As Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford continues to ignore phone calls from the team’s brass and remains away from off-season activities, his agent, Tom Condon, seems willing to do all the talking for him.
Bradford is unhappy about Philadelphia trading up to the No. 2 spot in the 2016 NFL Draft to select former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz. He’s so unhappy that the veteran quarterback has requested a trade.
This come just a little over two months after Philadelphia re-signed Bradford to a two-year, $35 million contract with $22 million guaranteed.
Despite that huge financial commitment, Philadelphia exhausted multiple high-round picks to move up to the second selection in last week’s draft.
This has Bradford and his agent thinking that any potential quarterback competition would be heavily tilted in Wentz’s favor.
“I know people say, ‘Well, why doesn’t he just compete and win the job?'” Condon said on Tuesday, via Pro Football Talk. “There is no real competition. If you’ve given up the draft choices (to trade up) and he’s the second pick in the draft, he’s playing. That’s all there is to it.”
While Condon is definitely doing his best to represent his client, this is a false narrative.
Philadelphia has made it clear that its intention has been to start Bradford all along. Selecting a small-school quarterback No. 2 overall doesn’t really change that, especially with Bradford himself earning an average of $17.5 million over the next two seasons.
Who in their right mind would pay a backup that money unless he was an absolute disaster under center after signing the deal?
The Eagles’ stance might have changed a bit recently, but that’s primarily due to the team not knowing when Bradford might show up for off-season activities.
“Anybody that’s not in any of the 32 offseason programs is losing valuable time at that club,” first-year Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said after the draft. “So anybody that’s not in the offseason program, yes, would lose the time.”
This stands to reason. If a player continues to miss off-season activities under a completely new coaching staff, how can he expect to simply be handed the starting job? It’s just common sense.
There had been speculation that the Eagles might move Bradford during the draft, but that never came to pass.
Instead, the team remains hellbent on him being the starting quarterback in 2016.
For the Eagles, this would be the best of both worlds. It would give them a capable stop-gap option under center for two years while Wentz learns the nuances of the NFL and hones his own craft.
Unfortunately, Bradford, likely worried about actually participating in a competition for the job, doesn’t seem to be down for this idea.
It’s an all-around bad look for the former No. 1 pick.
This isn’t about money. It’s not about putting food on his family’s dinner table. It’s all about Bradford demanding the respect he’s yet to earn.
If you’re not willing to compete at the highest level, why should anyone have confidence in you actually succeeding at the highest level?
Maybe Condon should ask his client this instead of continuing to be Bradford’s public mouthpiece.