It might be a complete overhaul, but the Eagles have reshaped a majority of their roster leaving limited holes.
The defense, with the exception of one starting safety, is essentially set. Offensively, the Eagles will be looking to add a wide receiver and pieces to the offensive line. Otherwise, consider the roster essentially set.
One newcomer is Sam Bradford, who will likely be the starting quarterback at the start of the season. The Eagles are in the process of trying to re-work Bradford’s contract. As they structure a new deal, it must articulate the risks of acquiring one of the NFL’s more injury-prone quarterbacks.
Bradford is entering his sixth NFL season, but has missed significant time throughout his career. In 2011, he missed six games with an ankle injury. In 2013, he tore his ACL during Week 7, ending his season. Bradford was set to return from that injury in 2014, when tore the same ACL in Week 3 of the preseason, forcing him to sit out the entire season again.
Bradford’s original contract with the Rams, signed upon his selection as the first overall pick in 2010, is up at the end of the 2015 season. He is expected to make almost $13 million this season. That would be the highest individual cap hit on the Eagles roster.
The Eagles are looking to change that as they restructure the deal to fit their cap needs. In addition, Bradford’s new contract should state the risk the Eagles are taking on a quarterback who had two major knee surgeries in back-to-back seasons.
It is reported that any new deal will be a short-term extension, possibly two or three years at most. For the Eagles to also accentuate the risks of this deal, they should bring Bradford’s salary down to roughly half of what he was expected to make.
Elite quarterbacks make $13 million a season. Bradford is far from elite.
What the Eagles should do with Bradford is give him a contract that expresses the fears they may have of him failing to resurrect his career while affirming their belief that he can be the quarterback he was at Oklahoma. A back-loaded contract, paying closer to the $10 million mark in the final year, is much more on par with Bradford’s ability and health woes.
There is nothing wrong with the Eagles taking a chance on Bradford. Honestly, at this point, it’s worth a shot to see what everybody on this team has as a collective unit. It is certainly an odd cast of characters, but definitively players that Chip Kelly is fully supporting to get the Eagles back to the playoffs and beyond.
Trust doesn’t come free. Bradford is going to demand some salary for being a player that still has potential, even off two ACL injuries.
The trade already looked foolish, as the Eagles traded fairly similar quarterbacks – in many aspects Nick Foles and Bradford are similar – and botched the compensation of draft picks included in the deal. They made up for it by using the newly acquired Bradford to recruit DeMarco Murray into the mix.
Now that Murray, and a whole host of running backs, are here, the Eagles need to take a high-risk contract and turn it into a low-risk, high-reward kind of deal. With all the madness that has happened with the Eagles so far, that is certainly possible.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
