By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Carson Wentz played nearly a full half in last Thursday's preseason opener, making 24 passes and completing 12 of them. Sam Bradford was in for three plays and completed his only pass of the game.
But this Thursday, the Eagles won't be able to showcase Wentz, which means Bradford's showcase in the preseason will come a week earlier than expected.
While Bradford, a veteran, doesn't need the playing time or to be put in the line of danger in the preseason, he could actually use the reps, especially after getting just one drive of three plays of action in the opener. And with Wentz out of action, he might just get that chance.
Bradford was average at best in his first season with the Eagles, but the fear of the unknown at quarterback make bigs moves for three different quarterbacks. Chase Daniel was signed to a three-year, $21 million deal as a backup. Bradford is making $35 million over the next two seasons. The Eagles took a risk to move up for the second overall pick and select Carson Wentz. Ultimately, Bradford wasn't worth what he received from the Eagles, but they needed a quarterback. If that meant paying Bradford that kind of money just to be a placeholder for Wentz, so be it.
But Bradford is going through another new scheme, once again pressing the reset button as another chapter of his career begins. When you think about it, Bradford's health is the reason the Eagles missed the playoffs last season, which led them to fire Chip Kelly, which put them in a position to trade up to draft Wentz.
Bradford missed two games last season, both starts for Mark Sanchez. Both were losses by a sizable margin. Sanchez also lost the game where Bradford left with injury, that one by just one point. The weak NFC East division was essentially a game away for the Eagles last season. Any one of those three games where Sanchez got significant time could have been that one.
The reason this means something is that if Bradford plays the entire season, even with a depleted offensive line and lack of a supporting cast, the Eagles are likely in the playoffs, even for just one week. Now, there's no way to predict that the NFC East will be just as bad as it was a season ago, but if Bradford can stay healthy, he can win games. The Eagles were 7-6 in games Bradford started and finished.
This is not to say that with Bradford, the Eagles have any shot at the playoffs. The disastrous start to the preseason with injuries and the pending suspension to Lane Johnson are enough to dash even the most remote chances for the Birds.
But that said, Bradford is going to be offensive leader of the team and he needs to be displayed more than just three snaps and one pass in a preseason game. While that is normally reserved for the third week of the preseason, Wentz's injury opens the door for Bradford to get some more playing time before the season.
