More on Bradford
Posted: May 10th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 234 Comments »Football is a game. Professional football is a business.
You have to keep this in mind when discussing players and contracts. The Eagles have been an organization for a long time. Jeffrey Lurie has owned the team since 1994. Players only have a short time to be part of the NFL so they have to live in the moment more than the rest of us.
I don’t hate Sam Bradford. I’d drink a PBR with him and argue Terminator vs Terminator 2 or whatever interesting discussion we could conjure up.
I do hate stupidity. And I think Bradford and agent Tom Condon did some stupid things this spring.
We don’t know anything for a 100 percent fact, but it sure seems like Bradford saw an opening in Denver and decided he would rather be there than Philly. I don’t blame him for that. They have a better team and he would likely prefer living in the Rockies to the east coast. Fair enough.
I think Bradford and Condon botched the situation. Rather than working behind the scenes to create a trade, they went with the nuclear option. They backed the Eagles into a corner. John Elway wasn’t going to give up good compensation, knowing pressure was on the Eagles to move Bradford due to the holdout.
I’m sure Condon tried the subtle approach at first, but he sure didn’t seem to give it much time. As soon as Bradford’s holdout became public knowledge, Howie Roseman had no leverage. He was either going to give away his starting QB or keep an expensive distraction around.
Some of you have questioned just how much Condon could do. The Eagles didn’t give him permission to seek a trade. But you’re being very naive if you don’t think Condon talked to teams. Agents talk to GMs and coaches all the time. Condon is paid to know the market and to do the best for his client. The Eagles limited what he could do officially, but tampering goes on all the time.
Bradford and Condon tried to spin the situation in an utterly futile PR campaign that backfired and made Bradford look dumb and unsympathetic. Coaches and executives around the league were turned off because it sure appeared Bradford was scared to compete. That’s an oversimplification, but as Pat Shurmur so brilliantly said last year…this is a game full of PE majors. Sometimes simple becomes the truth.
And as for Bradford’s teammates, some of them were not happy with the trade demand. Teammates understand the business side of things, but they also understand the phrase “know your place”. Bradford was given a generous contract by the Eagles despite not being a star or anything close. If Bradford was an underpaid player, teammates would sympathize with him. If the team had somehow screwed him over, teammates would sympathize. That just wasn’t the case.
Let’s talk about Bradford’s treatment by the Eagles.
They went out and paid huge bucks to Brandon Brooks to make RG a strength. Stefen Wisniewski was added for OL depth and to challenge for a starting spot. They signed WRs Rueben Randle and Chris Givens to add depth. Givens best ever NFL season came with who at QB? Bradford. The team bolstered the defense with free agent moves and then added a pair of OL and a RB in the draft.
The Eagles did get rid of DeMarco Murray, Riley Cooper and Miles Austin. Is anyone gonna miss that trio?
It sure feels like the Eagles tried to fix the problem areas from last year. At the same time, they didn’t go nuts and make wholesale changes. They tried to upgrade rather than just making changes for the sake of making changes.
I don’t blame Bradford for wanting to go to Denver.
I do blame him for how he handled the situation and then how he and Condon tried to spin things. That just didn’t sit well with me. As I pointed out earlier, if Bradford plays well, all will be forgiven. If he doesn’t, the boos are going to be endless.
Who knows. Maybe the added pressure will bring the best out of Bradford.
*****
Fletcher Cox is still staying away from the Eagles.
Cox is one of the best players in the league and is trying to get a long term deal. I have no problem with him or how he’s handling the situation.
*****
I’ll write a full post on Joe Douglas and the personnel situation once that becomes official news (and I finish all my research).
_
[…] Tommy Lawlor Football is a game. Professional football is a business. You have to keep this in mind when […]
I will root for Sam through clenched teeth this year, hoping he does well so we can get something decent for him at the end of the year. But if he’s still St. Louis Sam (as I suspect he will be), I say throw Daniel out there instead until Wentz is ready.
Unfortunately Bradford is the better QB out of the 2, even if he plays like he did last year.
While i am very upset about how he has acted recently I like W’s.
I think that before he went public, Condon already new that Elway wouldn’t give the Eagles enough to get Howie to trade Bradford. So, he went public even though it would damage Bradford’s trade value specifically to get Howie to give up Bradford for nothing (or all Denver was willing to give) because Bradford was disgruntled.
I am glad Howie called their bluff and didn’t trade away Bradford for nothing just because he was complaining.
way different than when chip was here.
Yup… Pretty transparent
One thing I wish we had done is let Bradford walk and use that money to help lock up Cox. Back up the Brinks truck baby, because that’s what it’s gonna take to keep him. Let Chase Daniel keep the seat warm while Wentz learns the ropes.
The Eagles have a budget in mind for Cox — I don’t think they will be going over it much even if they had the extra money. Roseman has said they have made all their moves while keeping the Cox budget money available. By the same token, they can’t really overpay if they want to field a competitive team, and the Eagles have no reason to do that for 2-3 years. It’s possible the market may change and force the Eagles’ hand, so maybe he is waiting to see if Von Miller signs a long-term deal to possibly set the market higher and see if that can move the Eagles a little bit. The deadline for that is July 15. Outside of that though, I’m guessing he’ll have to take the injury risk and play out the year at a lower rate (and then face another year of doing the same on the franchise tag). But waiting to see what Miller does probably makes sense.
Teams that break the bank for star Defensive Tackles always do well!!!
I’d rather just take the Bradford money and frontload it as much as possible onto Cox.
Who cares, as if Cox ISNT going to remain an Eagle regardless of Sammy sleeves
Cox can be done with Bradford signed. If we need to let Bradford go to help secure Cox that means our plan to sign Cox is pretty much to give him whatever he wants. Not a good way to sign a player.
Howie is good with contracts. Bradford being here in no way should hurt the signing of Cox. We are not in horrible CAP position. If Wentz steps up this year or Daniels proves to be as good as Bradford (he isnt) then Bradford can be cut next offseason with very minimal CAP implications.
If he couldn’t handle the competition, he certainly won’t be able to handle the boos.
到此一游，立贴为证！
My issue with Bradford is he wanted the best situation and the best money. He could be a Bronco at the moment if he had agreed during the combine to go to Denver on a bargain deal. But the Broncos were not offering him what the Eagles were so he decided to sign with us for the best money. Own that choice.
What i will not accept is taking that money and then trying to engineer a cut rate trade to Denver for late round compensation so he could have his cake and eat it too.
Yup.
What will be acceptable is for Bradford to have a good year, allow us to trade him for a 2nd rounder and another lower round pick, and get us back the cap space to fit Cox.
I think a 2nd rounder may be high. A kind of ok QB with one year left on his contract? If he isn’t great, you can no longer say well he will be great he’s just been hurt.
I know you always want a 2nd, I just will be pleasantly surprised if that happens.
I think Howie wanted a first.
well that was this year when Bradford was only $7M for the new team for 2016 and Denver’s first is 32nd. I’m talking above about next off season.
If Bradford has a very good year then i think it is possible he can be traded for a 2nd round pick. It would be his second year without a major injury. Remember Cleveland reportedly offered a 1st last year. Kolb was traded for a 2nd plus with only very minimal good flashes. This is a QB starved league with many desperate teams out there.
a 2nd?
i want what you’re smoking. we’ll be lucky to get a 5th
If he has a good year he will go for far more then a 5th. He isnt a RB. He is the opposite when it comes to positional value. The demand FAR outweighs the supply. The fact that next years QB draft class may very well be weaker then this years will only help his trade value.
Boykin, a slot CB, was traded for a 5th with the high possibility that it could be a 4th. You think a somewhat young QB coming off a good year wont go for more?
Amen.
I do see his view that in the bundle of things he was comparing, he did not foresee the Eagles trading up for the # 2 pick. Maybe, just maybe, if he knew that he would have taken less money and Denver? Maybe it was a possibility but he did not give it enough weight.
But honestly I doubt that is the tipping point.
Everyone knew the Birds were trying to target a QB. The contract that HE signed screamed stop gap. The complete opposite of what he said he thought the team viewed him as.
To me, that contract said maybe-longterm-maybe-not. It’s clear the Eagles were not sold on him yet, but for that much money, it also seemed to say they wanted to see what happens for another year before making a decision, guaranteeing he’d be the starter so they could see.
The Eagles got some control for a second year, meaning they could recoup something in a trade possibly if they went a different direction, in return for a bunch more guaranteed dough for Bradford. If they wanted to keep him, they almost had to renegotiate a long-term deal to avoid the cap hit in 2017.
I think it was clear that the Eagles were also going to get a young QB to compete, but that also implied a situation that Bradford could still win the long-term job if he played well enough (young guy could still be the backup). Given the resources the Eagles piled into getting Wentz, that idea is probably out the window, unless Wentz shows big signs of being a bust without really seeing the field due to Bradford starting.
Basically, both Bradford and Elway were trying to have their cake and eat it to, glad Roseman didn’t concede that game of chicken
Elway played it smart. I dont think he was trying to have the cake and eat it too. He put a value on Bradford and when the Birds were asking too much he ended it. He then drafted a young QB.
A lot of people have been making the point, that Bradfords incentive is to play well, so that he can be traded to a contender next year, where he can ‘be the man.’ But isn’t it more complicated than that? Being traded, he essentially has no real say in where he goes, and he is still on a one-year contract with his new team. I understand, that a team is unlikely to trade for a QB that doesnt want to play for them or renegotiate his contract, but.. If noone wants to give up draft capital for him after this season and he is just cut, wouldnt he gain more control as a free agent in the market?
Bradford already has a shaky history. A down year would allow him to become a free agent, but would likely limit his options of teams willing to trust him as the starter. On the other hand, if he plays well, while he wouldn’t hand pick the team, any team trading valuable assets to acquire a QB is going to give him every opportunity to start. If Bradford really wants long term stability, the quickest way to accomplish that would be to play well now.
Well said.
I guess you are right. Of course. I just think there is a good chance that Bradford will be mediocre this year, and I that case, the Eagles might just trade him for a low round/compensatory pick to whoever wants him as anot her stop gap option in front of a young talent, who needs a year to develop. You know, mark sanchez-style. If I was a 28 year old Bradford, this would be my nightmare scenario. It would in all likelihood end his chances to ever get a multi year deal again. Maybe it’s far fetched. We will see. Something to consider though: what happens to bad ford next year if he is just okay but not at all impressive?
He didn’t have enough interest this past off season as a free agent, so a strategy of not playing well to become a free agent next off season may not work out well.
That’s not true… Very rare that a team trades for a QB that doesn’t want to play for them. Realistically a team will require SAM to agree to an extension before the team pulls the trigger on a trade, so SAM actually does have a big say in where he gets traded to, because if he doesn’t agree to an extension with the team trading for him, it’s unlikely the team would go through with the trade. So essentially, bradford has some veto power
I think Bradford needs to be a goner going into next year. Recouping a 2017 2nd pick for him seems like a good jumping off point if he has a decent year.
The Eagles are about $9 mil under the cap this year, but a good deal of that will be eaten up by Wentz’s deal.
Figure a cap of $170 mil for next year into which the Eagles can roll a few mil from this year. They’re only about $7 mil under 2017 as is, so figure we’ll call it a push (w/ Wentz’s deal) at $7 mil under for 2017.
Trading Bradford gets you $17 million back for 2017. ($24 mil)
Trading Peters gets you $9.2 million back for 2017 ($33 mil)
Things get tricky next.
For 2017 we have cap hits of $9 mil for Curry, $8.3 mil for Barwin, and $7.5 mil for Graham. I’m not paying $25 mil for a 3 DE rotation. So we’ll call for a trade of Barwin after this year for a 2017 return of appx $8 mil. ($41 mil)
We have two overpaid vets, Kendricks and Kelce, for their inconsistent and declining level of performance. Liquidating Kelce after this season IF Semualo steps up would net back $4 mil ($45 mil) and Kendricks would net us back $2 mil ($47 million).
There are a bunch of ways to slice it, but we’re going to be seeing some vets playing their last year here.
Think Bradford is probably gone in 2017 regardless how he plays (if he is great we get to trade him for more assets). But after that i am not sure we are going to need to see that much more cutting unless performances do not justify it. We only have 2 real free agents in 2017 – Logan and Cox and Matthews in 2018.
I am sure 1-2 of the guys will not live up to their contracts and be gone but it would not surprise me if the bulk are kept because of how contracts are exploding in free agency. $25mil for DE’s seems a lot until you look at the $17mil a year the Giants dropped on Vernon who only has solid pass rush production so far.
This assumes Bradford has options that will provide a better chance at security, and be willing to pay SAM the type of money he is accustomed to.
..
It’s very likely that he is traded after the year, but Roseman has two years to try and parlay SAM into acceptable trade compensation, and it’s also possible that it may take more than a year for an opportunity to open up that interests Sam.
..
I don’t think we would cut SAM after the season, but I do think they would like to use him as a trade chip…
Having Bradford as a overpaid backup in 2017 would be a stupid allocation of resources by the Eagles, especially when we already have another overpaid backup in Daniel. One of them has to go and I think clearly it will be Bradford. They might be able to trade him, but every team knows the Eagles predicament and so I doubt we’d get a lot in return.
Overpaid? Didn’t he sigń a front loaded contract that pays him chump change next year?
..
Plenty of insiders actually think there is a strong chance that SAM is still an eagle for 2017…. The recent Ross Tucker podcast goes into this in detail. I wouldn’t assume that he will be back. But I don’t think it’s as far fetched as some people seem to think…
..
Hopefully he has a monster year, while Wentz looks like a prodigy behind the scenes, culminating in SAM increasing his trade value, and the Eagles being confident in what they see in Wentz, to the point where they are comfortable flipping SAM for an extra draft pick or two that we could really use..think that’s our ideal scenario
Uh no. Bradford has a 22.5 million cap hit next year. He might have gotten more of his guaranteed money as a bonus this year but there is still a lot left. Daniels’ cap hit is 8. So together that is a 30.5 million cap hit on QBs not named Wentz.
Something was going to have to give after this year one way or the other even before Wentz.
That makes a lot of sense but what if Bradford, now two years removed from two back to back season ending ACL/MCL injuries, comes back and sets the field on fire this season and has a banner year.
What if he wins this division with games in hand and goes 11-5 and actually wins a playoff game?
Do we really trade him for a 2nd rounder at that point?
I know the chances of this happening are slim but what if it does happen?
I have to believe that we are not going to let him walk for anything less than 1st rounder and the Eagles would keep him for another season.
Imagine if he wins two playoff games? Then what? Would you still hope to trade away the QB that won two playoff games last season for a QB who hasn’t won one NFL game?
The better he plays the harder the decision becomes.
A part you are missing from the equation is Wentz. If he starts to prove he isn’t any good (a possibility many refuse to mention),and Bradford plays well I don’t think its so sure that he is gone.
If he plays very well he may finally be able to prove he is the man, and at that point why leave? He would finally have the stability he claims he wants. Again, this scenario only plays out if Wentz proves he cant hack it. We cannot overlook that possibility, which for the most part seems to be overlooked.
I think they will hang onto kelce and kendricks for dear life until they find new starters to replace them. There is no depth behind those guys right now.
STOP THE HATE…!!!
GO Sam Bradford…!!!
Will have career year with Pederson’s west coast (aka dink & dunk) offense…!!!
I do hate stupidity. And I think Bradford and agent Tom Condon did some stupid things this summer. — Agreed 100% … but….
Tommy — you seem to ignore the fact that Denver had an opening prior to him signing the contract. This opening didn’t appear out of thin air. It was there all along. Maybe Denver was still hoping to sign Oswhatshisname and didn’t have interest in anybody else(I don’t remember the timing with him)? Either way — Denver did not have a QB when Bradford signed. He simply could have waited a week or two. I’m still not buying this crap that Bradford woke up one day and went — hmm, even though I just signed with the Eagles, I see that Denver didn’t sign a contract. I better call my agent and see if I can go over there…..
I am sure Bradford knew he had an option in Denver but that their offer was probably $7-10mil less than the Eagles were offering and he wanted the ‘bigger commitment’ (aka more cash) offer.
Bingo.
So maybe he did wake up one day and say, “Hey, I could play in Denver for the money the Eagles gave me!”
I think Condon and Bradford misread the Eagles intentions post trade to #2. They felt that with a new rookie on hand the Eagles would be happy to shed $7mil in cap and make space for the rookie for a late round pick. Any messages Eagles put out about wanting to keep him were just trade posturing in their eyes and this was a mutual win win.
However the Eagles want to try and contend this year in a weak NFC East and value the possible outcome of a year of Sam Goodford being worth a quality pick in 2017 as well as the genuine convicition of making Wentz wait a year.
If the Eagles were “happy to shed 7mil”, we would have seen behind the scene negotiations and there would be no incentive for Condon to go public with the drama
yeah – then changed his tune once Wentz entered the picture.
I wonder what Denver offered. I get that Bradford is saying all the right things – but that seed has to be planted in his head saying ‘sheesh, I could be in Denver right now with those wr’s’ …lmao…..
If Condon knew that the Texans were going to steal away Osweiler, he probably WOULDNT have łet sam sigń an extension before the start of free agency. If anything he xould have tried to increase Sams $$$ creating a bidding war between Denver and the Eagles,
…
I assume Bradford would have insisted on testing his value on the open market, had they known that Denver was going to lose Osweiler
It’s OK to look like a prick in the NFL as long as you look like a strong prick. Bradford looks like a weak prick, which no one likes or respects in a locker or in Philly.
As in the NFL, so in life (or at least politics).
What is Denver thinking?
If you took a poll of Eagles fans, I think the majority would say that the Broncos are throwing away their title chances with Mark Sanchez. I also think a smaller majority would say that Sam Bradford is a guy who could contend for a Super Bowl on a roster as talented as Denver’s.
Do Denver fans not see it the same way? Do they think Sanchez and Bradford are more or less the same guy?
I totally agree. I thought all along Denver would make the trade. I also don’t think their rookie will be good enough fast enough. So you are just giving up a year.
Think Denver knows that with either Bradford or Sanchez wining the SB again is hugely unlikely. Defensive dominance like they showed last year is very rarely repeated – form, injury and loss of some key depth all means that sustaining that level of success is very unlikely and without a legendary defence they are not winning the Super Bowl.
If you believe that then keep your powder dry do not give up picks that can build your future roster for 2-3 years time when Lynch might be in a position to help you contend.
I can confirm that Denver fans want nothing to do with Bradford (or Sanchez, for that matter). Yes, they are viewed as essentially the same guy. After the latest Bradford shenanigans, he is even less appealing. My read is that most Broncos fans want the Paxton Lynch era to begin ASAP.
I still think Elway wanted the unproven veteran who still has potential for a cheap price. When that didn’t work out, he did not hesitate to pull the trigger on his second best option to sell to that fan base… the young promising rookie.
He’s selling the same thing all the other teams are this time of year… a good story line and hope.
I agree completely. And Broncos fans will buy whatever Elway sells. If he managed to get Bradford, I would be hearing all of the things Eagles fans were told about Bradford’s untapped potential.
If im Elway, I may actually consider Fitzpatrik instead of Sanchez.
..
Sanchez probably feels like he died and went to QB heaven, but it’s all rainbow and unicorns right now during the honeymoon phase. sanchez pribably has yet to feel the real pressure he will endure as the QB of a team that expects to contend… I want to see how he feels After he makes a few of his classic bonehead mistakes costing the team a few games, and the Defense starts to get aggrivated with the Terrible position he will often put them in. Let’s see how much Of a dream situation it is when he starts to piss off the defense, asking them to bail him out too often
..
Elway and Bradford wanted their cake and eat it too, glad Roseman put his foot down… Elway tried to lowball us, Condon tried to strong arm us, Roseman was having none of that..
Elway tried to fleece Us, glad Roseman stood his ground, called Elways bluff, and left Elway in position to really go into the season with a disaster waiting to happen at QB.., you get what you pay for in life. Elways tried to circumvent that. Can’t wait TIL reality sinks in of what he paid for(average at best Sanchez)
only thing I would say is you didn’t touch on the fact Sam knew he had no real chance at a long term future here which I believe is the MAIN reason he requested the trade
Agreed — but he still only signed for 2 years. That should have been an indication that he wasn’t the future. Once Eagles said 2 years — he should have said — ok, give me a couple of days to think about it — and call other places to seek a longer commitment. Since he didn’t, we can only assume, he signed for the money…and not to be the MAN.
Truth.
Not exactly — it was an indication that the Eagles were not completely sold on Sam *yet*. They probably even indicated an intention to take a young QB this year somewhere in the draft to compete with him. But the money also indicated that he would have a fair chance to win the long-term job, and renegotiate after the season. Now, it would probably require that Wentz look quite bad in combination of Sam looking very good. The Eagles won’t want to give up on that Wentz investment.
I think Bradford wants continuity for a second year more than anything else, and the chance for it — he has been amazingly unlucky to change offensive systems every freaking year of his career; no QB would ever look great in the same situation. The jury really is still out. But it looks like he is sentenced to start over somewhere else next year, again, rather than finding a place this year which could result in stability next year.
“But the money also indicated that he would have a fair chance to win the long-term job” — how did the money indicate that? I think the money indicated — you’re being well paid to play for 2 years max. If they low ball Bradford he wouldn’t sign for 2 years…
How is someone well paid but that is not an indication they would get a fair chance to win the long term job? That is contradictory.
If the Eagles wanted to make it clear to Bradford he would not get a fair chance to win the long term job, they would have let him go into FA (instead of chasing him hard to re-sign) or given him much less $$.
It was a one-year prove-it deal at a very high number. The second year was to guarantee Bradford more $$$ but also to give the Eagles some control so they could possibly get something back in a trade, and the cap hit would force the Eagles to either renegotiate if they wanted him longer, or trade/release him. There is some sense on both sides.
But you don’t give a stopgap that much money or commit to a pretty hefty dead money hit in 2017 for someone you know won’t be here. The Eagles clearly were hedging bets but that is very different than definitely planning to only have a placeholder QB. You wouldn’t spend nearly so much money on those — Daniels alone would have been fine.
He has no long term future with any team unless he plays great. No one is making a long term commitment to Bradford unless he plays great so any team he signed with was going to draft QB’s and explore other options until he grabbed the starter position with elite play. He no longer has the ‘potential’ card – he needs quality production to earn a long term deal and starting job.
This a thousand times! All this talk about how Bradford had the rug pulled out from under him because he assumed his 1 year prove it deal was a long term commitment is insane to me. He was clearly signed as a placeholder here and he would have been signed to a similar type of placeholder deal elsewhere. Maybe it would have been somewhere where he’d have a better shot at getting a long term extension, but anyone that would have signed him would have also been looking for a young QB to groom to take his spot.
It could have played out that way… But it’s more likely that the two sides agreed to this deal sort of like “a Lease with an option to buy”… It’s disengenous to pretend that he was a lock to play great enough to earn a LongTerm extension, and it’s probably just as Disengenous to pretend like the Eagles made it crystal clear that he was Only a place holder. If that was the case, don’t you think he would have waited two more days to sign the extension in hopes that a better opportunity presented itself in free agency?
..
Id like to think that had Bradford known that The Texans were going to poach Osweiler away from Denver, Bradford probably would have insisted on becoming a free agent, instead of giving up his free agent rights at the last minute right before he hit the open market… Odds are that he could have hit the open market, and still had the same offer from Roseman waiting for him, so it’s really Disengenous to act like it was crystal clear that he was only signing on to be a placeholder and that two years later he would have had to find a new team… There was a real risk that it would have played out that way, but let’s not pretend SAM didn’t sigń the contract thinking he would play his as off and earn an extension that he was looking for, instead that opportunity vanished and the situation changed into nto probably not much he could ever do to earn an extension in philly.
..
Srafting Wentz significantly decreased the likelyhood of that.Sam would have to look like one of the top QBs in the NFL, take the team deep into the playoffs, all while Wentz looks Like crap, struggles so bad that the coaches start to question if he can ever be their QB…. What were the odds of all of that falling in Sam’s favor,
..
I don’t like what he did. I don’t like how he chose to go about it. I never expected this to work for him, but no need to pretend that we don’t understand why Bradford wasn’t too happy. We can understand his point of view without actually agreeing with him and supporting his actions
Nobody is confused about why he did it. We think he’s a bum BECAUSE he did it.
I don’t think you can find many people that are happy bradford went this route
Yeah some of Toms post sounds about as Niave as the fans he points out in the article
..
If Condon found out that Denver wanted Bradford, but they didn’t want him enough to give up more than some lowball 5th round offer, how can Condon possibly work behind the scenes? His only option to me seemed to kick and scream enough and hope Roseman decides to accept some crappylowball offer to wash his hands of this drama.
..
If Denver was willing to give up any real compensation, like what KC gave up for Alex Smit or what the Cardinals gave up for Palmer, then im sure Condon wouldhave tried to work ehind the scenes To get a deal done behind the scenes that worked for SAM, Roseman and Elway.
..
But if Bradfords only chance to go to Denver was to get the Eagles to accept some crappy 5th round pick or lowball offer, then Condon’s only option was to create Drama and hope that Howie would cave and tradeSam for whatever the Eagles could get..
..
If Elways is lowballing the Eagles, and Howis is adamant about not trading SAM, how exactly was Condon supposed to work “behind the scenes”??
Elway is a hard arse negotiator and generally gets his way… unfortunately i think that is not an approach that will work with Howie who is an equally tough wheeler and dealer.
It didn’t work, but I can’t kill the Bradford camp for trying to play the only real card he had left, even if I don’t like it
..
Denver and Condon were trying to screw Roseman, it didn’t work, life goes on
Condon should be fired – for not doing his job. Like Tommy said, his job is to know the market and potential opportunities. If I knew there was a shallow pool of QBs this off season and Bradford would appear a big fish in a small pond, then he should have known. Every Eagles’ fan who reads the blogs knew that, and Condon didn’t? He advised his client to sign a two year deal rather than test the market? If his client wanted to be in Philly, why not sign a long term deal? If the Eagles were unwilling, doesn’t that signal their intentions? He didn’t anticipate Manning retiring? or Brock feeling mistreated? Or the Eagles looking at other QB prospects? Clearly, his priority wasn’t Bradford. His focus was elsewhere and everything that followed was him scrambling, desperately grasping at imagined straws.
fire the guy who made you filthy rich, getting you way more money than you actually earned… You are kind of assuming the Agent did this on his own. It’s very possible that the agent laid out all the options, councled against this, but Bradford was adament about wanting to try even if it was a massive LONGSHOT that probably didn’t have much of a chance of working.
..
Firing the agent is just pointless reactionary behavior. What would it accomplish? Whether he fires his Agent or not, the damage is done, bradford would still look weak in the eyes of many of his peers around the league. He can fire his agent today, and he would still be stuck in philly, and his reputation will have still taken a hit… As if people wouldn’t see through SAM firing his agent. The Damage is done. Doubt firing his agent would accomplish anything. As if everyone will instantly forgive and forget and think that his agent went Rogue and did this all on his own.
..
I don’t see the point, it could actually make him look weaker more than it helps his Image,,. But I don’t think this is a big enough deal to warrant drastic measures. Bradford came back to work early May, he will have to Give the media like 2 or 3 weeks of boring PC answers, and by June 7th mini camp, it will be a non issue… Especially with TODAYS crazy news cycles. You could shoot a guy today, and by Monday it will be old news.
Well said.
Hard to respect a guy who cashes a $5.5mil check then “plays the only real card he had left.”
Again, can you even find 1 person that was happy bradford went about it this way? Can you find anybody that thought this would actually work and get him what they wanted?
..
Who the hell would be happy to see an Agent, our starting QB and Elways try to strong arm the Eagles? What fan in his right mind would support that?
If Condon knows Denver wants him but only for a 5th round pick, he should know that Howie would never do that deal.
So waive the white flag and don’t even try to get his client what he wants? Doubt it works that way.
..
Bradford wanted out, his agent tried the one hand he had left to play. It wasn’t a good handl it Wasnt a winning hand,but probably the only long shot Chance they had. Swung for the fences, struck out, joined the team two weeks later, cry me. River, build a bridge and get over it
..
Think that’s pretty transparent
If they wanted to play the hold out card, they should have kept on holding out. At least hold out until mandatory camp.
Yeah brilliant, go all in, create more drama after realize you don’t have a winning hand
I disagree.
I think Sam realized that the only way he ever gets to sign another long term contract with ANY team, is if he plays great football this season and plays with poise and leadership.
He needs to prove that he is worth a long term contract before any team wold consider signing him.
That means he needs to learn the new offense, develop timing with his new receivers and get as many reps as he possibly can.
This gives him the best chance at playing well and achieving his goal.
Sitting out will only make it more difficult so the decision to return was a smart one.
exactly. He also only has one year to learn a new scheme with new weapons and put together a great season, hard for any QB.
It would make sense if the Eagles focus on 2016 was to start developing Wentz. Trading Bradford saves $7mil in cap long term and frees up snaps and a starting role for Wentz in 2016, so getting a marginal draft pick compensation would be worth while.
However if the Eagles want to win in 2016 (to help consolidate Howie and Dougs power and standing with the team in a weak NFC East) then trading Bradford for anything less than a ransom make no sense. Condon from listening on the radio assumed the former while the latter seems the actual reality.
If Denver was only willing to give up a 5th rounder for Bradford, does he really think they would be committed to him any more than the Eagles would be? Would he really be shocked if they went out and tried to find his successor while he became just a place holder for them too?
You think theyd give up two firsts, etc. to move up for a kid? No.
While I could see what they were trying to accomplish. I damn sure never thought that it was a good idea that was actually going to work for them. But if they were that Adament about trying to get out of philly right away, they really didn’t have too many other options other than this long shot strong arm tactic that Roseman wasn’t falling for
..
To add to your post, not only did denver also draft a QB in round 1, they packaged two other picks trading up for a QB. That level of commitment by denver is closer to our commitment to Wentz, than it is for a team like the jets taking a flier on a guy like Hackenberg..
..
So on many different levels it was a dumb attempt, and a fools errand that was realistically not going to work for Denver, but I don’t see many other options that could have gotten them what they wanted….. Which is most likely why they came to their senses so Quickily, coming back to work instead of continuing the hold out all the way up until June when mini camp becomes mandatory…. If they still had other cards to play, you would think that they would have continued the hold out. Yet it seems like they toom a wild swing for the fences, and struck out….
..
One thing seems pretty clear. denver wasn’t willing to pay close to enough for the Braford camp to think they could get what they wanted trying to negotiate behind the scenes…. It’s pretty much a strong arm attempt going public the way they did…. They compounded their feable attempt by having Condon say some really dumb shit to the media that only made Bradford look weak, while clearly not accomplishing anything
Yea, I completely agree. I think their big miscalculation was they didn’t expect the leaguewide negative reaction to their hold out.
From Denvers perspective (I have no idea what they offered or what the Eagles asked for, but…) I’m surprised they didn’t offer pick #32. You’d think with a roster ready made for a Super Bowl run, missing just a competent QB, someone like Bradford would have been attractive at what was essentially a high 2nd rounder, rather than Lynch (a guy who won’t be ready to compete until that defense is no longer elite) for multiple picks. Really says a lot about Bradfords perceived value around the league.
Our best hope is that Bradford plays well enough for us to win the division and make the playoffs, stays healthy and puts enough good tape out there to increase his trade value to at least a second round pick, while not playing so well as to cause a legitimate concern that we should go with him long term over Wentz (which would obviously be a great problem to have however unlikely). If we get a season of enjoyable, competitive football and recoup a second (meaning we only lost an additional 1st and 3rd to trade up for Wentz), then it was all more than worth it from the Eagles perspective. We go into next year with Wentz as the presumptive starter, Daniel as the insurance policy if he’s still not ready and two 2nd rounders (no first though) to start building around him.
Yeah, if im a denver fan, I would have wanted to see Elway more aggressive in trying to bring SAM to denver, instead of what looks like some half assed LONGSHOT strong arm tactic that was unlikely to work.
..
Even if they don’t love Braford, he is on another level compared to their current options and gives them a better chance of not wasting a year of their window to win Superbowls with the stacked roster that they have in place. It looks like Elway was only interested in stealing Bradford, and not very interested in working out a trade that both sides can live with.
..
Although recent “reports” suggest that Roseman was asking for a lot for Sam, whatever “a lot” means. But what does Elway really expect? Howie to give away a player we actually value for this year, and be made a fool of accepting some meaningless compensation after Sam cashed a signing bonus check two months ago?
..
, I’d probably rather see Elway give Roseman exactly what he gave up for Paxton Lynch, instead of giving up two picks to trade up from round 1 for such a raw QB. Bradford at least gives them some chance of not wasting any seasons of their window to contend… And he probably gave up more for Lynch than he would have had to give up for Bradford…
..
Lynch may not even be able to help denver these next two years. I’d probably rather give up this years first, and like a 3rd next year to get a QB that at least gives me a chance to contend with, instead of packaging 3 picks for a kid that may not even be able to help them TIL 2018
..
Clearly he must not have valued Bradford very much to give up as much as he did for Lynch while trying to strong arm Roseman into giving them sammy for chump change.
..
Clearly Denver must like Lynch a whole lot more than I do. I don’t think Lynch is much better than Osweiler was as a prospect, yet they thought enough to dump 3 picks into acquiring him.
As a fan that is happy to have Bradford this year, Id be pretty pissed if we find out that Roseman turned down the type of compensation Denver had to give up to draft Lynch..,
,,
As a Denver fan, I’d rather Elway give up his 1st and 2nd for Bradford, and draft Hogan in a later round, instead of dumping 3 picks into a Raw QB, when you have a team that’s built to win now
I like to think that if I was in Sam’s cleats, I’d wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “I am one lucky sob. I’m making a ton of money without proving I am really worth it.”
I might also look in the mirror and think, “Gotta’ do something about those sleeves.”
“I am one lucky sob. I’m making a ton of money without proving I am really worth it.” – is that what sam should say or what Chase Daniels should say?
Literally what all 3 of our QBs should say 🙁
The entire NFL should say they are all lucky SOB’s who have the greatest jobs on earth.
Get paid millions to play a game.
Until they are 45, struggling health-wise or with CTE and wondering if they can take it any more. The players are being paid what the market will bear. It is not their fault that our society values sports way too highly.
take top 1500 people at any job and i bet they make a ton of $$.
Best paying job in professional sports is backup qb.
browns might be up for trading gordon — this is something howie should look into,
Love the talent, I’d be thrilled to see us take a cheap flier on that kid. But it be easier to do if we already had an established team/locker room, instead of taking in this type of question mark while we have a first year Head coach who has yet to really establish him in Phily… I certainly wouldn’t be upset if the acquired him for some conditional pick that depends on his performance and availability
Why? he cannot even pass a drug test he knows the exact date for. When you apply for reinstatement you have to submit a new drug test to the NFL…. so failing the test in that situation is a sign of a true addict.
And even if he ever gets approved to play who says that he has been working properly training so he is still in elite football shape.. and it is near certain there would be a degree of skill loss from lack of play.
Trading for someone who’s not eligible to return before 2028?
You make some good points, Tommy, but IMO you’re still far too easy on the Eagles and leaving out some important context.
Bradford signed here before FA started. Why? Because again he must have thought this as the best opportunity in regards to earning the long term starting gig, getting fair money, playing with good teammates, new QB friendly coaching staff, playing for a good organization etc. It likely checked off every box for him which is why he was willing to pass on FA and sign here for the limited 2 year structure. He probably figured I’ll play well, earn the starting gig and show the organization they should sign him for longer term.
Again, this is prior to the Sanchez trade, prior to the Daniel signing and obviously prior to the Eagles making the huge investment in trading up for Wentz. Was it naive or stupid on his part to commit that early without knowing what else the Eagles might do at QB? Perhaps, but isn’t that the type of commitment we’d want from our starting QB? I think so especially since the reports are the Eagles were the ones chasing him hard to sign early. Why? Because they likely wanted Plan B in place just in case their Plan A did not work out (trading up for a young QB).
They were willing to invest $36M in a place holder or backup plan. Is that smart? How much did the Eagles pay Pederson to be the place holder for McNabb? Way less than that – now I acknowledge Bradford is a much better QB than Pederson and prices for QB have risen since 1999, but it still seems like a lot of resources for someone you know is not the future and may only be part of the present.
Then they go out and sign Daniel to a large $21M (could be $36M with incentives) contract – this was the real head scratcher since Daniel has almost zero experience playing at the NFL level and whose best attribute appears to be Pederson likes him and he knows the offense. Daniel’s deal was $11.5M more and had $7M more guaranteed money than any other backup QB in the league. Was that smart on the Eagles part?
They now have a lot of guaranteed money in Bradford and Daniel. Then they go out, make the trade with Miami to move to #8, and then finally the deal with TN to move to #2. Wentz will likely, according to slot, get around $24M guaranteed. If he sits for part of a season or even a full season, that would be ok, but he needs to be ready in Year 2 so the Eagles can take advantage of the cheaper cap hit at QB and start getting the ROI on their investment.
Bradford will likely be the odd man out regardless and he may even see the bench sometime during this season if Wentz is ready.
Meanwhile, CB, DE, RB and LB all remain trouble spots IMO; due to mediocre starters or the lack of quality depth or the injury prone nature of the personnel or to the unknown performance of personnel in new roles. Obviously, not every issue can be addressed, but I think a valid argument can be made that the heavy investment at QB both cap and draft pick wise has played a part in the above positions not being fully reinforced.
“opportunity in regards to earning the long term starting gig, getting fair money, playing with good teammates, new QB friendly coaching staff, playing for a good organization etc” – he still has all of this and had all of this the whole time but chased something better.
Kind of reminds me of the old saying ” you never look a gift horse in the mouth”.
In other words, Sam should be grateful that the Eagles thought of him highly enough to sign him for a boatload of cash for two years when no other team would.
or “last girl in the bar”
You don’t look the last girl in the bar, in the mouth? Noted.
no it’s “never look a gift horse in the last girl in the bar” i think
You know better than that, his opportunity to earn the long term starting gig ended as soon as Wentz was drafted which is one reason he reacted the way he did.
The other was the assets given up to move up both times to draft Wentz could have been used instead on this year’s roster which could have given him more good teammates to work with.
Drafting Wentz impacts his ability to compete now and negates his ability to compete later.
The Denver option only became an issue once Wentz was drafted – he was chasing something better because the situation he wanted (here) had been radically altered and now the writing was on the wall in permanent marker.
What 1st round draft pick do you think would be so great it would help Bradford suddenly become great?
zeke i spose but hahahaha
Seeing that kid with a star on his helmet is really going to suck
You know it is not as simple as that. There are a ton of different variations that could have been pursued if the Eagles did not give up the players, picks and cap space to secure Wentz as the QB here.
They did not even need to overpay Bradford before FA – if he is such a mediocre to poor QB as I read on here – the Eagles could have waited and probably gotten Bradford for far less or skipped him all together after signing Daniel.
Think he will do just fine this year without a 1st or a 2nd round pick helping him…
..
Career year coming up…
where i disagree is that his opportunity to earn the long term starting gig ended as soon as he said ok to a two year gig. if he assumed that he was the long term answer when they offered two years, he made a mistake. he still has the opportunity to earn A long-term starting gig by playing well and acting like a mensch but i’ve turned down sweet jobs before because their necessity was reviewed on a yearly basis. i could have gone for the interesting task and the higher salary but to me the knowledge that my job will definitely exist next year is more important than an extra lil bit. i mean what are the eagles supposed to do? not get the guy they want because Sammy overestimated his appeal? it seems like i put more thought into signing my gym membership than he did on taking a two year deal.
Oh for the love of goodness, Bradford did not assume anything. All he wanted was a fair shot at winning the job long term and getting extended again. He gave up FA because he thought this was his best chance at achieving that goal. He took the deal with the understanding he needed to prove himself to get the longer deal. He was confident, if given a fair shot, he would be would the guy.
All that happened BEFORE the Eagles made any of their other QB moves. Once Wentz was drafted, all of that went out the window. His fair long term shot was OVER.
Was he naive and stupid? Perhaps, but I find it hard to bash the guy for wanting to stay and play here, giving up FA to sign a short term prove it deal here and simply wanting a fair shot to show what he could do. I can totally understand his reaction to the drafting of Wentz. The public trade demand was too far IMO, but they clearly saw Denver as an option for Bradford to get started at his next stop which is coming after this season anyway.
if he didn’t assume anything, why was he surprised by the outcome?
I give up
Good!! 🙂
🙂 🙂
i’m a pretty sympathetic dude and don’t generally side with mgmt on almost anything. that said, as someone who’s made bad deals and had to live with them, i can’t see why he thought anything was guaranteed. it’s like when you buy a house and there’s a nice fridge in the house. you don’t assume it comes with the house. you get it in writing. but beyond every other aspect of this, when has Bradford played well enough to realistically expect a team to sit pat with him? what about his biography warrants a level of security that no other player gets? i don’t think Bradford or his agent are bad or dishonest people, but i think they made a bad business move and got their booties burnt. i also hate the idea that a player thinks he gets a say in who gets drafted – i mean how dare the eagles pick people they think are good for the team instead of nice for bradford. sorry, i know you said i give up but i can’t seem to shut up so
I’ll stop after this because we are just going around in circles: He NEVER said he thought or expected anything to be guaranteed.
Again, all he wanted was a FAIR shot at competing to win the long term job. Thats it. He knew it was a prove it deal and took it because he was confident he could prove it here if given a fair shot.
When a team trades away players & picks along with investing the amount of salary the Eagles will in Wentz, everyone knows he will be the guy regardless.
Thus the fair shot is gone.
I understand what you’re saying about the “fair shot”. I’ve been telling people the same thing. It doesn’t mean Sam handled this well. That’s the bottom line. All he did was hurt the Eagles’ ability to actually move him, as well as his own ability to score a long-term contract elsewhere down the line. His stock with other teams plummeted as well as with Eagles fans. They don’t view him the same way they did before (which, based on what happened in free agency, wasn’t that great anyway).
Unlike others, I’m not mad at Sam, but he utterly miscalculated. It was a bad move.
Agreed – Bradford and Condon definitely miscalculated on the trade demand and hold out. I understand why Bradford felt the way he did and do not agree it was the reaction of a selfish, scared whiny baby. I think he really thought he could succeed here and was upset he would not have that chance now. What he did with those feelings was a mistake for sure.
Yeah it’s not that complicated. He agreed to a “lease with the option to buy”
..
It’s pretty simple, Bradford was clearly looking for an opportunity that gave him a chance to earn his way into becoming our QB past two years. He signed thinking that he could play his way into an extension, yet everything changed and he is now in a position where there its almòst impossible for him to earn an extension here. We don’t have to like it, but it shouldnt be too hard to understand…. He hoped to earn an extension on the field, and now there is very little he can do to earn it. It’s amost completely out of his hands now. Having a career year may not even be good enough to earn an extension. Realistically, Wentz probably has to look like an epic bust behind the scenes for SAM to have any chance of being here past 2017
All of your trouble spots are at least adequate in my opinion. They all certainly had attention paid to them this off-season. I’ll probably give you LB. The starters there look to possibly be dominating. The back ups are currently the unknown.
I would rather have a possible franchise QB than a pro bowl back up LB. Not that I don’t think we won’t have a pro bowl back up real soon….
Depth is part of it, but I’m not talking about only backups.
Are you comfortable with Carroll and Rowe as your starting CB going against ODB, Dez, DJax twice a year not to mention AJ Green, ABrown et al? I’m not at all. That is truly scary before we even talk about the mediocre or unproven depth behind them.
Are we confident in Kendricks, Hicks and Bingham as starting LB? It is better than CB, but only a little bit and again the depth is truly scary especially when the Eagles should know that Kendricks and Hicks both have extensive injury histories.
Do we know how well Curry is going to be in a full time role? Graham transitioning back to DE? Where is the pass rush we need coming from? Cox and who? Barwin? Smith?
RB I think we are all aware of, Matthews again with a severe injury history combined with a older vet that cannot be the every down guy and a young unproven buck.
I can do this with every roster in the NFL.
As can I, but that is beside the point as you are fully aware.
No its not. You’re cherry picking. You’re using the bullshit full values on contracts. Sam is effectively here on a one year 12.5 million dollar contract with 5.5 million in dead money in year two when he played poorly enough to not justify 23.5 million. Not 36. And they signed it before they knew they were going to be able to get a QB.
Chase got top of the market backup money. But the difference between him and another veteran backup isn’t fix all the holes big. It’s a Randle Ruben type money.
And all the draft capital we gave up to get Wentz, we could have walked away with Jack Conklin, Issac Semualo, CJ Prosise, and Tavon Young. Don’t sit there and act like that dramatically changes how you feel about the roster. It doesn’t move the needle in any significant way, absolutely not year 1.
1000 upvotes, please
can you do it with dallas and washington? just for fun
Dallas has no WR behind Dez, Romo is made of tissue paper, their LB situation makes ours look like the Panthers, they have trash at DB outside of Byron Jones, they have no terror edge rushers.
Redskins have a QB who doesn’t beat good teams, much like Bradford basically had a half decent stretch of games at the end of last year and is being made out to be a stud, their OL is pretty blah outside of Scherff and Trent, ILBs are blah, RBs are trash.
Exactly. Citing depth is always rough considering the roster turn over. Known players usually aren’t back ups.
i thought you said sammy signed in part cuz the players were so good?
I think Bradford enjoyed playing with his teammates and does believe they can do better as a team than last season. There are some good players on this roster and I think that was one of the reasons he wanted to stay here. He had developed some chemistry with them and wanted to see if they could build on that IMO.
its amazing what a decent coord can do. Look at Wades resume
it’s dumb he was just sitting at home not doing anything while billy d was employed.
If Rowe and Carrolle only play to their average performance of last year; they are better than any duo we have had since Sheldon and Asante? Remember they never started together. I honestly thought the CB play wasn’t horrible until late in the year. I am giving the players a pass on the regression.
I do feel that even if Kendricks is the same guy as last year the LBs can be very good group.
I hope I’m reading you wrong, but it sure sounds like you are cutting out the chances of Curry and BG of being good rushers. I think Logan is going to be a really scary 1 gap DT. Barwin’s rock bottom is extremely solid. Double digit sacks is a very realalistic goal for him.
Overall I expect this defense to be a top 5 unit. This is a lot of projection because of the scheme change, but I feel pretty good about it.
Injuries are going to happen. Guys are going to have step up. Names will be made, or ruined. That’s the fun of the NFL, man.
Could the defense be historically bad? Sure. Sitting here in May I feel like they are going to be elite. It’s May though, so I hope you don’t rake me over the coals too bad if I’m completely wrong.
“I honestly thought the CB play wasn’t horrible until late in the year.” Qbs didn;t get worse – pass rushing did. I’m going to call it the Bennie Logan effect. But it could have been the billy davis effect.
Bradford will likely be the odd man out regardless and he may even see the bench sometime during this season….
i think this is true no matter who the other QBs on the roster are.
Really? If Bradford and Sanchez were the QB again, I think Bradford likely stays both years of the deal and may have even been offered a longer term deal.
Once the Eagles cut bait on Sanchez, signed Daniel to a large contract and then invested heavily in drafting Wentz, the writing was on the wall for Bradford.
Bradford was not going to play well enough to justify a 23.5 million dollar cap hit. You’re expecting an outcome that simply has no historical precedent given a fairly large dataset on a player. I’m sure after the season it would be all “oh well it was a new system and first year HC, the roster is trash, we should just pay him all this money because maybe when he’s 35 he’ll suddenly get really really good”
None of those things would be untrue.
sorry i was not clear. i meant that he would likely be seeing the bench at some point this season because he will be 1) ineffective 2) injured 3) both.
doesn’t matter who is behind him.
The Bradford contract is designed to be a renegotiate, trade, or release after one year. Cap hit is waaay too high to leave it alone. Daniels almost seems the same, for a backup QB, but would make more sense if you wanted a veteran backup for a young QB that year and did not have the Bradford hit. If they renegotiate to keep Bradford for whatever reason next year, I’d think Daniels is gone (and that would mean that Wentz looked completely not ready).
the money angle is pure nonsense. The reason we all praise the front loaded, short term deals constantly is because it allows the team to get out of them and not be bogged down. Also, the run on FAs is kind of a short window, for the good ones anyway and even then we can talk all day about over paying for guys and winning the FA offseason award. That rarely works out because guys thrive in certain systems, become FAs, then arent so great elsewhere. Its already a limited market so pretending there was some vast building opportunity for the team elsewhere vs over paying some QBs is not valid imo.
Then theres the ole QB position, the most important and valuable position in all of the sports landscape. Unless you like QB purgatory, you have to like a team gambling in that arena. Its never too much to hedge bets with QBs, never.
I couldn’t agree with you more Tommy as both Bradford and Condon clearly misjudged how other teams view him.
I think that he thought if he made it known that he was unhappy in Philly that teams would line up to sign him and when that did not happen he finally accepted it and decided to show up for the remaining voluntary camp.
Maybe that talk he had with Barwin opened his eyes and made him realize he needed to increase his value if he expects a long term deal from any team.
This season should be very interesting and if Sam plays championship football, does he get traded or will the Eagles ride the hot hand.
Wentz is far from a slam dunk prospect and may not ever become a franchise QB, so if you let Sam walk after having a great season what happens if Wentz plays poorly?
I think you have to keep Bradford for another season and let Wentz play sparingly to see what he can do in real NFL game before you cut ties with Sam.
When does the media get to watch some practices so we can get a feel for how the players are doing?
Friday is rookie mini camp, so i think they get to talk to watch practice then. Think real OTA’s start on the 17th with media availability for everyone in attendance.
Yes, cannot wait to watch this year’s version of Na Brown again!!
I laugh because I hurt.
There was limited video of SAM and Chase throwing to WRs yesterday. So I guess they have some access, probably very limited tho
People are rightfully condemning Bradford for greed, shortsightedness, and lack of competitive fire. Then there is the always helpful “he signed the contract din’t he” crowd (sarcastic). But there are two sides to every argument. The Eagles also bear blame for disorganization and incompetence and/or poor player management.
Their signing Bradford for good $, then Daniels for big $, then moving up to take a wild swing at a franchise QB is concernedly chaotic.
If they knew they were going to do this, then they sold this job to Bradford under false pretenses. It really isn’t in the best interests of the team to sign a player knowing he’s going to be unhappy. You shouldn’t try to trick a player. They get pissed off, don’t play or don’t give it their all.
If they didn’t know they were going this route, if they signed Bradford with goodwill that he would get a reasonable shot at being a long-term starter, but the winds of random opportunity changed everything; then that is just the latest in a string of chaotic, loser moves: giving Chip full power while putting Howie in the equipment room, allowing Chip to make a bunch of weird moves, firing Chip, failing to get a promising coach…
You and I disagree on a bunch of stuff (I’m in the “signed the contract” camp even though that is an extreme over simplification). I always respect your thoughts because you seem pretty sharp and usually seem to apply reason.
This is another case where we disagree completely. There has to be a list of organizational goals that Howie has set for himself. Undoubtedly finding a franchise QB is at the top of the list.
The start of FA happened well before it was obvious where the QBs would fall in the draft. Signing Sam and Chase at essentially the same time wasn’t coincidental. They knew full well what they were doing. I believe those signings were made, all the while knowing there would be a possible opportunity for a guy they really liked in the first round.
I think all of the trades were and always are very fluid. Did they always plan to go to 2? Heck no. It just happened that way. If you recall even when we made the first trade there was talk that we may have to make a decision on a QB at 8. The fact that they fell in love and made the leap to two makes perfect sense to me. I don’t see any of it as more chaotic than running an NFL franchise ever is.
I say it all the time. I am a currently in the QB by any means necessary camp. If any of these 3 guys end up winning us a Super Bowl I will have zero malice over the “wasted resources” on the other 2. They are just two extra raffle tickets.
‘seem pretty sharp’ — agree — which is why he appears to be trolling…claiming ‘chaotic’ as his case to a wrong doing…a bit weak…
Your interpretation is plausible, but I don’t think we have enough information to say that it’s the correct one, or even likely. Nonetheless, I appreciate the respectful discussion!
I think the chaos theory is highly unlikely, so we just have to agree to disagree!
Hold the phone there Cho… Sure there are 2 sides to every argument, but sometimes one side is flat out wrong, as Bradford/Condon were in this case. Like Tommy said, “know your place” Sam. He can demand things when he’s done something, anything in this league. He’s never won 8 games in a season. He’s got a losing record as a starter. This is not Tom Brady we’re talking about here, hell, this isn’t even Mark Sanchez. At least that guy has had success in the league.
And as for the FO, I can only partially agree with you. Sure, you have to be up front with players, but all evidence points to that, e.g. Sam’s contract. If he was promised a long term gig in Philadelphia, then why was his contract structured like a prove-it deal? Why would you believe that Sam was mistreated when the evidence points elsewhere?
As for the Chip/Howie shake-ups, yeah, that was a little cluster-fuck-y, but at least Chip had a pair of 10-win seasons to point to as leverage. And surely, we have too much dough tied up in QB’s, but we kind of needed that. Bradford is anything but durable. We need a top back-up QB if we’re going to survive a Sleevie injury. Bradford is also anything but a sure thing. We need a plan for the future. Wentz gives us that. That is not a chaotic, loser move. That is a solid plan. A 25-37-1 QB with zero success in the NFL demanding a trade weeks after signing a lucrative contract… that is the chaotic, loser move.
I will take a partial agreement over a bunch of bumper sticker arguments and personal attacks any day, dude. As a wise man said, “That’s just, like your opinion, man.”
The results bear out that Bradford made the wrong choice. I think the NFL is on to him, maybe a year too late. Just to reiterate, I simply have been pretty unimpressed with Lurie and his decisions once the Chipwagon started to go off the rails.
I give you credit for stating your argument clearly and sticking to it without demonizing those who disagree with you. Good to have you on Iggles Blitz, sir.
No. What the eagles do with the draft picks they have is their business, not Bradford’s.
So true, there were no GM duties included in that 2year deal.
Its NEVER a bad thing to hedge your bets on QB when the team is in QB purgatory and who cares about the money. Who cares about the feelings of a mediocre (if that) starting QB, seriously, who cares. Thats the hard facts about the business side. This FO still has to prove a lot but Howie has done well so far imo, we shall see. These scouting hires are excellent by all measure as well.
You care about feelings if your job requires you to do so. Did you not notice the problems Chip got into last year by his gross incompetence in this area? How soon we forget…
it wasnt feelings that doomed Chip. Bad FA moves and an awful D coord and not having a growth mindset with offensive play calling
“Signed with good will” followed by “chaotic” —
just admit you’re related to Bradford already…Bradford is, was, always will be a product. Lurie, the product owner, doesn’t have to disclose any business plans to his product. If a better product comes along, what’s wrong with jumping at the chance to see if that’s possible?
….
I can’t speak for Lurie, but I’m sure he’d apologize for hurting your and Bradfords feelings. Clearly your as upset as Bradford.
Are you new around here? I slammed Bradford mercilessly as a player last year.
In any case, no Bradford is not a product, he’s a human being. I really feel sorry for you if you don’t understand that. There is nothing in my post that relied on anything touchy-feely. People who don’t know how to handle human beings generally do not do well in this world.
You don’t have to feel sorry for me when you don’t understand that football is a business. Keep thinking all individuals in the NFL have a say on how the team is run. It’s not Lurie job to pamper kids feelings…but hey – you might as well as believe that all the nfl players want to go play in London too and hopefully Mexico some day. I’m sure that’s what they all really want. It has nothing at all that the nfl and the owners of the team want to expand. But keep believing the players aren’t a product and that Peter Pan can really fly…
Okay, come up with something rational and we’ll talk.
oh because ‘chaotic’ is a strong argument in your corner? Where your argue is weak — borderline pathetic — is that owners care about feelings. Every single job – every single profession owners/GM’s/Presidents etc. have to lay off workers. According to your argument, nobody should be laid off or fired because ‘it’ll hurt their feelings’ … welcome to the adult world. Maybe you just don’t understand how cruel the world is…ugh, just realized I’m probably arguing with someone in high school…Agree to disagree with your view should some it up….
Hold off on the “conservative uncle who knows best” role for a moment. Building up a strawman because someone disagrees with you accomplishes nothing. My points have never been about some kind of wish-washy, liberal thing. It’s reality based.
The reason your CEOs can do whatever they want is because they have full power. Their employees are fungible goods with younger, cheaper people coming up the pipeline constantly. It’s called a “buyer’s market”.
You may prefer that the NFL be the same way, that these uppity players can be dealt with like playing cards or chips or replaceable factory workers, that may appeal to your personal values, but that’s simply not reality. Starting QBs, like star WRs or RBs or OL, or any other high-leverage position, have more power than the average scrub. There is an element of partnership, of buy-in, that you need to obtain. If neglect to do that, then you lose those players.
And you lose your job.
Totally agree that there is a human element but at times, they are also commodities plain and simple. Thats the balancing act but it only really comes into play with players who outplay contracts or earned more on reputations. Then it really does come down to the guy you are discussing has not earned that ability to demand anything esp when he was just paid top dollar. Some even say overpaid based on his resume. That part of this matters….a lot. More than just signed a contract guy or whiney complainer guy or scared of competition guy. Thats everything and its also sort of why you can buy the wanting to play for Denver angle. Almost the only one that makes any sense in terms of his attempt to leverage his way out. Because all were really talking about here is a team decided to draft a QB.
Any attempt to paint the Eagles as somehow responsible for this will fail. The Eagles were not the bad guy here. They did not commit some gross error, or show any kind of mismanagement. They were acting according to a distinct plan: commit a large number of resources to the most important position in pro sports.
They found an opportunity to sign a starter Sam. They did it. They paid a lot of money. They found an opportunity to sign a solid backup with knowledge of the new offense. They did it. They paid a lot of money. They found an opportunity to draft a top QB prospect. They did it. They paid a lot in draft resources. There is absolutely nothing chaotic about this at all. In fact, the opposite is true. It is the expected result of a very distinct strategy, and that strategy makes a lot of sense.
Sam’s response to these actions is entirely owned by Sam. The Eagles don’t have to divulge their long term plans to any player, let alone a guy signed to a 2 year “prove it” deal with no real track record of success in the NFL. Maybe if he was Brady or hell, even Carson Palmer, they could have handled things differently. Even then, unless Sam or whoever has won multiple Super Bowls for the team, it’s still Lurie’s team, not Sam’s.
It’s easy to try to bash the front office for this bullshit because of the chaos around Chip’s departure. It’s easy to accuse them of acting wildly or “chaotically”, as you say. It’s also completely incorrect.
Good points. I already pointed out that Bradford was wrong, so I don’t see the need to rehash that. In fact, the dog-piling is getting old fast. We’ll have to agree to disagree on the “chaos” thing–it’s been a theme for this team for the last several years. A few decent mid- or bottom-roster deals don’t impress me that much. Nor do I support Lurie’s right to make dumb mistakes simply because he owns the team.
not sure i understand what you mean by “chaos”.
are you referring to the high rate of turnover at the QB position over the last few seasons? or the drafting of a QB in the first round?
Yep. As I already pointed out below (and in previous posts), I’m not in the “Bradford is a pussy” camp, because I understand where he’s coming from. He and Condon still played this poorly.
And yes, we will have to agree to disagree on the chaos. Of course there will always be some chaos, and not every move works, but there is evidence of Howie and Lurie having plans that were at least thought out and deliberate. Again, that’s not a guarantee that things will always work, but it shows that there is planning and thought behind moves, and not chaos or pure reaction. Some examples:
1. Understanding how different the FA market was going to be in the “Dream Team” offseason (because of the new CBA) and acting accordingly to sign a number of high-profile FAs. It didn’t work out but I honestly blame that more on bad coaching decisions. Either way, the team’s salary cap position was unaffected long term.
2. Heavily investing in the QB position this offseason.
3. Prioritizing the UDFA market this year in a deeply talented draft, by contacting players and agents earlier than usual and allocating UFDA salary resources to “sell” players on coming here versus elsewhere.
We can obviously point out a lot of shit the Eagles get wrong, but there are lots of cases where they are thinking a bit deeper than the surface, and acting accordingly and deliberately. That doesn’t mean they’ll win a Super Bowl, but it’s not chaos. For chaos, look at the Raiders about 5 years ago or more, or the Browns now.
If i was a fan of another team i’d say this team has been a mess for the last few years. Draft has been a mess, we’re always a big mover in FA; lockeroom / player drama, FO drama, what seemed like a botched coaching search, etc.
Wonder whether part of the animus driving the decision to move up for a QB was that scouting room was a mess which happens with a personnel / coaching change. Wonder if smartest move was to move up get a guy that you like because a lot of guys that you spent time scouting during the season are no longer applicable (only bad thing about having scouting under the coach).
I think chaos is the wrong term. I think Lurie (much like Bradford and Condon recently) swung for the fences with Chip. It was always clear from the start it was a boom or bust hiring. I think Chip deserved another year, though his lack of accountability for some really bad “GM” decisions gives me some reason to understand moving on earlier rather than later.
I’m somewhat concerned now that Lurie seems to be trying to recreate the past too literally, but he’s earned enough from me as fan (I can remember the previous owner all too well) to at least give it a chance to play out before calling him an idiot with this offseason. Not exactly trust, because I have very little confidence this will work out, but a temporary term of “prove it.” I think the overall plan is okay (sign a decent QB (not a Daniels level journeyman) to be your starter while you give your raw rookie QB a chance to develop properly. Daniels was overpaid, but 1) Bradford has a significant injury history, and 2) there is some value regarding familiarity there. My biggest doubt is Wentz himself – I think he’s most likely a complete bust. But he’s being put in a near perfect situation to develop, so we’ll see.
If they signed Bradford to a longer term deal. I’d agree with you. But the deal signed by Bradford was structured in a way to make it quite easy to be rid of him after this year.
What could he have reasonably expected to happen if his new deal with the team was the best they’d offer him?
Well said. Case closed.
Chaos is a ladder.
If they sold Bradford a reasonable shot at long term starter with a two year deal, we should be sending Howie to handle the Middle East ceasefire agreements. As Sam made clear, this is a business, not a marri
Sam seems to be a very logical, low key guy. I don’t think he’s been emotional about this at all. He knew what he was signing, and what the implications were. He knew that if he played well, he’d be a starter somewhere in the league. If he didn’t play well, he knew he could very well be done. The only thing that changed with the draft was that it’s very unlikely he’ll be a starter here for the long term regardless of how he plays, but he’ll still be a starter somewhere if he plays well. He’ll get paid regardless, and the fact that he hired Condon tells me that $$ is priority #1.
what player possibly has the right to demand any sort of concessions to a (VERY FAIR) contract they signed, let alone demand a trade, based off their perception of front office incompetence?
even if that was possibly the case, it would make bradford look even worse. his job is to throw a ball, not run a team.
Read a comment about Branford’s camp feeling there was a landing spot for Sam in Denver. You, I and all the other fans can “feel”; it’s the age t’s job to KNOW!
Reports claiming that Zack Mettenberger is on the roster bubble and could get cut because the Titans added Matt Cassell.
..
I really don’t want to see Mettenberger or Mike Glennon ending up with Dallas. Don’t want anyone bailing Jerry out of his inevitable TRAINWRECK that they failed to adequately address.
..
Hopefully bucs hold onto Glennon, and a team like the Jets or Broncos takes Mettenberger…
..
Im going to be so happy with Dallas ends up going into the season with Romo, Prescott and Kellen Moore.
I thought mettenberger was decent?
I thought he looked promising from everything I read. Only seen the Titans play a couple times in the last few years tho. Thought he was promising enough to not want to see him end up in Dallas
Mettenberger was a you know what (must be sensitive about people’s feelings).
In actually, he’s terrible and should have never been given as many starts as he’s had. Glennon is only just a guy. Not too horrible, but not anything like good.
Neither are good. There is a reason why both are getting cut
They don’t have to be good. They just have to be better than what Dallas has to make me not want them to end up there…. Lol you haven’t seen either play in years, so excuse me if I’m not interested in your assumptions
I think Prescott is much better than both, so if they took one of them in to push him down, I would love it
The Bills GM running his mouth about how they drafted at least 3 day 1 starters.
..
While most fans seem to go nuts ripping rookies that don’t produce as rookies, I wish every year was like this years draft where we add kids to positions that aren’t major immediate needs. I prefer our rookies to not feel entitled, and to be in a position where they have legit competition ahead of them that forces them to really earn their playing time as a rookie..
.l
A guy like Alex Seumalo could end up earning a starting spot at some point this year, but he will clearly have to earn it with decent competition waiting for him in Wisnewski, Barbie, and Gardner. A guy like Wisnewski has been a starter for years. He isn’t insurmountable competition, but Id be very excited to find out that Seumalo was able to beat out a starting caliber veteran like him as a rook.
..
I’d rather see Rookie drafted in a position like this that will really force them to earn playing time as a Rookie, instead of a situation like last year where Agholar was basically handed a starting spot on a platter the moment we drafted him. if we see Seumalo starting in September, we can be excited knowing that it wasn’t gifted to him, and he had to beat out some legit competition to earn it. shouldn’t treat him as a bust if he doesn’t end up contributing as a rookie
..
Hopefully Big V and Seumalo both grow into LongTerm high caliber starters tasked with protecting Wentz. What we get out of them as rookies isn’t that big of a deal as long as our OL doesn’t get ravaged by injuries.
…..
Super pumped for Alex Seumalo.
The Bills GM is the same dope who drafted EJ Manuel in the first round. He needs to sit down and shut up.
And traded assets for shady, bryce brown traded extra picks to get watson, etc.
I think he became GM right after the Manuel draft (he was assistant GM before that though).
“My sources tell me the Eagles were asking for a lot,” ESPN’s Andrew Brandt said in an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic on Wednesday afternoon. “Maybe a second round pick. Maybe two second round picks. Maybe more.”
Thing is if you dump bradford and wentz isn’t great and bradford goes deep in playoffs with Denver and you paid most of his 2016 salary you’re probably getting fired.
wouldn’t know that for 3 to 4 years down the road…
But still, I think it’s a good point. If Bradford goes on and wins a Super Bowl with Denver, people would certainly question Howie’s decision to trade him and the value received in return.
Honestly, I’d rather give up 3 picks for Bradford, instead of giving up 3 picks for Paxton Lynch, who I didn’t view as significantly better than what Osweiler was as a prospect. They must like Lynch a heckuva lot more than I do, because they Paid a lot for him.
..
I assume they could have gotten Bradford for the 1st and 3rd they spent on Lynch. At least bradford gives them a chance to contend and not waste their window to win with a stacked Roster…. If I were a Denver fan, I’d rather see them trade for Bradford than Lynch,… I guess they,think much more highly of lynch than I do…. Doubt Roseman would have turned down a 1st and a 3rd, even if we didn’t want to trade Sam.
Lynch is $5m for 5 years. That was probably a big piece of it.
Yeah im sure the finances plaid in role in everything, same as its probably playing a big role in the Jets QB situation.
..
The fact that we paid his signing bonus probably had some appeal to them. Instead of giving up The 1st and 3rd for Lynch, they may have been able to try and give up a 1st and shed some salary giving up a player instead of a second draft pick
..,
I hope to eventually find out how high Denver was willing to go to pry Bradford away.
..
If im a Broncos fan, with a stacked roster thats ready to win now, I’d probably be a little pissed that we gave up a 1st and 3rd for lynch, because for that steep of a prince they probably could have gotten Bradford, and I think at the very least denver could count on Bradford giving the Broncos the level of play that they got out of Peyton that won them a Super Bowl…
.
If Sam can’t play as well as 40yr your old Peyton, he should retire right now
Eagles hire Joe Douglas and officially announce scouting staff changes
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2016/5/11/11639844/eagles-hire-joe-douglas-philadelphia-howie-roseman-front-office-scouting-vice-president
Yeah, Eagles just sent this out.
Jags signed Bjoern Werner
Always rooting for my German fellas!
So Condon is now saying that the Eagles and Broncos couldn’t agree on a price. As Kempski indicated on Twitter, that’s really interesting considering the Eagles never granted permission for Condon to seek a trade. So, doesn’t that qualify as official tampering? And if so, what does that say about Condon’s delicacy in negotiations? Seems like backpedaling and damage control is more important to him than actually protecting long term relationships with teams. But, then again, his customers are players, not teams.
Jesus, Condon is diggin himself a deeper and deeper hole. I mean wouldn’t you want to stop the story now that he has returned to the Eagles? Also, he is now saying this year will be an audition for teams next year…. I mean everyone pretty much figured that out but for the agent to outright say that is bananaland. Condon is being a jackass.
I’m baffled by it. I would imagine he is a smart man and knows exactly what he is doing. How bad do they want out of Philly? Could he purposely be creatin an atmosphere of such hatred from the fans that the Eagles really have no choice to dump him?
That’s what he tried. Learning that there’s a reason thatyou don’t hear Condon’s name in the media that much. That said — signing with Condon means you’ll get PAID and i think thats what’d i’d care most about — not how people feel about my agent (see Rosenhaus).
For been a supposed super agent we should fear, it sure seems Howie handled him fine
Hmm, hmmm,
hey guys, check this out: https://imgur.com/gallery/ivp1i
Just so you know where you are on the risk profile wrt Wentz.
I think the link must be bad. It takes me to some notebook created in California when Carson Wentz was in high school in North Dakota.
Certainly you must have a high opinion of Wentz. He throws hard and runs fast, so you can color in both of those boxes. Clearly pedigree isn’t critical to you, but you can color more of that box than Webb, so good enough. The gunslinger comparisons sounds like you can color in the probing box. So, for the checklist of your QB wants, I can only think of one box that is still white…
Yeah, I would have expected shah to be all over Wentz. Very mobile, can design runs for him, by all accounts a big arm, can stretch the field and defence in a number of ways…
How do we feel if Wentz is Joe Flacco?
If he helps win a super bowl, very good.
Naw, man. If an established college quarterback with clear NFL traits can be undone by the negatives you see posted, like Bradford and Clausen–it’s showing how risky it is to pick a quarterback in general.
Picking a guy like Wentz, with as small a portfolio he has, for all intents and purposes, the same as picking a guy like Akili Smith. Remember, Smith had pretty awesome college tape, but he was a one season wonder before being drafted. But Akili Smith was effectively Vince Young before Vince Young, in terms of being an idiot. Cam Newton had something of a similar path as Akili Smith, but for different reasons, and Newton was the more dominant athlete.
Now, Wentz will know the plays. The question is, can he carry them out? If something goes wrong, can he fix it? Remember, the difference between Tannehill and Wilson is that Wilson fixes broken/bad plays a lot better. And I get the sense that Tannehill is not great at remembering what is supposed to happen in depth. This has meant that Tannehill run offenses *never* gells like they should. The tape for Wentz doesn’t show a guy who can deal with chaos or intuitively get plan a, b, c, d. Even worse, Wentz’ tape doesn’t show any sort of true physical dominance a la Steve McNair’s Alcorn State tape.
So no, Wentz is no Joe Webb–which is a big problem. Again, all things told, Wentz’ *upside* is basically Jason Campbell. And don’t tell me Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco is a bad quarterback with a great arm, and doesn’t do too much stupid shit. Don’t tell me Ben Roethlisberger–Jameis Winston plays like an undersized Roethlisberger (without the great deep ball), Wentz just does *throws deep to the sideline* like Roethlisberger, but that’s not all of what makes Roethlisberger great. Wentz doesn’t even make a wide variety of throws, either
Hmph–could also put it this way. I’ve never really care much about people talking about how Teddy Bridgewater isn’t great. Wanna know why? Same thing as Wilson. He knows the plays. In depth, and can switch through a, b, c, d…properly. This meant that Bridgewater could wring out an offense that is quite dysfunctional, overall. It also meant that the Vikings could play against championship caliber defenses, in a way that isn’t true of, say Blake Bortles, who basically feasted on bad passing defenses, and lost against good passing defenses (or won on rather conservative numbers like Bridgewater). No professional can watch Teddy Bridgewater’s game against Seattle in the playoff and be like pshaw, “Carr’s better!” Playing with control and finesse matters. And oh yes, his arm is fine. Problem is that he’s terrible at throwing high arc passes accurately. So worry about Andrew Luck’s arm.
Wentz doesn’t show any of this in college. So not only is his ceiling more or less Jason Campbell, we stand a way too excellent chance of a floor near the Bollers of the world. Not only picked high, but traded lots of loot for a probable marginally bad starter. Not acceptable.
Well, you were wrong about Webb being All-Pro, best qb in the league, so, Ill just wait and see how it pans out. It all comes down to proper development, he has the physical tools but needs coaching. The Eagles have that coaching in place.
Yeah with current staff QBs should be running to be here and get developed.
I don’t love Wentz so this appeals to me. But i’m usually wrong about players (I like sam bradford) so maybe Wentz will lead us to a SB.
Campbell had really bad luck with injuries, comparing to him isn’t that useful. But some good points.
I guess I really mean what’s good about Jason Campbell. I don’t think he’s a terrible QB at all, but, you know, leans on the rest of the offense too much.
We should try to get that Bradford guy.
That’s fake.
really? Thanks, looked pretty legit.
Also, scouting reports have a habit of being called fake when they are real. I’m not going to take an opinion on whether this one is fake or not, but important to know this also is or can be fake.
It’s a well made forgery. I suspect it was made by some draftnik in 2010 trying to get a job with a team. It passes initial glimpse, but having seen actual reports this looks like something that someone was given a rough template and then tried to do their own thin. The person then found it all these years later, rejiggered a few things and out it out. I’ve asked 3 other people who also are familiar with reports they all had same reaction, that at first glance it looks right and the more you look at it things don’t add up. For one the writing styles are comically off. You don’t set a uniform system and then let one asshole write paragraphs, another write bullet points and another write “raw, potential beast”. Also the grading system is one I’ve never seen or heard of (also not particularly useful either). Bradfords has some narrative elements that weren’t around until about 2012. University codes are different.
Again it’s a well made hoax, but it’s 99.9999% fake as all hell.
Brock Osweiler says he’s struggled to pick up the Texans’ offense. “It’s like you speak Spanish your whole life and then all of a sudden, they tell you to go learn French and do it in front of 70,000 people,” Osweiler said. “There’s some carryover from my previous years. It’s not like I’m a complete rookie with no base, but obviously there’s a lot of new things.”
Might realize he doesn’t have the GOAT to tutor him now, however $$
It’s crazy how NFL teams overvalue draft picks. I know the expense side of the equation is favorable but at best they are 50-50 to start. But when you are a team like Denver that has the open window NOW to repeat as champions it makes me wonder about John Elway’s ego and how big it really must be. Reminds me of the Phillies who traded away Cliff Lee (and his paltry 8 million dollar salary) after they got Halladay. That world series window closed pretty fast and we lost the opportunity at least for that 1 year.