Was Sam Bradford Wrong to Holdout on the Eagles?
Unless you live under a rock, you probably have heard about the Philadelphia Eagles drafting a new QB back in April. And surprise, surprise, Eagles incumbent QB Sam Bradford wasn’t too happy about it. From the drafting of Carson Wentz on April 28 to May 9, Sam Bradford refused to communicate to the Eagles, including the attendance of their off-season training program. He reluctantly returned to the team’s regime on May 9, re-confirming his status to the Eagles as the presumptive starting quarterback heading into the 2016 season. Despite his return to the team, it’s crystal clear that the relationship between the Eagles and Bradford is severely damaged. With all of this animosity, I’m now wondering if Bradford’s holdout is justifiable. Let’s take a deeper look.
It’s important to remember that Sam Bradford wasn’t a good quarterback for the Eagles last year, or even a tolerable one. The former University of Oklahoma star failed as an NFL quarterback last season, in both a statistical and pragmatic way. If you look at a statistic called Total Quarterback Rating (Otherwise known as QBR, an advanced statistic that determines the overall sucess of a QB taking everything under consideration on a 0–100 scale), you will find that Sam Bradford had an abysmal 41.8 QBR rating in 2015, which is good for the #31 spot on the list of 2015 starting QBs. Bear in mind that there are only 32 NFL teams, and only 33 eligible “starting” QBs (Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler both played enough for the Broncos to be considered starters) this season. Yikes. To make matters worse, notoriously terrible quarterbacks like journeyman Josh McCowen, the regressing Colin Kaepernick, and perennial meme Jay cutler all outperformed Bradford. Worse still, Sam Bradford failed to bring wins to the Eagles. His starting record last season was a neutral 7–7, and the team finished 7–9, with two games started by Mark “Buttfumble” Sanchez. The Eagles failed to make the postseason, despite playing in an overwhelmingly underachieving NFC East, which led to Chip Kelly’s firing just three years into his tenure. Again, yikes.
With Sam Bradford and Chip Kelly’s team under-preforming, the Eagles’s front office choice to change direction with a new head coach in Doug Pederson and drafting a new QB in Carson Wentz is understandable. The team has said several times that until further notice, Sam Bradford will be the staring quarterback for the team in 2016. With that said, there shouldn’t be any reason for Sam Bradford to be concerned about his job security, right? Well, not exactly. The Eagles had to trade up twice in the draft in order to be able to pick Wentz to begin with, so it’s clear that the Eagles must have big plans for Wentz with such a large investment. Furthermore, Sam Bradford is seen as something of a ticking time bomb. He’s had two devastating lower-body injuries that have derailed his career back with the Rams, which is the main reason why the Rams were so eager to give up on the former first overall pick. The Eagles’ sacrifice to draft Wentz tells us one of two things: either the Eagles don’t see Bradford as their long-term QB, or they’re so concerned about his inability to stay on the field that their willing to commit to a great backup. Possibly both. Either reality doesn't bode well for Sam Bradford’s future in Philadelphia.
So now that we have insight on Bradford’s struggles and current situation with the Eagles, here’s what I have found: No, I believe that Sam Bradford was indeed in the wrong for his holdout with the team. Although I am sympathetic to his difficult situation on the team, his refusal to cooperate with the team is not justifiable. As I mentioned before, his season with the Eagles was one of the worst of any starting quarterback last season; so his rational that he should automatically get the starting gig next season with no real competition is as about as crazy as Jim Harbaugh on a typical Tuesday. Furthermore, Sam Bradford has shown a lack of self-confidence for his role on the Eagles. As soon as the Eagles completed the trade for the Carson Wentz pick, Bradford demanded a trade away from Philadelphia. He was almost traded to the Broncos, as the successor to Peyton “Papa John” Manning; but the Eagles didn’t think just a mid-round draft pick was enough in exchange for Bradford.
The fact that Sam Bradford wanted out of Philly immediately after the Eagles were going to draft Carson Wentz shows that Sam Bradford has no interest in even possibly competing for a starting job. Either Sam Bradford doesn't feel that he should have to compete for the starting job (given his 7–7 record and horrific QBR, he should absolutely feel the need to compete to start), or he lacks the confidence that he can compete for the starting role. Both reasonings only further prove that Sam Bradford likely isn’t the long term future of the team. It appears that either his caliber of play, his inability to stay on the field, and/or his less-then-sportsmanlike-attitude will hold him back from being a true star for Philadelphia. Sam, only you can fix the problems that you caused for the team and for yourself. Go out there, and get to work.
