April 26, 2016
There is still some debate as to whether or not Sam Bradford can be an effective quarterback in the National Football League, but the key debate at this moment is whether or not he can play in Philadelphia.
Mind you, not play for the Philadelphia Eagles, but just play in front of the fans of Philadelphia.
Bradford wrote his ticket out of this town when his agent Tom Condon confirmed on Monday that his client wanted to be traded. For whatever the reason, Bradford was shocked when the Eagles traded up in the draft to take a quarterback of the future.
The problem here is that Bradford’s agent is painting the quarterback as a mentally weak player who is not capable of dealing with such pressure. And who wants a guy like that?
The narrative from the agent was that the rabid fans of Philadelphia will be so enamored with the idea of Carson Wentz as the quarterback that any stalled offensive drive will lead to a vocal demand to make a change. There was even a suggestion that Bradford’s teammates will want the change.
The problem here is that Bradford’s agent is painting the quarterback as a mentally weak player who is not capable of dealing with such pressure.
And who wants a guy like that?
Certainly not Philadelphia, but the same could be said for the football fans in any city. This is not a case of the hardened and knowledgeable fans of Philadelphia will be so harsh that Bradford will be boiled by their anger.
You could take any market in the NFL and tell them that their starting quarterback doesn’t want to deal with competition and have the fans accept him as a leader. In fact, you can move that premise on to any sport and the fans would have little interest in supporting any player afraid of competition – let alone a quarterback.
The official stance from the Philadelphia Eagles through Howie Roseman is that despite the demands, Bradford is the Eagles’ starting quarterback.
Nice words, but now the work begins for Roseman. If he is serious about Bradford starting the season for the Eagles he has to begin to mend the fences and make it clear the club is serious about winning this season with the veteran.
Good luck with that.
The more likely road is that Roseman finds a trade partner to take Bradford. More than just finding a trade partner, Roseman is going to have to find a trade partner willing to give the Eagles something decent in return, especially since they are still on the hook for the $11 million signing bonus.
This is where Roseman can really earn the trust of the Philadelphia football fans. This is what a college business school class would categorize as an organizational crisis, and then judge the leadership skills of the people at the top of the flow chart to navigate through the mess.
Roseman has to either douse the collective fire from the Bradford camp and the fan base or make another team see the value in Bradford.
There are a couple of natural candidates for Roseman to approach, notably the Denver Broncos or the New York Jets. The irony with the Broncos is that Eagles castoff Mark Sanchez is already in place there.
What the Eagles cannot worry about is that the Broncos wind up winning another Super Bowl with a couple of guys at quarterback who were deemed as unnecessary in Philadelphia. If that happens, the Eagles approach has to be “so, what?” neither guy was going to help us long term.
Roseman has already made a number or remarkable moves since reclaiming the top spot from Chip Kelly and throwing out all of Kelly’s furniture. He has managed to work his way up the NFL Draft in a connect-the-dots mentality to land the second spot.
Nice work … but that work has only started.
