The Philadelphia Eagles moving up to get the second overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft tells us that they want a quarterback. This means Sam Bradford may be on the trading block, and if that’s the case, the Denver Broncos and New York Jets should try making one now.
Things change quickly and drastically in Philadelphia. Chip Kelly traded Nick Foles to the Rams (then in St. Louis) for Bradford. The often injured quarterback had a solid season. While Kelly got fired, the Eagles signed Bradford to a 2-year, $36 million ($26 million guaranteed) contract. Now, unless they’re planning on paying Bradford, Chase Daniel (three-year, $21 million contract) and a number two draft pick all at once at quarterback, someone has to go.
Obviously, there’s the option of the Eagles actually moving up to take someone other than a quarterback: Laremy Tunsil, an offensive tackle. But the same beat writers who didn’t see the massive trade with the Cleveland Browns coming are saying it’s about a quarterback 100%, pointing at Carson Wentz coming to them after the Rams select Jared Goff.
Assuming Bradford (or maybe Daniel?) is traded, who should be calling? Two teams seem to be the obvious answer: Denver Broncos and New York Jets.
Both teams don’t have high draft picks to draft a player who can start at quarterback right away, or at least projected to be good enough for that. Both teams are in trouble at QB. A few months removed from winning the Super Bowl, the Broncos lost Peyton Manning (retirement) and Brock Osweiler (insulted and signed with the Houston Texans), signing Mark Sanchez and not really deciding on someone else. Ryan Fitzpatrick and Colin Kaepernick have been mentioned, but nothing has happened.
And speaking of Fitzpatrick, he and the Jets are still not getting anywhere. He wanted a lot of money ($15-16 million a season), they aren’t coming close to that, and don’t have too much in cap space right now, although that might change with the option of rescinding the franchise tag or trading Muhammad Wilkerson. They’re not heading into the season with Geno Smith as their best quarterback, and so at least hearing what the Eagles want for Bradford or Daniel makes a lot of sense.