Doug Pederson, Howie Roseman and the limited Philadelphia Eagles' brass continue to scout players in Indianapolis at the NFL Combine. This morning, workouts for three key offensive positions — quarterback, wide receiver and tight-end — began. While tight-end may be the deepest position on the Eagles, the other two are of particular interest, making today perhaps the most important day of the event for the Eagles.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some trending Eagles articles.
Do the Eagles have Sam Bradford cornered? — Philadelphia Inquirer
Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests that by continuing to publicly express interest in retaining Sam Bradford while making it clear that his return is anything but a lock, the Eagles have gained quite a bit of leverage in the Bradford sweepstakes.
While his point is well-taken, it should be worth noting that games and seasons aren't won in the court of public opinion. If anyone knows that, it's the Eagles. So if Bradford walks, initially it may appear that he priced his way out of Philadelphia or that the Eagles elected to go in another direction, but it won't look good if the Eagles fail to replace Bradford with someone who eventually gives them a better chance to compete for a Super Bowl.
None of that is to say that if Bradford walks the Eagles won't have a bridge quarterback or take a step back from what he would have provided the team, but it is to say that if he leaves in free-agency, or even if he doesn't, the team needs to figure out who they believe has a chance to be their franchise quarterback.
Combine Notes: Paxton's Past — Birds 24/7
While most signs seem to be pointing to Sam Bradford returning to Philadelphia, he hasn't agreed to a long-term extension, and him re-signing wouldn't necessarily prevent the Eagles from taking a long-term quarterback to groom.
If they do end up taking one with the 13th pick, Memphis' Paxton Lynch would likely be their best option. In his junior season, the 6-foot-6, 22-year-old tossed 28 touchdowns while throwing for over 3,700 yards.
However, Lynch says some teams were weary of his medical history while examining him.
"I had an issue with my left knee and my right knee and an issue with my AC joint," he said. "When I hurt my AC joint back in my redshirt sophomore year of college in Cincinnati, I didn't realize that I had — I think they said it was just a small fracture in my clavicle. So that popped up on the X-ray, but it was healed. But there was just some piece of the bone, I guess, just floating around in there.
"So it spooked a team or two, I think, and that's why they requested the MRIs and all that. But I mean, I didn't miss a game or a practice or a single throw because of it, and none of those injuries bother me today. I'm 100 percent, so I was more than willing to do what they need me to do."
It will be interesting to see if Lynch's draft-stock drops because of this. If a team or two didn't walk away from his examination with the rosy view he suggests, perhaps he could fall to the second-round, or to a later position in the first than expected.
Doug Pederson doesn’t seem impressed with how Chip Kelly handled running backs — Philly Voice
We wrote yesterday about a report that suggests that the Eagles, though anything seems unlikely to happen, are willing to ''listen'' on a potential DeMarco Murray trade. (For what it's worth, Murray took to Twitter yesterday to say not to "believe the hype''.)
Doug Pederson gave an interesting quote to Rich Hoffman of Philly Voice as to how he felt his predecessor handled Murray and the team's expensive running-back corps as a whole.
“It was a combination of things,” Pederson said. “The first thing I noticed was there were three different (types) of running backs on the roster. And you can’t take three different running backs and try to make them one running back.”
While the Eagles may attempt to move Murray, he's likely going to spend at least one more season in Philadelphia. So Pederson, who Ian Rapoport suggested will have the final say on how the Eagles handle the Murray situation, may need to attempt to make up for the hurt feelings that Chip Kelly left Murray with.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is an editorial assistant for Eagledelphia.com.
