For Eagles and Bradford, it’s all in the timing

As the Eagles step up their push to potentially re-sign Sam Bradford and provide an answer to the biggest question, you can’t help but notice the timing.

In one sense, the Eagles certainly have options. Why not target a temporary replacement or look among the candidates in the Draft to see if there is a potential arm worth grooming and growing in the coming years?

In Bradford’s case too, why now?

A closer look shows, it really is all in the timing.

For Bradford, this is essentially the moment of truth. In one week, on March 9, free agency begins in the NFL.

Bradford could very easily test the waters of free agency and know the Eagles are willing to welcome him back. But what about that price tag? Is another team going to want a quarterback who averaged one interception per game in a contract year and again missed time with injury?

What those seven days do is put a limit on the minimum time left to sit on the concept of just keeping Bradford without worrying about losing him. But it is minimal time.

Tuesday marks another important date. At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the franchise tag period ends. If the Eagles were to bring Bradford back on a guaranteed one-year deal with the franchise tag, that decision has to be made by then.

Deadlines can breed action.

But still, why now? It’s not like Bradford is definitively the most-coveted free-agent quarterback on the market.

Again, it’s in the timing.

The Eagles offseason started with the conclusion of the regular season on Jan. 3. For several weeks, there were the adjustments to come internally.

They had to hire a new head coach and did by bringing in former quarterback Doug Pederson. They had to restructure the way decisions with personnel were going to be made. And while the clock was not necessarily ticking on Bradford, they put their focus into restructuring new deals and getting extensions to players they wanted to keep.

In January and early February, there was no rush to make something happen with Bradford and, in all honesty, it was a back-and-forth of trying to determine where Bradford wanted to play, if the Eagles wanted him back and if Bradford was interested.

The biggest detail that will come out of any deal made with Bradford will also be the issue of the price tag.

And while the Eagles were taking care of business on the home front – hiring a coach and re-signing players at other positions – they were scouting Bradford and the prospect of other quarterbacks.

The Eagles spent much of last week at the Combine, observing and analyzing young Draft hopefuls. Among them were quarterbacks Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch and Jared Goff as well as the later-round options at the position.

Perhaps the Eagles considered, observed and just weren’t impressed with the talent or the prospect of waiting to develop an arm just wasn’t as appealing as working toward a new deal with Bradford or another quarterback already in the league.

Perhaps the Eagles wanted the new direction, but had a change of heart when considering the long and short of such a decision.

Maybe the Eagles want to see Bradford with a different system, different coach. After the saga of Chip Kelly and the debacle of a season, maybe what the Eagles want to see most is just how much of it falls on the former coach and if the players were really not a problem at all. Or maybe when all was said and done, Bradford was just the best option after all.

So the Eagles have stepped up their push to retain Bradford for better or worse.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.