Eagles coach Doug Pederson insists that Sam Bradford is “our guy,” and as soon as he actually talks to his expensive free agent quarterback, he’ll tell him that.
Of course, he hasn’t spoken with Bradford since they traded for the No. 2 overall pick so they could grab Carson Wentz, and Bradford demanded a trade and said he wouldn’t be coming back to work in Philadelphia, so that’s kind of complicating things.
“Well, right now we’re still in April, we’re beginning phases of our OTAs coming up in May,” Pederson said in an interview with NBC 10, via CSNPhilly.com. “I’ve said all along Sam’s our guy, he’s my guy, and he’s a part of the Philadelphia Eagles, and it’s just unfortunate where we are right now.
“But the thing is once he’s here, he’s our guy. Because it’s a voluntary offseason program there’s not a whole lot we can do. But at the same time we just know we want him to be a part of the Philadelphia Eagles this year.”
Bradford lost a bit of the leverage he had last night when the Broncos traded up for quarterback Paxton Lynch, limiting the amount of potential places he could be traded by at least one if not two (since the 49ers appear stuck with Colin Kaepernick as a result, making Chip Kelly bringing Bradford in a second time less likely).
The next step is monitoring the damage control in Philadelphia. ESPN’s Twitter-less Sal Paolantonio said during the broadcast last night that Bradford wasn’t taking Pederson’s calls, which Pederson sort-of confirmed by saying he hadn’t talked to Bradford since the trade demand.
“I have not,” Pederson said. “Not right now. I had a chance to sit down with him just and visit with him 1-on-1 prior to our minicamp a week ago. Other than that, I haven’t had a chance to visit with him.”
If Bradford gets his way, he might not. But unless someone unexpectedly emerges as a suitor for an expensive quarterback with a 25-37-1 career record and no postseason experience, Bradford may be stuck holding a place for Wentz whether he likes it or not.