By Peter Gleason
The target of Eagles Nation is now squarely on Sam Bradford’s back.
Chip Kelly’s million-to-one shot to draft Marcus Mariota failed, so Bradford, whom Kelly traded Nick Foles for two months ago, is now the presumptive starting QB for Kelly’s offense.
If he is healthy to play.
By the time Bradford finishes the 2015 NFL season, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft will have tallied $70 million in career earnings.
But up to this point in his career Bradford has done very little to earn any of that money.
However, despite the injuries that have plagued Bradford dating all the back to his time at Oklahoma, Kelly saw enough in Bradford to swap quarterbacks with the St. Louis Rams.
In fact, in addition to sending Foles to the Rams, Kelly even threw in a second-round pick.
As Reuben Frank of CSN reported, tight end Zach Ertz didn’t take long to see why Kelly has so much faith in Bradford:
We’ve been throwing for the past three weeks and I can honestly say I’ve thrown with Andrew, Nick and other guys, and I don’t think I’ve thrown with a guy who has a stronger arm than Sam Bradford.
He hasn’t been able to really truly get his full legs underneath him. But the ball still comes out effortlessly, and it’s a lot of fun to run routes with him.
The 27-year-old has made it through 16 games only twice in five seasons, including two ACL tears of the same knee that has sidelined Bradford since October—of 2013.
That arm isn’t much good to Kelly and the Eagles on the sidelines. Or the trainer’s table.
