If not the Eagles, 3 places Sam Bradford could land

There are a number of different levels to the Sam Bradford question, and one of the more interesting ones is where the guy will end up if he doesn't end up in Philadelphia. It's interesting largely because of a couple of potential landing spots that, on paper, could offer him a greater chance to thrive than the one he currently has with the Eagles.

Of course, we should note - in bold in and underline - that Bradford does not have carte blanche to dictate his fate. If the Eagles apply the franchise tag to him - which would seem to be a formality - they will at the very least have veto power over any deal they allow him to seek.

Remember, franchising Bradford does not mean he will enter 2016 as the Eagles quarterback on a one-year, $20 million deal. It's the threat of it that matters. They can franchise him and sign him to an extension before the season starts, or they can franchise him and allow him to seek a contract elsewhere and then work out a trade with his preferred destination.

I'd be very surprised if they do not end up signing him to a multi-year deal, but if Bradford and Tom Condon are dead set againt returning to Philadelphia, they can certainly exercise the leverage of a potential holdout to force the Eagles to allow him to explore the market.

So where else could he land?

1. Houston

Bill O'Brien has a solid case for Coach of the Decade for posting back-to-back winning records with the following quarterbacks making starts: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, Ryan Mallet, Brian Hoyer, T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden. Think about that. Those quarterbacks combined to go 18-14 in in 2014-15.

However you feel about Bradford, I think you'd agree that he'd constitute a significant upgrade over whatever monstrosity of a quarterback would result if you Frankensteined all of those players into one signal-caller.

The Texans have a good offensive line, an excellent running game, a strong defense, and a coach who single-handedly deluded people into thinking that Christian Hackenberg was a potential No. 1 overall pick (although Allen Robinson helped)

2. Denver

Sure, they have Brock Osweiler, who will also become a free agent, but if the Broncos envisioned him as Peyton Manning's long-term successor, don't you think he would already be succeeding him? He's four years into his career, and while he is 5-2 as a starter, and his numbers aren't awful (61.3 % completion, 7.0 yards/attempt, 11 TDs, 6 INTs), it's hard to imagine how they'll be comfortable casting their lot behind him if they weren't comfortable letting him start a playoff game against a one-armed Ben Roethlisberger.

That said, Denver has plenty of questions on the offensive line, and it's hard to imagine a QB viewing it as a better situation than the Texans.

3. San Francisco

The greatest misconception about Chip Kelly is that he wants/needs a mobile quarterback. More than anything, he wants/needs an accurate passer who makes quick decisions and understands how/why his offense works as it does.

Maybe he thinks Colin Kaepernick can still become that kind of quarterback. Certainly, it would be intriguing to watch Kelly tailor his zone read attack to include more option runs. But Kelly has seen enough of the NFL to know that a quarterback needs to do the majority of his damage in the pocket. And he certainly seemed to value Bradford here. Again, though, Houston and Denver seem to be better options.

Other teams who could be looking for quarterbacks include Cleveland, the Jets, and Buffalo, although none of those situations/schemes seems to come close to the top three options he will have. Frankly, the Eagles rank no lower than the fourth-best option.