schefter’s actual report doesn’t get as in depth, so it could go either way.
I think that’s reading too much into Sheil’s wording, but I can’t say you’re wrong. Hopefully, someone will get a real answer sooner rather than later.
Late 2nd? Hah. Good one.
Already said below, I mistakenly used this year’s draft positions when talking about next year.
no…just no…
something nice about chip: http://www.thenation.com/blog/200873/chip-kelly-john-carlos-and-r-word
what are we waiting for to trade boykin? we have stockpiled slot CBs..
..
Nolan and Thurmond can both play outside or inside, Max on the outside, Jaylen Watkins can atleast play inside if not outside too……..BYE BYE BOYKIN!!!
..
you arent going to pay Boykin now that you have stockpiled all these slot corner options, might as well trade him to a team like the Cardinals or Patriots who will appreciate him…. wonder what we can get in a trade for him? tricky, we paid a 4th but we could have inflated his value if we would have played him outside and inside… Not sure how teams will view him now, the fact you can give him a trail year for cheap before you have to extend him ups his value a tad…
Show me players on IR and I give you Boykin. But of course, have to give a 1st rounder on top of it.
LOL all you can do is laugh at this point bud…
Sadly, I can’t laugh yet. Hope I can as soon as you could, so about a day later or so.
ir really going to laugh if chip has to play against the skins and Mariota twice a year
Chip can’t decide how many draft picks he can ship with Boykin
Maybe Victor Cruz, but he’ll have to give up at least two 1st rounders to get that done in addition to BoyKing
Walter Thurmond another value signing that hopefully breaks this mantra of requiring both outside corners to be tall (rather than necessarily good or fast). Hopefully this means either Boykin for Thurmond starting outside. How many teams have two giants playing WR? TB? Not Chicago anymore. As long as you don’t play sides and let your taller corner follow Dez or Jeffrey, you should be fine. Fletcher couldn’t keep up with Dez, he wasn’t out jumped. And what was the value of a tall corner getting beaten by DeSean in two games?
Thurmond also allows you to draft a CB early and/or allow Watkins one more year to develop.
Question with these two value signings is what to do with the remaining cap space? Save up for the overpay at Safety (R. Moore) because the market is so dire? Use it to launder Bradford’s 2015 cap hit into signing bonus to make him more attractive in a package to TEN for #2?
I think Thurmond will play the slot and Boykin will be traded along with a 4th round pick in exchange for a 6th round pick.
Or Boykin has enough value as an asset that he could be part of the package with Bradford to move up in draft?
I would kill for 10 percent of your optimism at the moment.
For real though, I’d think that a team would take Bradford, Kendricks, Boykin, plus pick 20 and next years 1st for MM.
So you’re saying there is another team dumb as f*ck enough to trade for Bradford? I hope you’re right. I really do.
If that’s not how it goes down… I’ll be honest and say that I don’t know how this could possibly be a good thing.
My feelings here. And those of many, many others.
As long as Bradford is on this roster, you don’t even have to invest the cap room anymore. Bring back Nate Allen, just because he sucks. Roll the cap over. Because Bradford on roster = Sanchez playing the QB position this season = we won’t win anything anyway.
We didn’t see a lot of “following” by our CB’s last year. I would be surprised if Davis suddenly started matching our top guy on the opponent’s.
I hate this move for Sam Bradford. I absolutely hate it. The only thing that would convince me that this move is worth it in any way, is if we win some playoff games. Until then, this move really has me questioning Chip Kelly.
Woooh! Ryan Mathews! Another underachieving first round pick who’s hurt all the time and not that good when he is on the field.
Anybody Kelly apologists care to make the claim that he’s actually secretly better than Shady McCoy the same way some of you are trying to sell us that Bradford is actually secretly better than Foles?
We’re drafting a RB. If we’re signing Matthews then that’s saying a lot about what Chip thinks about Polk.
Ryan Mathews sucks. I live in San Diego so I’ve seen enough of him to know this. If he’s part of your solution, you haven’t correctly diagnosed what the problem is.
I have no faith in the draft as a last bastion of hope for this offseason. Fully prepared for a bevy of overdrafted Pac-12 players, especially Ducks.
Better than Shady? Probably not, overall. Better fit for what Chip wants his backs to do in this offense? Absolutely. Shady’s dancing was at least as much a problem last year as Foles’s and Sanchez’s problems. I know next to nothing about Mathews, but if he’s a one cut and go guy, he doesn’t need to be better than Shady to have more value to this team. Injury problems aside (and obviously, that’s a large exception), I don’t mind this move. Still have the ability to draft a RB this year and let them duke it out in TC.
Did you say Duke Johnson? Sold.
The Duke!!
I guess I should add that while I don’t hate him, I have no confidence that Polk can be a guy you can count on for the season. He’s in the battle for the spot, too, as far as I am concerned.
“I guess I should add that while I don’t hate him, I have no confidence that Polk can be a guy you can count on for the season.”
So you’re saying: a perfect player for Chip Kelly?
I do know about Mathews, and trust me, he’s a big downgrade. He’s a straight ahead power runner and has good hands as a receiver but he gets hurt every year and has zero big play ability. He’s more like “one cut and get tackled for a three yard gain”.
Like I said though, he can be a downgrade if his running style is more in line with what Chip wants. I may be irrationally fixated here, but I still have nightmares of Shady flat out refusing to take the 4-5 yards the 49ers were giving him nearly every play last year, and instead putting his injured, struggling QB in 3rd and long repeatedly. Shady’s numbers last year were padded by his games against awful defenses. But if you want to win playoff games or even games in December, you need a guy who can produce against better than average defenses more than you need the guy who dominates bad defenses. Mathews may not be that guy either, but his style is more conducive to panning out, and he’s not making $12M and unhappy about it.
At this point, count me in the “RB by committee is superior” camp.
I’m fine with replacing Shady, for all the reasons you cite.
Just not with a committee of Ryan Mathews and Chris Polk. Talent wins in the NFL. You can’t plug vastly inferior players in in place of a flawed but fantastically talented RB and not expect a big dropoff in production.
You may be (probably are) right about Mathews. But it’s not just talent, but talent within the scheme. Lesser talents can be successful if they play their role correctly. I’m willing to go with lesser talents who play each of their roles correctly, because I think that will make for a better team overall. The dropoff may not be so titanic overall, and you might see an improvement against good defenses (it’s be hard to do worse than Shady’s 2.something ypc against the 49ers, so the bar is actually quite low there).
that’s tight the way you’ve made anyone who doesn’t agree with your panic an “apologist.” that’s definitely how good debate takes place.
If anyone would make a better argument for why what Kelly’s dping isn’t severely weakening the team, I might have a better word for you guys. But nobody has offered any evidence that these are actually sound moves, just hope and conjecture.
I see no reason to believe there’s some kind of master plan here. Sometimes an awful GM is just an awful GM.
sure sometimes. but you don’t know a thing yet and neither do i. that’s not apologetic – it’s realistic. the moves don’t look good right now but my surgery looked pretty horrific until they were all the way done.
That’s fair enough, and I’m not calling for Kelly to be fired. Maybe he’ll coach this team to 12-4 and I’ll have to eat crow. I will do so happily if he does.
I think that’s unlikely though, so in the meantime I’m going to go right on criticizing what appear to be a series of horrendous moves.
nothing wrong with that. i just trust that he can’t possibly be as stupid as this move makes him look.
the evidence is when the games are played not when we discuss it
So the fact that Sam Bradford, Ryan Mathews, etc. have NFL track records, and they are inferior to those of the players they’re replacing, counts for nothing?
you make sense until you make the comment he isn’t good when healthy. shady wasn’t up to his capability. said it during games several times last year. didn’t like the bradford deal so I’m not an apologist and I like chip the offensive mind.
Mathews’ career high for rushing yardage in a season is 1,255. His career YPC average is 4.4. His career long rush is 51 yards (Shady puts up one or more 51 yard rush every year). And it’s not like he’s done it playing on a crappy offense that constantly has to face 8 man fronts because they can’t throw the ball – his teammates were Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, Vincent Jackson, etc.
He’s not horrible. He’s mediocre. But that still isn’t good, and it’s definitely not as good as the guy he’s replacing.
I’m not against a RB committee. But if you have Polk, how stupid is it to sign another guys who’s ALWAYS injured?
Instead of calling it the end is the world I’ll wait for the draft, preseason and some games to play out. Hard for me to sit back and say the Eagle’s offense is going to suck, we don’t even have everyone in place. On another note no one is complaining about the defense, I know Chip knows offense, glad hes building up the other side to help Davis, who we arent sure about. I’m not on the whine train, its too early. Chip Kelly eats sleeps and lives football, he’s really putting a lot on the line here, yep, I’m just going to wait I mean we still have a Phillies’ losing season to look forward to don’t we?
Flyers season will mercifully end soon. We get to see Embiid next year. We have the draft on April 30 which gives us about 2 1/2 months until training camp.
The Embiid thing is looking more and more murky. I am getting the sneaking suspicion that the best Philly may see of Embiid is that viral dunk the other night.
I hope not. I’m hoping the boot is for show since he was dunking the other night.
Hagg (Flyers’ 2nd rounder from a few years back) is starting to look like an NHL level prospect for the Phantoms. He looked lost at the beginning of the year, but is looking like he has 2nd line NHL potential, and could possibly be a 2nd unit PP QB in the NHL. That’s at least a start to fixing what’s wrong with the Flyers.
I’m liking the size Morin is gaining. He may be able to make a move too. They are going the right way, we just need to get rid of current dmen to get our prospects up.
I haven’t watched the Phantoms this year. How has Sanheim looked?
Honestly, haven’t noticed him much, but I’ve really been focusing on Hagg and Cousins most of the time, so that’s not a real comment on Sanheim. Before he went down, Ghost looked talented, but not ready physically or mentally. If not for the injury, he might have made the strides Hagg made this year. He still needs to get thicker to survive in the NHL, too. Hopefully the injury doesn’t rob him of any of his fantastic agility, because that’s what made him really special. Mostly, I haven’t been all that impressed with their forwards in the games I’ve seen, but again, I generally am focused on specific players so I could be missing out on one or two guys who show some flash.
Well said.
How could someone that eats sleeps and live football fail to realize that giving away resources and assets(draft picks) for big time injured players is a horrible idea? I fail to see the rational thought process from Chip here.
Very good question. He must have lost his mind. Before yesterday you could criticize Chip, but you could never accuse him of being stupid. You may not like it, but there was a reason, at least.
With Bradford, there is 0 reason. Mind blowing how a man I thought was smart can do that.
What talent does Bradford have besides a line we got rid of all our stars
I’m sure he’s a nice guy as a hospital roommate.
The only way chip ca do right by me is get Adrian Peterson
Now that would have been a great play.
As it stands right now, the trades have netted us the following:
Out: Foles + McCoy + moving back 20 spots back from our 4th + 2016 2nd
In: Bradford + Alonso, maybe a conditional pick
I’m okay with the value swap of the Foles/Bradford trade, but I hate it when combined with the earlier one. The reason I was okay with the McCoy trade was because of the cap savings, but those all went down the drain on Bradford’s salary. Value-wise, this is, at best, a lateral move. Hopefully there are more trades on the way.
HMMMMMM.
975TheFanatic @975TheFanatic 5m5 minutes ago
Schefter “There were other teams interested in Bradford… Eagles had to give up what they did to get him.”
Other teams like the Browns, Jets, Titans… You’re in great company there, Chip.
yep, other teams we crap at QB
Right, other teams that have shit QBs, just like the Eagles.
And we still do. Mission accomplished!!
very hard to find a top qb though.
Not helping sending away 2nd round picks for QBs you know suck – and as a bonus, are always injured.
well that’s how trading for qbs works. why would teams like patriots, seattle try to trade for a qb who can start somewhere?
My point is that outbidding some of the teams that are consistently among the worst in football at evaluating talent is not a point in Kelly’s favor.
Being the tallest midget in the circus doesn’t make you a giant.
Unlike you, I’m still in the “trust Chip” camp, but it’s hard to dispute this point. If you’re reaching to “the Browns wanted him, too, but weren’t willing to spend as much you did!” as the rationalization for the price you paid, I’m not sure that should inspire confidence.
“Other teams” yet somehow none of these teams gets mentioned…..convenient
One team are the Browns, reportedly. If none of those other teams are TEN or TB, it doesn’t help us that there were horrible stupid teams out there with us.
but they were all getting picks back
so the redskins are trying to draft MM and get Pot Roast, we got Bradford and spent 2 years trying to sign Jason Worlids who reired at the age of 27? kid doesntr even want to play football ad THAT is our dream OLB? LOL Oh Chip…
so you rip the rumors about the Eagles trading a lot to go up and get MM, and now you rip the Eagles because someone in the top 5 might take him? which is it?
It’s called Bi-polar.
The kid is mentally ill, to be sure. We should try to be nice.
Why are you even still here?
Your boy Nick “Rainmaker” FOles is gone, thought us donkey fans didn’t understand how good he was?
Yes it is. The minute Schefter wrote we are the ones who give up a 2nd – that was a real, nasty punch in the stomach.
And NOBODY could believe it. Everyone was assuming it was us, because there is no other way for it to make any sense at all.
Imagine how the Rams fans must have felt: what, we found someone who’s dumb enough to trade for Bradford??? We get Foles? Mmmh, he was good in 2013. Hopefully we don’t have to give up too many picks.
What, we’re getting picks? How dumb is Philly?
Exactly. And here we thought we were getting their 10th pick to pay a QB made of glass 12 mil.
Exactly. Well, zero dead for Bradford, so what’s the problem? If someone likes him he’s gone.
Much easier to get from 10 to 2, though, so great deal, Chip.
Oh, wait a minute.
At the time, it looked like Chip was essentially paying cash to move up in the draft by eating Bradford’s salary. I was so impressed. Pretty clear now that Chip only wanted to get rid of Foles with this deal.
I really think Bellicheat is behind this somehow too.
Like Palpatin and Anakin ? whispering non sense in Chip’s ears?
Until I hear Chip say “Sam is our guy.” I’m holding out hope that this is part of something bigger. I just can’t wrap my mind around this, how does this make it any more “his” team? It’s almost like he’s going for a Moneyball type scenario…with more overpaying.
It doesn’t make sense with all the conditionally starting crap. Just accept that Chip REALLY wanted him and will likely start barring a 3rd ACL tear.
someone reported chip said “he identified Sam as a special Talent that can make his offense soar”
..
deal with it… being delusional is unbecoming….
He better be right or Lurie is axing his egomaniac ass.
I agree but it begs the question whether it is the fans or Chip that is being delusional.
“… being delusional is unbecoming….”
heh.
I’m very sceptical myself, mate. But you can’t rule out that Chip is playing the media at the moment. You just can’t. Nobody knows what he’s really thinking.
At the moment, it looks like he isn’t thinking at all. Doesn’t mean that HAS to be the case.
hopefully it is a stopgap…get best qb he thinks till opportunity to get top qb comes along.
All these moves seem like he is intentionally destroying our house like he’s a hydra agent or something
Rams GM right now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHhuQoQSiBg
Chip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl-rcmNLv8k
Any chance Bradford gets traded for a pick where we grab Hundley/Petty and still have our 20 to snag a RB/WR?
I think it’s time we call him, fellas. I have a full football depression and don’t know what to cheer for at the moment, other than maybe a failed physcial for Bradford.
Soooo. Oregon Ducker! Where are you? Is this Chips end game? Did he fooled us all along with looking and acting smart, when all he wanted has a bad QB who can’t stay healthy?
John Middlekauff
@JohnMiddlekauff
4 Min.
Former #Eagles FS Nate Allen will visit the #Raiders later today.
At least you can count on the Raiders for being stupid. Doesn’t help us, though.
yeah. watch him finally put it all together.
In Oakland? Good one, mate.
it doesn’t seem likely except for the fact that it would bum us all out. that makes it much more likely.
Maybe he wants to retire when he’s 28 after Peyton makes him look like Jarrad Page.
When you are labeling Chip as stupid, just remember that everyone thought Hannibal was stupid when he marched the elephants over the Andes. Everyone thought Custer was stupid for taking a stand at the Alamo. Everyone thought the Germans were stupid to bomb Pearl Harbor. But who looks stupid now, I ask you? Who?
everyone thought i was nuts when i gave away all my pants and moved to the swamp. 12 years later and who’s nuts now?
We Germans did a lot, a loooot of shit, but Pearl Harbor wasn’t us, mate.
Forget it. He’s rolling.
I see what you did here and it was awesome. o/
o
Not going to leave a brother hanging.
It’s a joke.
http://youtu.be/q7vtWB4owdE
Never saw that movie.
boooooooooo
Yep, you are correct. My bad.
.
.
.
.
.
(Psst, Hannibal didn’t cross the Andes and Custer wasn’t at the Alamo.)
I just read the german part, without getting the movie reference.
Hard to argue with logic like that.
I want to punch them in the face.
The responses to this tweet are hilarious.
But seriously, they are provoking it. I’m normally only a Twitter reader, but even I had to say something there.
Phil Savage
@SeniorBowlPhil
50 Min.
IMO, in a way, @Eagles hoping Sam Bradford can be the “Alex Smith” answer @KCChiefs found thru trade. Only get top 10 QB’s on rebound.
Phil Savage is telling me that Alex Smith is a Top 10 QB? Is he high?
Means draft pick, I’m assuming.
Why does it help my team to sign a former Top 10 pick when he clearly can’t play? Hell, Jake Locker was a top 10 pick. Does Chip want to sign Ryan Leaf?
Valid questions, all.
If we get Ryan Matthews might as well change our name to the philadelphia E.R
Welcolm to Philly , hope they can bring me some happiness lol
AP is on the move, according to NFLN. I will throw up if the Cowboys trade for him.
Oh god.
Would fit right into this Offseason so far.
jinxed us. all of us.
I was told by a poster on here that jinxes are no real things.
Nick’s 2013 paradoxically set the franchise back.
Imagine if we drafted Teddy Bridgewater.
Would have got more fr Nick too
The question isn’t “can bradford be better than he was with the rams and be an alex smith type quarterback?”
If that’s all you’re hoping for then this move is a failure already. What you, me and everyone down at novacare needs to be asking is “is Sam Bradford the guy who will lead us to the superbowl?”
My answer is no. I don’t see Bradford as a super bowl level guy, and I don’t think banking our future on him is a wise move. I would have much rather risked it all for Mariota, kept Foles as a competitive/backup piece, or gone into TC with a rookie like Hundley and let him and Foles battle it out. Instead we’re basically stuck with one guy, Bradford, and I’m willing to bet we give him an extension. If we only keep him on his current one year 12 million dollar deal on a “show me” type of situation, if he fails, who are we going to take next year as our franchise savior? Is there anyone who would be more perfect for Chip than Mariota next year?
I think this is Chip trying too hard. He’s forcing the issue with the roster, trying to make it work all at once, rather than building with an eye towards the future. Chip always says he wants to win now because he might not be here next year. That’s a great attitude as a coach, but a shitty attitude as a roster builder/general manager.
I rather be 0-16 rather than be 10-6 miss the playoffs and blow up the roster again.
Phil Savage:
“IMO, in a way, @Eagles hoping Sam Bradford can be the “Alex Smith” answer @KCChiefs found thru trade. Only get top 10 QB’s on rebound.”
Saw this down below, this is exactly what I’m talking about. What the eff has Alex Smith lead the chiefs to? The guy didn’t throw a single TD to a WR this year, none, zip, nada. I know they don’t have a murders row of receivers, but that’s absurd. Dwayne Bowe might not be a pro bowler but he’s not chopped liver and he’s scored 10 TD’s in a season before.
Smith is a solid game manager and you can win with him, but you’re not super bowl bound with him. The only way this kind of strategy at QB works is if you have an elite elite defense, ala the 2000 Ravens or the Bucs. Then you can take your game manager Brad Johnson/Trent Dilfer type guy and win.
We don’t have that defense and honestly I don’t think we’re going to try and build it.
to me they tried to see if Foles could be their Alex Smith.
Except now you don’t have a 2nd round draft pick.
We still may end up with MM. Just 1 day into the 2015 season…
I really think that’s over.
all the other teams also wanted Bradford instead of mm or jw.
we are going to look good this year
All this crap and Uncharted gets delayed FML 😛
Another way of looking at this is simple.
Kelly realized the team is in the not good enough category and needs a QB. He can’t get mariotta so he got Bradford.
Possibly a bad deal but he felt he needed to move. Try something.
I don’t get a talented QB – so let’s just go with the guy who sucks and whom I’ll pay 13m to tear his ACL.
It’s just stupid. If you can accept bad QB play, there are a million ways to go. Sending away a 2nd round pick is about as stupid as it gets.
It obviously isn’t stupid to CK. He obviously thinks SB can play and play well in his system – that or he really is trade bait.
duh
Even if Bradford can play in this league, which he hasn’t proven so far and he’s in his 5th year – he simply can’t stay healthy. And Chip as a GM just has to freaking know that.
SB played for a shitty RAMS team. Put Aaron Rodgers or another “star” on that team and see how that went.
Rams had an elite Defense. The guy who was holding them back is the guy we just traded a 2nd rounder for.
we’ll see.
name his top receiving options as a ram. his pro bowl OL?
sanchez had shit around him on jets why do we need bradford following that logic.
watch his throws video
Bradford really doesn’t suck.
and maclin didn’t re-tare his acl did he?
From Sheil via Twitter: Three active QBs have attempted 1,700 passes, completed worse than 59%
and have a YPA under 6.7: Bradford, Sanchez and Matt Cassel.
And please, don’t come at me with the Rams are a bad team theme. They were bad because of him, not because of the talent around him.
ok. you should’ve sent your resume to Lurie when he was interviewing for coaches
Oh please. If everyone is laughing at you, maybe there is something wrong with you.
All this crap and Uncharted gets delayed FML 😛
This trade also doesn’t tell us much about the value of either QB on the market except that they thought Bradford was worth more than Foles. If you thought he was worth a 1st before the trade, he might still be worth that.
God, I’m bargaining so hard with this.
My 12 year-old son says our slogan is no longer, “In Chip we trust.” It’s now, “It’s in potato chips we trust to get us through an Eagles losing season.”
Only if they are Utz, then I approve.
Catching up on the news today… our new RB is Ryan Mathews? He sucked even when he wasn’t hurt! He’s one of the most injured running backs in the league!
What happened to durability being a key trait?? We’ve signed 2 of the most injured players in the league to be key players for us this year.
Boykin leaving of course without ever having a shot at starting outside. Could see this coming. Kid was one of the best young CB’s in the league, a star in the making in 2013. Finds out he’s never going to get a crack at outside CB, despite the absolute pile of shit we have out there. Apathy sets in, play regresses, and he’s gone.
Boykin leaving or you are predicting future doom and gloom?
Boykin and Barkley and Kendricks and Peters and Kelce and #20 and the next 5 #1s to the Jets for their first.
Book it!
Thurmond makes Boykin expendable. No reason to sign him otherwise. Unless they’re finally moving him outside, which they’re not.
Thurmond was injured.
Thurmond will compete outside.
mathews is very obviously a beast when healthy but yeah he’s had injuries and isn’t reliable.
Mathews is very obviously a beast when healthy??? Ok.
It’s true that RM is always injured but to say that he isn’t a very good RB when healthy is simply not true.
Boykin is trash.
Kelly’s adopted the GARP theory on players.
After 2 disastrous injuries, they become injury proof . . .
because, you know, what are the odds of another major injury happening?
[“GARP” refers to the book and movie by that name. Robin Williams played Garp in the movie. While on a house-hunting expedition with his new bride after getting married, he sees a small plane crash into a house. He tells the broker that’s the house he wants — because the odds of another disaster striking the property are astronomical.]
I do feel fairly confident that Chip has stats that tell him what types of injuries are persistent and which are random. Doesn’t mean random (flipping tails 10 times in row) won’t bite him in the rear, but I bet these are calculated risks based on evidence.
Jimmy Kempski @JimmyKempski 38s39 seconds ago
Wouldn’t close the book on Marcus Mariota to the Eagles just yet.
I would.
we are going with Bradford. and tis going to be a lot better than people think.
“and tis going to be a lot better than people think”
Said all potential HCs next year?
well as bad as everyone thinks it will be that’s not going out on a limb really
Why, because the Eagles PR person put something out saying so?
no because Kelly can make it work. the defense is better.
we get some young offensive talent in the draft, since we are not selling out for a rookie qb, and we will look good.
Kelly proved even he can’t make a starting QB out of Sanchez. And by all his faults as a GM, he knows his stuff as HC.
Bradford will be injured, like always, and then we have the Sanchize.
if our defense was better sanchez would’ve had a couple extra wins
Can I just correct you:
If Bradley Fletcher was never born we’d have a couple of extra wins.
We have added Maxwell so far, that’s all. Thurmond has proven two things so far: he’s injury prone and he’s a good slot CB. Guess what, the slot CB was already on our roster, we need outside help.
Also, while I was never against trading Shady and not matching Macs contract, you have to replace those guys. Adding the 100th players who can’t stay healty is NOT the way to replace Shady.
There is no capable Safety signed to far. And the decent ones are getting signed away. There are no good Safeties in the draft.
There is no RG signed. The decent ones are getting signed away.
As it stands right know, Chip may have the worst 1st day of FA in many, many years in this league.
adding Kiko could be a game changer.
Rahim Moore on his way to Houston
https://twitter.com/caplannfl/status/575686271588253697
Just great. We’re signing invalids, others are signing real players.
Kelly has a master plan to get the fan base to not give a fuck about the season and approach it from a completely zen perspective.
In that fashion every game is already lost and we will enjoy every moment of success to its fullest.
He’s not simply a football coach but a life guru on mass scale.
just a reminder , everyone in history that has been really special or a “genius” or whatever had every single person saying he was awful and dint know what he was doing and was put down by the masses… every time.
im not saying chips a genius, but I am saying no one here is in a position to know better.
and by the way the old way of thinking got us zero superbowls wins so why not let the coach do what he thinks can get us there somehow some way some day.
Bradford is good.
we are rebuilding the defense with vets like we all desperately wanted at the end of the season.
im exited to see this team play.
cant wait.
we need a wide receiver and we aren’t selling the farm out for an rookie that WOULD actually set us back years.
go eagles
i agree with the first paragraph, but it has also been used to justify some boneheaded things
my point is just that why hire a coach considered the most innovative ever and make him do the same old stuff that we fans want…
whats the point?
let’s go!
no i’m with you.
Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole.
Actually, a chauvinist pig asshole is something he’s been called many times.
also he nailed sophia from the Golden Girls (according to her)
I believe the reference was to a David Bowie song
I think it was suicidal tendencies
Modern Lovers (Jonathan Richman)
But it’s a punk/no wave classic with lots of good covers.
You are correct. Bowie actually did a cover of it which is what I must have heard
Repo Man soundtrack too!
He could walk down the street and girls could not resist his stare.
Rahim Moore visiting Texans, both Antrell Rolle and Ron Parker visiting Bears, Gilchrist visiting Jets, Nate Allen visiting Raiders
I have no idea what they’re doing at S. Jeron Johnson?
Put out an offer sheet to Tashaun Gipson?
Trade for Dashon Goldson?
Trust the doctors who repaired Wolff?
Mac:
Rooting like heck for Wolff . . .
But it’s out of the doctor’s hands, I think.
Microfracture surgery — even mini-micro (as Wolff’s was called) — doesn’t have a great success rate for athletes who play collision sports.
That said Belichick commented about Wolff and his surgery a couple months back when the news broke.
I think he’s more familiar with the process. (I’m sure he is.)
Hopefully, he’ll weigh back in.
what a joke… hopefully browns dont want to pay Tashuan Gipson and straight up trade him us… he was better then every safety with the exception of McCourty anyway…..
…
Rahim is visiting the texans but word is good chance he leaves and takes another visit tomorrow before he signs…. hopefully next stop Philly, but i have no confidence right now, and im not even sure how much money we have left
Unfortunately, I think this is Chip. A few months ago when Chip took full control, there was a story about how he wanted to draft Matthews in the first and Taylor Hart in the 3rd. Those players were available and they drafted them in the 2nd and 5th.
And now he overpaid for two players in trades when he (probably) could have gotten those players for a lot less.
Point is there is enough evidence that Chip goes and gets the players that he wants and doesn’t care what the price is. Either that or he simply has no feel or patience try to maximize these transactions.
Which is too bad because it just means this will not end well for anyone.
or he knows better then fans. and it will end well
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_1EZOeUsAANsVL.png
previous photoshop from ZooWithRoy
After sleeping on it, if there wasn’t the 2016 2nd round pick involved I’d be fine with the trade. That bothers me though, why did they give up that pick?
i feel like it’s karma for all McNabb, Kolb, Feely ripoffs we’ve pulled in the past.
What got me through the night last night was telling myself over and over that I need to remember that nomatter what, at least 5 will always love me
Yea … I in no way expected Foles to be here next year. And, while I like him (more as a person than a player…but he’s a damn good QB too), I could see Kelly needing to move on from Foles. He just doesn’t fit with Chip’s offense. A straight up Foles for Bradford trade minus the draft picks I’m fine with. They’re both injury prone and Bradford has a bunch more upside. I’m just not convinced at all that Bradford has a 2nd round pick and 13 times the salary more upside.
probably because talent wise Bradford is better then foles.
more upside.
Maclin got 5 years, $55M with $22.5M guaranteed. That’s more money than Maxwell in first 5 years although Maxwell got more guaranteed money.
I would say I’m happy we didn’t match but the way this team is going…
Yep… we can talk about not wanting to pay that much but then they go and use all that cap space on a big roll of the dice at QB
Sam is making Mac’s money I get freaking pissed just thinking about it DAMN!!!
yea when you think about it that way the trade becomes even more lopsided: Foles, Maclin, a second and 4th for Bradford and a 5th
maclin walked out on the team for money
And we gave the money he wanted to Bradford
qb is more important
Devil’s advocate – if your explanation for why SB’s stats are so awful when healthy is that he lacked talent at WR and RB while accruing those stats …
better coach here and we will get a young WR in the draft I guess. and RB too.
Rookie outside WRs – traditionally have been high performers, yes?
I think it’s totally reasonable to expect high level performances from rookies at all our remaining glaring holes: S, CB, RG, WR, RB
RB? Actually, yes. RG? maybe not “high,” but adequate is certainly not unusual there. S and CB seems highly unlikely. WR can be adequate possibly, but high level is rare, especially out of top 10 picks. COoper is awful, Matthews is good but not great, Huff has potential but has some serious flaws currently, and then you hope to get an adequate WR in the draft. Doesn’t sound like something that would put the Rams’ WRs to shame to me at all. And obviously, we’re all counting on Kelce, Mathis, and Peters to stay perfectly healthy for 16 games, which is not likely based on circumstances and history.
This isn’t how it works.
The Patriots didn’t just trade Darrel Revis to the Jets for nothing.
I know that’s not how it works
Even Mac couldn’t help Bradford or Sanchez.
What stupid idiots! Who would want a guy with two (2) ACL repairs?
LOL
(for my own knowledge) — why do people keep posting this guy? is it an inside joke or for funny or is this guy important?
WIP is the call signal for the Philly local radio, so this is a play on the local callers. Like what the local caller would say, if they were funny and spoke in short sentences.
Eliot Shorr-Parks @EliotShorrParks 32m32 minutes ago
Agreed –> RT @JimmyKempski Wouldn’t close the book on Marcus Mariota to the #Eagles just yet.
I know I know its Eliot but he has nailed this offseason so far
But at this point Mariota would have to drop.
But with Chip we just never know. And we will never know till it happens.
I agree. I think now Chip waits. He wouldn’t pay what Tenn or Tampa wanted. Without knowing what they wanted, how can we blame Chip?
So separately but related he tried to upgrade his QB position. Which is you know, near impossible to do.
“So separately but related he tried to upgrade his QB position. Which is you know, near impossible to do.”
Giving up 2nd round picks for guys who are always injured doesn’t help you with finding an upgrade at QB.
but you are just complaining about the value of the trade, and not having been in the room with Chip on all his calls, he might know more than you about that.
Why?!?! I still can’t fathom this trade it’s soooo bad it’s so blatantly awful
I watched some Bradford on youtube. There’s a video of all of his throws 15+ yards over one season. When people say he’s a great thrower, I can see what they mean. Great arm but also can throw at any speed and arc. Accurate. You also end up seeing just how many times his receivers dropped perfect balls that hit them in the hands.
Can’t throw well when you’re in a wheelchair.
I don’t know man, can’t the eagles lobby for some affirmative action to allow a nurse to wheel him around the pocket?
He commandeered grandma’s stair glide
no no no.
you obviously didn’t hear, he stinks and stinks bad.
don’t believe what you see him do, rely on fan postings for your opinion please.
Brandon Graham meeting with the media at 1 PM EDT. Bradford at 4:15 PM EDT. I know we are not fans of the trade but I really hope the fans don’t take too much of it out on Bradford, who didn’t ask to be in this situation. However I’m sure they probably will
Agree
why would they stop now.
they booed the team and foles in the first quarter of the first game last year.
I don’t think they do the PCs in a packed stadium, just with a bunch of chubby reporters. I think he’ll survive. Oh you meant the regular season and not the PC…..
Yeah, the PC is probably safe (though you never know with a few of these guys).
Bradford isn’t at fault here, you’re right. But if a GM f***s it up like Chip has as we speak now, there will always be a shitstorm.
The problem is Chip is not speaking to the media, so they’ll take it out on someone.
Snowballs at Santa II?
You’re right. Chip is the one derving the heat.
Bradford would instantly become a legend if he came out on crutches and wearing a Titans hat.
fans diont have access to a press conference
Fortunately for Bradford, he won’t be healthy enough to get booed.
what’s the deal with those teams at the top of the draft rather having Bradford then MM or Winston?
are eagles fans the only smart coaches in the league or what?
Those teams must have stock in some medical insurance company
or they have talent evaluators that are professionals not just fans in panic mode over every move.
we scream make some moves, then wait no not that move!
wah
Why wouldn’t TB or TN want Bradford?
Experienced. Proven he can play at least pretty well.
Good face for the franchise. (Handsome devil)
Yes, he’s more fragile than a new-born baby.
But if you can commit highway robbery (like the Rams did) and come away with Bradford, too . . .
Make the deal.
Why wouldnt they make the deal directly with the Rams?
Two reasons, possibly.
One, neither TB nor TN had a QB the Rams wanted.
That would be one argument.
Two, for TB or TN to give up a 2nd in 2016, they’d be giving up *most likely* a top-half of the round 2nd.
The Eagles, I believe, think they’re giving up a lower round 2nd.
Is any of this right? Haven’t a clue.
But it makes sense (which also doesn’t mean it’s right)
it could be Bradford isn’t as important to the trade, but Bradford is an upgrade to Foles (in Chip’s mind) that lets him sit back and see if MM drops a little.
could be.
but that 2nd in 2016 . . . ugh
I hear you.
For me, the key point that no one seems to be addressing (forgive me if someone has, there’re way too many comments to sift through) is the conditionalities attached to the 2016 pick the Eagles will (potentially) be receiving from the Rams. As best I understand it, it will be a 3rd rounder if Bradford plays 0 snaps, a 4th if he plays anywhere between 0-50% of snaps, and (presumably) no pick at all if he plays more than that. The question I have is whether the team for whom he plays these snap percentages is integral to the conditionality? Is it a 3rd rounder if Bradford plays 0 2015 snaps in the NFL, or just 0 2015 snaps for the Eagles? Because that is a huge distinction, and if clarified would go a long way toward illuminating whether we were truly after Bradford to be our starting QB, or merely after him knowing he could be flipped as part of the presumptive chase for Mariota.
I had asked the same thing earlier with the same drawn conclusion. I don’t know that that kind of info is available yet.
Yeah, I also tweeted at Schefter about this and got no response. I kind of wonder if it’s not being released is intentional, insofar as it might tip their hand a bit. If they truly are trying to flip Bradford in an effort to move up to the top of the draft, the stage we’re at right now is the most difficult of that process: we have to give off the appearance that we’re truly excited to have Bradford as our starting QB. Maybe it’s a bluff, maybe not, but if Tampa/Tenn/NYJ are able to clearly call it as one, we lose a lot of potential leverage in trying to make jump.
The second Chip calls any of them to discuss a trade for their pick, they should be in full “BS!” mode and call his bluff every time. The only hope for MM is that Chip has something already worked out with a team like the Jets, and they’re just keeping mum to hopefully avoid someone jumping them.
Except, it doesn’t have to BE b.s. If Chip truly does like Bradford, and think he could be a good fit in his offense, that’s all the leverage he needs. In this scenario, I’m taking the report that multiple teams at the top of the draft prefer Bradford to Winston/Mariota at face value. Obviously Chip loves Mariota, and in an ideal scenario would be able to land him, but if he’s okay with Bradford as a fallback, and teams at the top of the draft with coach/G.M. tandems under the gun, and needing to win now, truly prefer Bradford, then something should get done.
If Chip initiates that call, they have him over the barrel. I don’t make that trade unless he overpays. And if he doesn’t, I might take MM and see if I can extort him after the fact. There is plenty of talent at the top (non-QB) that standing pat has plenty of value for them, too.
Yeah, but if you’re, say, Ken Whisenhunt, and your job is on the line, do you really play hardball over extracting the maximum possible value or do you go get your QB, the one you think you can win with. Everyone knows Chip wants Mariota, which puts us in a sub-optimal bargaining position. But, if Chip knows that one or more teams up top REALLY want Sam Bradford, things even out a good bit.
I don’t think anyone values Bradford that highly, or they would have outbid the Eagles for him in the first place. He’s a decent fall-back, but I doubt anyone (maybe not even Chip) sees him as THE guy.
AJ Smith did exactly that to the Giants . . . taking Eli Manning 1st overall, then extracting a 3rd, a future 1st and 5th to move down four spots and get Rivers (whom Smith wanted anyway).
Big cost to the G-men.
All they got was 2 SB wins.
You’ve said too much Brian. Let’s see this play out. Chip and Pat have made a critical decision here.
OD:
Sorry, but who’s Pat?
And what exactly are you saying?
Personally, I think Lovie Smith and the Glazers would be much happier making Bradford the face of their franchise . . .
But — as a much smarter guy than I said — “for a price, Ugarte, for a price.”
I still think it’s a big price. Involving at least another player and a 1st in 2016.
Pat Shurmer
Thanks, RNE.
and he seems to be hinting that someone up top will take MM and trade with us, but that could be 1, 2, 6 who knows.
I love how OD slips in and out like he is a GD spy or something, talking in his own yoda like way.
beautiful spy imagery
I think with Chip’s presser (see above for quotes) he is either really into Bradford or is making his bluff for MM much stronger – now he can say, well geez could I take MM and give you some picks? I guess maybe, but only if it’s fair.
OD-Are you feeling better or worse about getting MM?
Greg A. Bedard @GregABedard 35s35 seconds ago
Seahawks only have first-round grades for 16 players in this year’s draft. Wow. http://mmqb.si.com/2015/03/11/jameis-winston-roger-goodell-nfl-trades-free-agency-retirement/5/ …
Crazy…
I don’t think that’s really unusual.
yeah imo a good draft is 20 legit first round grades… thats why crying over the MS2 pick is so stupid
For their scheme….
I’ve supported Chip this whole time, but he’s starting to make it look really hard to endorse without coming off as blindly loyal. This offseason has been an unmitigated disaster. Can someone please explain to me how Bradford has more value than Foles in a trade? Really dying to know how the guy who is held together by toothpick and chewed gum is worth more than a guy that has actually played football in the last two years.
well not 2 years right?
he was injured and out all last half last year wasn’t he?
Not exactly two years, but he has missed 25 straight games.
yeah I mean foles didn’t play 2 years
The Jets seem down with a trade. So if we do that on draft day, and save the compensation from not having to move to 1 or 2 (and who knows, could be Tenn and Tampa were asking for the moon) then Chip is a hero again.
And if not Chip tried to upgrade the QB position after having clearly decided Foles is not his man.
Even before Bradford-Foles trade . . .
A move up to #6 looked a lot like (i) swapping 1sts, (ii) a pair of 2nds, and (iii) Nick Foles or the pick the Birds would get for him.
That’s kind how it looks now if Bradford’s included at the cost of a 2nd
And getting Bradford and then flipping him with a 2nd may be enough. (Close call, I think.)
But the challenge still remains getting up to No. 1.
I think getting mm is over and done with.
Kelly seems to want some experience a least at being a pro qb
probably right.
that said . . . I give Ernie Accorsi and the NYG enormous credit for identifying Eli Manning as their QB and paying the ransom the Chargers’ AJ Smith demanded for Manning.
SD gave NY Manning by swapping spots in Rd 1 — going from 1 to 4 and getting Rivers — and also picking up a 3rd and next year’s 1st and 5th from the Giants.
The G-men paid a ton. And Manning gave them 2 SBs.
That’s why Kelly shouldn’t settle for a pretty good QB.
But he must believe his scheme and brain will compensate.
I don’t think 1 is in play. I think 5 or 6 could be. But Chip wasn’t willing to go with Foles if MM doesn’t fall. So he made the trade for Bradford.
jets have a new qb
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/11/texans-trade-ryan-fitzpatrick-to-jets-for-conditional-draft-pick/
I wonder of it’s possible for chip to reimburse me for the McCoy probowl jersey got last year?
not if we trade for colt mccoy too
why? was he not on the probowl team last year?
I got the one when I was team sanders vs team rice
upset about a pro bowl jersey when half eagles nation is crying about their eagle jerseys lol…. as if i feel bad for anyone with a jersey lol
..
you should be happy you have his probowl jersey instead of his eagle jersey if anything
No way it was more expensive and it has the Eagles logo on it
Alright, I’m ready for the bargain bin round of FA.
[…] I’m a big Chip Kelly fan. I think he’s very smart. When someone like that does something that shocks me, my first instinct isn’t to just hate it. Instead, I wonder what he knows that I don’t know. I wonder what he sees that I don’t see. What made him want Bradford? That’s why I wrote the post trying to explain the move. […]
To brighten your day:
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/article-2/Chiefs-Sign-WR-Jeremy-Maclin-Press-Conference-to-be-Held-Wednesday-at-2-pm/55caa131-2baa-4598-9728-ff42af2a59b2
Maclin is dead in this city.
I agree with Tommy that Chip probably isn’t planning on moving Bradford. I am not buying in though.
so, Maclin didnt give the Eagles the chance to match his final offer, he saw the direction and wanted out of here i guess, like Gore….dont know how else not to explain using your best offer as leverage to try and get your team to match
…
and Trent Cole allegedly signed for what we were offering him in the restructure talks?
If we offered 8 mil for a restructure than we couldn’t have cut him over 500000
It’s Chip’s Ship.
And full of shit, at least at the moment.
isn’t this the same fan base that booed the Mcnabb draft pick? that wanted Gus Bradley as coach?
the track record says lets see how the games pan out….
maybe we don’t know shhh
weak sauce comment.
Real weak.
super weak
Terrible Week.
great season coming
no not even close. that was a much smaller contingent…like a 610 cult and hangerson. i knew a lot of serious fans that wanted a qb not mcnabb though
who was the other qb?
Couch or Culpepper ?
so there you have it, wrong again
Akili Smith.
right Culpeper was a different year I think
Actually he was the same year, but the Browns’ were the ones who got the real bust at number 1 Tim Couch. Wonder what Reid would’ve done if McNabb went to the Browns? Culpepper would’ve fit well with Reid also. Just checked, Dante went number 11, was the 4th QB chosen, and the 2nd best considered how everything turned out. Notables that went ahead of Culpepper were Champ Bailey, Torry Holt, Rickey Williams, Edgerinn James. Damn, there’s some good players in that top ten.
Everyone here is going to hope the moves pan out.
30 jerks at the draft booed McNabb.
Bradley was always viewed, on this blog, as a 2nd choice.
_____________
Will Bradford deliver?
Well, we have no clue how bad his knee injury was — he may not even play a down this year at $13M.
But even if he can hobble out there . . . sure, he’ll put up pretty good numbers.
Jeez, Sanchez put up pretty good numbers in this system.
It’s not about Bradford, if he’s able to play, posting good numbers.
It’s about why Kelly would give the Rams a 2nd Rd pick.
That’s what rankles . . . for me at least.
Had to outbid Cleveland so that he can have the chess piece he needs to land the big fish (duck).
right, but that pick can be recouped in the future when we trade away the next star we have
anyone know how much money we have?
..
rahim Moore is said to take another visit tomorrow, but that can change if houston makes him a big enough offer to leave without a deal…
…
Curious to see what the market for Dwayne Bowe is for, since we basically care more that WR can block instead of get open and catch
…
we signed a bunch of injury risks, feel like we just targeted the least durable free agents. since we dont care about durability, might as well sign WR Cecil short, talented kid always hurt….
Cecil Shorts is always hurt you say?! SIGN HIM NOW!
atleast he is talented.. more i can say about healthy Coop
imagine how good coop could be if he was injured.
botto . . . en fuego today
Haha Googled that word, cause you know words much more goodly than me, and along with that word search found an El Fuego restaurant in Philly on Market Street.
sorry, yeah I am bummed about the negativity, I got more excited as I thought about Bradford last night in this offense. so now im fire up yes.
the positive: we drastically improved our pass difference mainly in coverage in terms of LB’s and CB’s… we are a rahim Moore or Tashuan Gipson away from being much improved on the back end….. we are still strong against the run, and Kiko is a tackling Machine…. so really, we are a safety and maybe a interior pass rusher like Omigawbe from UCLA(since we lose curry next year), and maybe a 4th OLB away from a pretty serious defense….
…
ton of work to do on offense via the draft
our defense is going to be much improved, if that all we get out of this off season its a win.
chip can numbers on offense with guys off the street
Chip Kelly Presser right now
thanks
Chip Dispelled any notion of moving up for MM
Chip concerned with the players injuries, but cant make moves to get these talented players if they hadnt been hurt…
a team offered us a 1st round pick? for what?? catch up half the sentence
He said someone offered them a first round draft pick for Bradford this morning. Not said was that it was an inside line and Howie Roseman immeadiately yelled asshole and hung up.
thanks, wow, we are clearly underestimating this guy value on the market
Shitty teams are shitty for a reason.
Bradford
Ok chip is clearly closing the idea of MM in midnight green.
Didnt bring Sam in here for any CHIP, I am the only Chip here.
huh?
quote from Chip talking about Sam and as a trade CHIP
oh you wrote and Chip ,i get it
well in that case, great quote
Ms2 on bowie haha
Chip didnt have final say on previous 2 years; draft FA etc.
is that what he said?
Yea just said it in the presser.
I guess that answers that…our 1st round pick(either good or bad) was Howie’s pick…
Exactly, all Howie since 2012.
After yesterday, I would say that Chip wasn’t exactly truthful.
The leash is longer for Chip, but the injured players theme is getting stale.
no wonder we didn’t trade up to get OBJ.
damn!
Okay . . .
That’s why Chip didn’t tell Lurie, “Roseman or me.”
I don’t understand your thinking, can you elaborate? (I cannot watch the presser until tonight, if that matters.)
retched irony
Ah, got it. I couldn’t tell without the context of the press conference.
Walks off the podium with a Frank Underwood double tap.. lol
I thought exactly the same, mixed feeling about it, terrified and impressed aha
I feel for Chip in that scenario though, like a Media Roast
Is this a joke, or did this really happen?
It really did
Re: “Chip Dispelled any notion of moving up for MM”
Commenter James wrote that.
_____________
Rather than compile the list, I’ll just say . . .
We all learned more than a year ago that what Chip Kelly says publicly isn’t worth spit.
He’ll lie to camera without a hint of regret.
And that’s as it should be.
So is MM still in play? Since Kelly all but said “no,” I understand the answer to be “very well could be.”
Do you have a clear example of him lying to the media? I tend to remember that he is instead very honnest (but blurry) with his intentions and that we are always trying to read between the lines.
I guess Nick Foles being the QB for the next millennium doesn’t count…
He said if he is keeping this level of play that he would be so I would say it is indeed an honnest statement
you’re making that up
“Lying” was a poor word choice.
Dissembling is probably more accurate.
I’m not criticizing. At all.
I just don’t believe anything he says short of explaining a play.
I’m on board with you on that
Naw AC, MM is not in play. 🙂
OD:
Are you being ironical?
Or are you ending dreams?
he’s afraid the FO of the other teams read IB. Probably true.
Look AC, I know for a fact Bradford is our QB for the next 1,000 years. 🙂
Just to be clear, Chip is in fact committed to Bradford. He and Pat (who coached Bradford) know what they are getting, and they like it.
So, if you’re a GM do not expect Chip to sell the future of the Eagles to trade up. This is not a game. But if you really want Bradford and we can get MM, we can talk.
OD . . .
Your information and thoughtful comments — and your good humor — have been a boon to IB.com the past few weeks.
Really appreciated. By me and many, many others, I’m sure.
I really appreciate the sentiment AC. Yesterday was very, very tough as I knew it would be. I try not to throw gasoline on the fire when emotions are high. Really high stakes at this time in Eagles history, could be a turning point over the cliff or a chance to soar. Time will tell.
exactly. I hope he falls and we see what happens. I’ll be away and miss it all, but I’ll read 10,000 comments upon my return.
I’m laughing very hard . . .
Played like Cliburn!!!
LIAR!!
Is there another PC?
Not til 5:30 PM EST for Maxwell and Bradford apparently
thanks
I like how, now that Roseman’s been canned from his GM job, Kelly’s essentially blaming him for the last two drafts.
And when Reid was canned, Lurie indirectly blamed him for the drafts before 2012 by touting Roseman’s UNCANNY drafting ability.
Where’s Lurie to clear this up?
I guess, with Lurie giving Kelly all the GM power, Lurie’s now conceding that Reid AND Roseman couldn’t draft.
the jury is out on the drafts.
Not for Kelly.
Let’s not forget most important info from presser: Boykin will Compete with Carroll and Thurmond for outside corner
cool
Take that to the bank.
Really, chip said that? Awesome
mathews deal 5 mill guaranteed per schefter. 3 yrs 11.5 million pending physical.
1-year deal if necessary.
given the guaranteed money
Like it, add a rookie and the rb position is fixed
https://twitter.com/caplannfl/status/575720653803905025
doesn’t make sense now does it?
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/575721347482963968
Three headed monster is back
Whoever is Polk’s agent . . . he should be looking for a job with another team for his client.
Like yesterday!
wow gonna add some wing T ?
Go all wishbone!
Re: GARP-ACL Injury Theory . . . DOA
Here’s some interesting information about the recurrence of ACL injuries:
“One expert in the field of knee injuries says it’s not unusual for a player that has undergone surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament to re-tear the same ACL.
“It’s fairly common, actually,” said Dr. Bert Mandelbaum of the Institute for Sports Medicine in Los Angeles. “When you look at all data and you compare
people who’ve torn their ACL, they have a 10 times greater likelihood of tearing their other ACL or the same one.
“The probability’s about 10-fold greater.”
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/can-rams-count-on-bradford-long-in/article_9d095957-3152-5870-85a7-50ff848fc5ee.html
____________
Sam Bradford tore the ACL in his left knee on Oct. 20, 2013 against Carolina.
The ACL in the same knee was torn again 10 months later on August 23, 2014 in a preseason game in Cleveland.
______________
Apparently, there’s no reliable data on 3 consecutive ACL injuries . . . but who remembers Cornelius Ingram?
TRIFECTA, anyone?
Do we have an update of our current cap? I suppose we are going to extend bradford but probably will cost around 12m$ per year
The Eagles 2015 are like a rotisserie football team . .
woo-hoo!!!
Maclin officially a Chief, hate to see him go but happy for him that he joins andy, wish him the best
Re: Press Conf – Kelly on Taking Control
“Chip Kelly didn’t think he needed personnel control, Kelly said Wednesday during a surprise news conference at NovaCare. The demotion of general manager Howie Roseman was all team chairman Jeffrey Lurie’s idea. . .
“I just had a meeting with him [Lurie] like I do at the end of every year, in terms of the direction of what we’re doing and how we go from being a 10-6 team to a team that can win the Super Bowl.
“That was a decision that Jeffrey
made.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Chip-power-shift-was-Luries-idea.html
_____________
Not a single false statement in those quotes.
And the implication that Lurie — without any need to choose — canned HR could not be more un-true.
Kelly’s no boy scout. C’mon.
You gotta respect the man’s ability to wiggle.
I’m afraid that getting murray would be a poisonned gift because it would probably mean AP to the cowgirls…
Re: MM trade-up
Kelly said:
“Let’s dispel that right now. We will never mortgage our future to move up high in the first round of the draft.”
__________
So what exactly does he mean by “mortgage”?
And “future”?
The Giants traded two 1sts, a 3rd and a 5th to obtain SD’s rights to Eli Manning.
Giants mortgage the hell out of their future into two SB wins in 7 years.
__________
What’s the point of playing rotisserie football with free agents and draft picks if you don’t have the BEST QB for your system?
Kelly’s confidence that Bradford’s better than Foles and “good enough” to push his system forward borders on hubris.
Regardless, Kelly’s view is disappointing.
If he’d said, in substance, “I think Bradford’s better than Mariota for this team,” then he’s on record and let’s move on.
But he didn’t. This is about Kelly believing he’s smarter than every D.C. in the NFL and having a scheme better than the talent on every opposing defense.
Especially those DC’s and defensive guys you run into in the playoffs.
I wonder if his drive to win “now” is coming at the expense of the bigger picture of winning for a while.
saying that MM is the best qb of this draft won’t help to outsmart the other teams though
No. But does it matter, really, once you call the GMs at the top of the draft about a move up?
Accorsi and the Manning family made Eli’s intentions clear.
But even if they hadn’t, would that have changed the structure of the SD-NYG deal in 2004?
In any event, seems hard to believe Bradford’s impact on this offense will be what Mariota’s could have been in Y-2 or Y-3.
But Kelly wants to win right now.
Some — like Ernie Accorsi — may call that short-sighted.
winning is winning. now is better then maybe later.
since there are no guarantees in the future, go with win now.
this isn’t aimed at Frencheaglesfan but I think there is too much focus here sometimes on what people think are negotiating 101 tactics, like I can’t call you and have to wait for the call. You can make the call and still not pay more than you want to pay. The value is what the value is, no matter who calls who. Saying well if I’m at 6 and Chip calls me, I can get all his players and picks is not true.
he won’t mortgage but he will take out a line of credit (ok, also a mortgage but you get the point) to go to # 6 with the Jets.
AVC he can’t say well we did this as a backup, but I’d sure like MM to fall so we could get him without paying a king’s ransom. Maybe he is in love with Bradford (I doubt it). But I wouldn’t pay much attention to the words coming out of his mouth.
I’d root for MM to slip to Jets and then see what happens.
maybe mm isn’t as nfl ready as we seem to think?
Sounds like many fans are ascribing some negative elements to Kelly’s character, and I can understand it, but I don’t agree. Kelly has shown that he can break down the game to his players and, he’s done it with a degree of success wherever he’s been. If he thinks that Bradford gives his guys a better chance to win a game, win the division, win a playoff game, I have no trouble believing that his expertise is worth more than the spectators and interpreters from the media who help to create consensus, sometimes, without having an informed opinion. Bradford’s ability to stay on the field is clearly a question that apparently doesn’t bother Kelly as much as it bothers Eagles fans.
It sounds like you think that MM would be the best QB for Kelly’s system, but Kelly has eschewed the word “system” since the day he arrived. When asked many times why he does not find a mobile QB to run his spread offense he has answered, more than once, that mobility is no edge if you are running for your life, or because you don’t see the open receiver, or you aren’t accurate or you don’t have the arm strength. The degree of success that Foles and Sanchez have had playing for Kelly, reinforces his emphasis on primary requirements for a QB. Both Foles and Sanchez would have been more successful last season, in my opinion, if they could have anticipated the open receivers, and been on time and accurate more often than they were. I don’t know of any QB that I would call great who cannot excel at those aspects of the position. Kelly is not here to repeat Andy Reid’s penchant for coming up a little short. He wants to win, and he seems convinced that he cannot succeed without taking some risks. By going for Bradford, he’s seeing a QB that he believes is polished and capable, and the big risk is his health. That is a good risk, if he has seen enough of Nick to believe that Nick cannot play well consistently enough to achieve success.
Does Kelly have a big ego? You betcha, but I wouldn’t confuse confidence with hubris. He may suffer that failing in the area of talent evaluation, but in the case of Bradford, who went number one in the draft, and who has played enough games to give a complete picture, I think it is more insight than guessing. Also, Pat Schumer was Bradford’s OC in his rookie year I believe, so there was someone to bounce some questions off of.
Regarding the Giants. They paid a lot to get the third best QB in that draft, and the football gods were good to them. I think it speaks, in part, to the strength of their FO. And my assessment of the 2 SB wins that NY won w/ELI (where he was voted MVP TWICE) comes down to Giants DL having been way more critical to each victory than Eli was.
Your last comment is not clear to me. By not paying Maclin what he was asking, and by dishing Shady, do you see Kelly as mortgaging the future? That is debatable. The monopolization of capital between Shady this year and Desean last year, one could say were already mortgaging the future. Regardless of their talent, it can be hard to acquire enough good players if even just a few are overpaid.
Do you guys think that bradford starting as our qb (with his age, injury concern and so-so career for now) is the same level of question mark as to starting with Mariota? Really curious to hear your pw here, I personally feel it’s less of a question mark but less upside as well.
There is no comparing a player’s health against another player’s abilities. but if you compare abilities at this time, I agree that Bradford could come in and run our offense without missing a beat, whereas MM is going to have to do some fast adjusting. Still a few questions about MM.
https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/575734205444923393
did we get a safety?
nope, really quiet on this position
seems like a big missing piece. Did Andre Johnson sign with Colts or still a possibility. We get him and a safety and that’s good FA.
How can we pay Matthews and still look at DeMarco that makes no sense to me.
We not paying Mathews very much – and can always cut him. Andre still available.
ok I’ll take DeMarco (relatively) cheap and Andre, please. With fries.
edit: and a safety to go.
Odds makers will have a field day with the over and under on Matthews v Bradford: Who goes down first?
Andre signed and he isn’t coming here.
was it Tampa that offered their first for Bradford? just kidding.
My sources tell me it was one of the other 31 teams…
JK…
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/575736594012962817
things could be worse
Well I will quit the nfl madness for now, Paris is playing. See you guys.
shouldn’t we just get a rb in the draft after o-line?
Not sure how much this plays in but I’d sure love to beat Dallas with DeMarco running for 150…
he is a pounder, would he be good in our system?
we need some o-line help then for sure
Question…do we receive compensatory draft picks for Maclin, and trent cole? If so..what rounds?
we signed Maxwell.
Going to have to wait until all the signings are done. It’s based on number of incoming and outgoing, and the size of their contracts, and if there is a set formula, the NFL hasn’t released it. Maxwell will cancel out Maclin, and we won’t get anything for Nate Allen signing for the vet minimum somewhere. The rest is a wait and see game.
ok cool, thanks for the insight
Kempski has a friend that generally does the leg work figuring this stuff out. It’s usually posted on his site, though I forget what time of year. Just look there for it once everything settles down.
Mawell will cancel Maclin. Trent Cole, Cary, Herremans were all cut so we recieve no comp picks
When I see Bradford’s chance at redemption, I think of Jim Plunkett: Heisman winner getting drafted by a bad team, then goes to Oakland/LA Raiders and wins a couple SBs.
Hope history finds a strange way of repeating itself with Bradford.
As for Foles, his regression is a result of losing Lazor IMO. Lazor was pretty hard on him to the point he was afraid of making mistakes, hence the 27TD, 2INT season.
I felt Foles would work through those issues as he was still able to lead Eagles to wins and possible wins. I’m curious to see what he will do in STL with the players he has to work with.