Sam Bradford Not Nearly Accomplished Enough to Be a Diva

Sam Bradford is mad that the Eagles signed Chase Daniel and drafted Carson Wentz after re-signing him earlier this offseason. While this displeasure was voiced earlier in the week, now that Wentz has officially been drafted we’ve reached the passive-aggressive phase:

On one level, it’s understandable that Bradford is upset. He was presumably sold on the idea of being the team’s starter, and especially now that the team has invested so heavily in the no. 2 overall pick – more by virtue of opportunity cost than salary, because of the rookie wage scale – there’s a de facto hourglass on his tenure in Philadelphia.

On the other hand, Bradford isn’t that good. If you went down a list of starting quarterbacks in the NFL, he’s probably below average. His teams are 25-37-1 in games he’s started in his career. He nevertheless received $22 million in guaranteed money from Philadelphia.

The table is still set for him to be the Eagles’ starting quarterback headed into this season. However, with Daniel and Wentz behind him, he’d have to perform (and stay healthy) in order to keep the job. When Philadelphia guaranteed only a smidgen beyond this year, they sent the sign that they were not unconditionally committed to him, so any follow-up evidence of that should not come as a total shock.

(The Eagles don’t get off clean here, either. Giving Bradford that much money, signing Daniel to a big backup deal, and then parting with a bounty of picks to trade up for Wentz is not reflective of their having had a cohesive plan.)

Bradford has the same opportunity Jon Kitna had in Cincinnati when the Bengals drafted Carson Palmer no. 1 overall in 2003. Kitna started all 16 games that year. If Bradford has a good season in Philadelphia, he’d have enormous leverage going into next year. Now? Not so much.