It was always a matter of getting healthy for Sam Bradford. Now that he is, the starting quarterback job for the Philadelphia Eagles is his to lose.
Mark Sanchez took the first team snaps during minicamp and the OTAs. But now it’s training camp, more serious business. Bradford took the first-team snaps with no brace. While Chip Kelly keeps saying it’s an open competition for the starting job, Bradford is in the lead for the spot, and that was the intention all along with the Rams and Eagles made the trade that included Nick Foles going the opposite way.
Bradford missed the entire 2014 season with a knee injury, and has yet to live up to the expectations from him when he was drafted first overall by the Rams in 2010. It seemed that every time he was getting close to taking the next step while the team was improving its offensive line and defense overall, came some setback. Bradford played just 49 games in St. Louis.
Chip Kelly took a lot of risks this offseason, making some big changes across the board, letting go of some meaningful players, apparently because they cost a lot of money or didn’t fit his offensive system. Bradford has never been the most accurate of quarterbacks, not in the NFL, but he’s in a very different system now, with very different expectations, not to mention fiercer competition from the subs.
Mark Sanchez is obviously the number two option on this team, or even 1.5, with plenty of staring experience and not doing all too badly last season after Foles went down, although it didn’t help get the Eagles into the playoffs. Matt Barkley and Tim Tebow seem to be battling for the third quarterback spot, with one of them looking for a new team by the time the final roster cuts are made.