When former Philadelphia Eagles head coach and personnel chief Chip Kelly traded Nick Foles and a second-round pick to the then St. Louis Rams for Sam Bradford last March, it seemed that the two sides were in the early stages of a long marriage.
No one could have predicted what happened next. Within 10 months, Kelly was fired in Philadelphia following a disastrous 7-9 season. Meanwhile, Bradford is returning to the Eagles on a two-year, $36 million contract.
Now that there is no chance of a reconciliation between Bradford and Kelly, the quarterback is making it known that he didn’t even consider signing with his former head coach and the San Francisco 49ers:
Sam Bradford, despite second half success in Chip Kelly's offense, said he never considered following his former coach to the 49ers.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 3, 2016
It’s not entirely known if the 49ers would have interest in Bradford in the first place. While the team may be in the market for a new quarterback now that Colin Kaepernick has reportedly requested a trade, Kelly doesn’t have the player personnel control in San Francisco that he possessed in Philadelphia.
Some will want to point to Bradford’s comments as yet another example of players having an issue with Kelly’s personality.
More likely, there are other issues at play here. Bradford mentioned the ability to audible in Doug Pederson’s offense with the Eagles. That’s something that didn’t exist under Kelly.
The former No. 1 overall pick also indicated he wanted to return to Philadelphia from the get go — a comment that makes sense considering he inked the two-year deal before testing the open market.
It remains to be seen what San Francisco has planned for the quarterback position with both Bradford and Kirk Cousins off the market.
Blaine Gabbert would be the sole holdover on the roster should the team trade Kaepernick. It also boasts the seventh overall pick in April’s draft, which could give the team an ability to select one of the top quarterbacks.
Outside of that, the market is extremely diluted. Peyton Manning may find himself available should he decide to play one more season.
Considering San Francisco was the runner-up for his services prior to him signing with Denver in 2012, there is a connection here.
In addition to this, Robert Griffin III seems to fit the mold of the type of quarterback Kelly looks for to run his offense.
San Francisco could also make the decision to stick with Gabbert under center. The former first-round bust performed pretty well after he replaced an injured/ineffective Kaepernick this past season.
As it is, San Francisco finds itself in a questionable position at quarterback while Philadelphia boasts two signal callers in Bradford and Mark Sanchez with extensive starting experience.