October 30, 2015
Remember the good old days when Donovan McNabb was a very good-but-frustrating quarterback, when Philadelphia Eagles fans could say, "I hate the worm burners, but we could certainly do worse?" Unfortunately for Philly fans, through seven games this season, the "We could certainly do worse" part is no longer true.
ESPN's Mike Sando wrote a good article (behind ESPN's pay wall) on 10 quarterbacks who may be with new teams next season, and ranked them in terms of their "chances for change." Sam Bradford was one of three quarterbacks on the list who received a "high" designation. The other two were Peyton Manning (to retirement, not a team switch), and Robert Griffin III. Here's what Sando wrote about Bradford:
Bradford ranks 32nd (last) in Total QBR among qualifying quarterbacks this season. He ranks 28th out of 30 qualifiers since entering the league in 2010.
"I don't know Sam at all, but I think eventually when you are in the league, you are what you are," a player from another team said before the 2014 season. "This is what, five years for him?"
It's Year 6 now, and Bradford is seven games into his return from a second torn ACL. Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has said evaluating quarterbacks in new systems becomes viable after about eight games. Bradford and the Eagles have a bye this week before visiting Dallas for their eighth game.
"I can see someone signing Bradford if he stays healthy all year," one of the GMs said, "and I could see the Eagles just letting him go."
"I think our quarterback is playing well," Chip Kelly told reporters after the loss to Carolina. "Yeah, I have been pleased with Sam, very pleased with Sam."
There's no way that can be true. Bradford is 29th in QB rating (76.4), he's thrown the most INTs in the league (10), he's 30th in yards per pass attempt (6.45), and he isn't a threat to run. While he certainly hasn't been helped by his receivers or a quality rushing attack (in some games), Bradford has simply been awful.
If Bradford had shown anything so far this season (and obviously there are still nine games to go), maybe there's some logic in trying to sign him at a drastically discounted rate for one year in the hopes that he'll be better in his second season in the system. But seeing as he's shown essentially nothing, if that continues I'm not sure why the Eagles would have any interest in bringing him back, or why Bradford would even want to be back.
When Bradford was traded to the Eagles, the Eagles' offense was a desirable landing spot. The perception was that it had a high-powered offense with a variety of receiving threats, a good offensive line, and a strong run game. Nope. So even if the Eagles had some kind of interest in bringing Bradford back, there's a really good chance Bradford would view some other team as a better situation. And I'll bet some team would probably sign him to be their starter based on the useless notion that he was a great prospect coming out of college and a former No. 1 overall pick. Because a lot teams are dumb.
Since 2009, the Eagles have suffered through a high level of instability at the quarterback position, as they've had five different "opening day" starters in the last seven years. It's becoming more and more likely with each bad performance by Bradford that they'll have six different opening day starters in the last eight years, and four in their last four:
| Year | Opening day starting QB |
| 2009 | Donovan McNabb |
| 2010 | Kevin Kolb |
| 2011 | Michael Vick |
| 2012 | Michael Vick |
| 2013 | Michael Vick |
| 2014 | Nick Foles |
| 2015 | Sam Bradford |
| 2016 | ??? |
To note, the one quarterback on the list above who lasted as the opening day starter for more than one year (Vick) was a near certainty to be injured at some point during every season.
Before the season began, we listed every team in the NFL and how many quarterbacks they have started on Week 1 since 2009. We'll update that here:
| Team | # of QBs | Who were they? |
| Patriots | 1 | Brady |
| Saints | 1 | Brees |
| Packers | 1 | Rodgers |
| Ravens | 1 | Flacco |
| Giants | 1 | Manning |
| Chargers | 1 | Rivers |
| Bears | 1 | Cutler |
| Cowboys | 1 | Romo |
| Falcons | 1 | Ryan |
| Lions | 1 | Stafford |
| Steelers | 2 | Roethlisberger, Dixon |
| Broncos | 2 | Orton, Manning |
| Bengals | 2 | Palmer, Dalton |
| Texans | 2 | Schaub, Fitzpatrick, Hoyer |
| Jets | 2 | Sanchez, Smith, Fitzpatrick |
| Colts | 3 | Manning, Collins, Luck |
| Dolphins | 3 | Pennington, Henne, Tannehill |
| Chiefs | 3 | Croyle, Cassel, Smith |
| Panthers | 3 | Delhomme, Moore, Newton |
| 49ers | 3 | Hill, Smith Kaepernick |
| Seahawks | 3 | Hasselbeck, Jackson, Wilson |
| Bills | 4 | Edwards, Fitzpatrick, Manuel, Taylor |
| Buccaneers | 4 | Leftwich, Freeman, McCown, Winston |
| Rams | 4 | Bulger, Bradford, Hill, Foles |
| Redskins | 5 | Campbell, McNabb, Grossman, Griffin III, Cousins |
| Jaguars | 5 | Garrard, McCown, Gabbert, Henne, Bortles |
| Titans | 5 | Collins, Young, Hasselbeck, Locker, Mariota |
| Vikings | 5 | Favre, McNabb, Ponder, Cassel, Bridgewater |
| Raiders | 5 | Russell, Campbell, Palmer, Pryor, Carr |
| Cardinals | 5 | Warner, Anderson, Kolb, Skelton, Palmer |
| Eagles | 5 | McNabb, Kolb, Vick, Foles, Bradford |
| Browns | 6 | Quinn, Delhomme, McCoy, Weeden, Hoyer, McCown |
On the list above, of the 11 teams who have had at least four different quarterback start on Week 1, not one has won a playoff game in the last five years.
Until the Eagles are able to land a long-term answer at quarterback, and that'll probably have to be through the draft, you can expect them to wallow in quarterback purgatory for the foreseeable future.
