New Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford reportedly contemplated retirement before he was traded from the St. Louis Rams earlier this offseason.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski, Bradford’s former coach at Oklahoma, Josh Heupel, talked the former No. 1 overall pick out of giving up football following his second torn ACL in two years this past August.
It was one of those moments where, after all the time and energy and passion that he poured into rehabilitating himself in the first injury, you feel like you’re snakebitten. Heupel told the Inquirer. “You don’t know when, if, or how your body is going to respond and what your next opportunity is. You’re really just in a lot of limbo. Sometimes, I think, just having a voice from an outside perspective is something that can be valuable.”
While Bradford is in Philadelphia and prepared to continue his career with a clean slate, it’s definitely a risk for Chip Kelly and company. We are seeing a tremendous amount of young players decide to walk away from the game due to numerous reasons, some injury related. Anyone who has gone through rehabbing from an ACL injury knows full well how grueling of a process it is. With Bradford now having gone through two, it’s not really that much of a surprise that he thought about hanging his cleats up.
For Heupel, a former starting quarterback at Oklahoma and now Utah State’s quarterbacks coach, his conversations with Bradford were meant to help the new Eagles signal caller overcome initial disappointment that came with his most recent injury.
When a player goes through a big letdown, it’s natural to be down. I just tried to reach out to him and say, ‘Hey, I still see this in you as a person and a player. I think the best is yet to come for you. You’ve got to get yourself healthy and get yourself back on the field and get yourself in the right environment with the right people and the right supporting cast around you, and there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll achieve the things you’re capable of achieving and want to achieve.”
Bradford may not be etched in stone as Philadelphia’s starter this upcoming season. The team re-signed Mark Sanchez earlier in March and is rumored to be interested in Oregon’s Marcus Mariota. And while the situation in Philadelphia appears to be solid regarding Bradford, it will be interesting to see if this retirement talk potentially leads to other teams taking a step back in trade discussions should the Eagles put him on the block.
Photo: USA Today Sports
