The Philadelphia Eagles have promised up and down that quarterback Sam Bradford is “the man” to start in September. However, this does not mean that the Eagles aren’t getting all of their ducks in a row prior to the start of the season.
Rookie first-round pick Carson Wentz being called on to be “starter ready” when the team kicks of the season in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns.
“You want (Wentz) to be in a position where if there’s an injury or somebody goes down, you plug him in and you don’t have any worries,’’ head coach Doug Pederson said, per Paul Domowitch of philly.com. “You’re fully confident in his ability to take over. Because backup quarterbacks need to be ready to go in an instant.’’
He, along with Chase Daniel, who is penciled in at No. 2 behind Bradford, need to be prepared.
“You’ve got to get through four (preseason) games and a lot of preseason. But going into Sept. 11, Sam’s the guy. I’ll stick with that. Chase is our No. 2, and Carson is our No. 3.’’
To reduce the risk of any type of setback to Bradford, who already has two ACL surgeries under his belt, the Eagles must be cautious.
We will likely see Bradford taking snaps for the first quarter of the first two preseason games with Daniel and Wentz featured more heavily in the last two games. As it currently stands, Pederson is reportedly trying to get Wentz as many reps possible.
The team was “comfortable” with Bradford’s performance during the its OTAs as well as where Daniel left off, per the report.
According to the coach, there is no plan at this time to give Wentz any regular season snaps. This falls in line with the idea that Wentz won’t even dress on game days — a notion that Pederson seemed to suggest was the plan recently.
Obviously keeping Bradford comfortable and confident of his status with the team is the Eagles’ primary focus. If he had any kind of uncertainty as to how things stand, it would produce quite the awkward atmosphere.
The plan to have all of their quarterbacks prepared to take the field in the event of a Bradford injury is a very prudent one by Pederson.