Eagles coach Doug Pederson says QB Sam Bradford would be perfect fit

A LITTLE MORE than two hours before the Eagles officially introduced Doug Pederson as their new head coach Tuesday, ESPN reporter Josina Anderson stood in front of the entrance to the NovaCare Complex and delivered a pessimistic report about the likelihood of the Eagles re-signing quarterback Sam Bradford.

She quoted an unidentified Eagles source as suggesting that the team just had too many needs to commit the kind of money and salary-cap space it's going to take to bring Bradford back.

"I just don't know about spending a lot of money on Bradford when the rest of the roster is leaky," Anderson quoted the source as saying.

"We're talking about a guy who's not mobile and has a history of injuries. We need two (new) guards. We need a tackle, another wide receiver, another tight end. There are just too many needs."

If that source was Pederson or owner Jeff Lurie or just-back-from-Siberia executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman, there's a good possibility Bradford will be playing for the Houston Texans or some other team next season.

If it was the equipment guy or the accounts payable manager, or a certain ESPN-employed ex-Eagles quarterback who was a consultant in the team's head-coaching search, well, then there's still a chance Bradford might be back.

At his press conference later, Pederson gave every indication that he hopes the Eagles re-sign Bradford.

"I think Sam is a quality quarterback, a top-notch quarterback," he said. "Look what he did the last half of the season. The numbers he was able to put up.

"I feel he's a quarterback that would fit perfectly into the (offensive) system that I'm going to bring."

Bradford's 97.4 passer rating over his last seven starts was the eighth-best mark in the league over the last nine weeks of the regular season. His 100.7 third-down passer rating during that period was the sixth best in the league.

Last March, after Chip Kelly traded Nick Foles and a second-round draft pick for Bradford, who was coming off back-to-back ACL injuries, Lurie vigorously defended the move.

"The only model to me that correlates with big success in the NFL is having a franchise quarterback," he said. "It's so hard to find a franchise quarterback. (If you don't have one) it sets a ceiling on what you have as a team."

It took Bradford roughly half the season to regain confidence in his twice-damaged left knee and really master Kelly's offense. But once he did, his productivity soared. Despite a league-high 50 drops by his receivers, he set franchise records for completions (346) and completion percentage (65.0).

His 78.9 completion percentage in the Eagles' Week 17 win over the Giants was the highest ever by an Eagle with more than 30 attempts.

When I asked Lurie Tuesday whether Bradford had proven to the organization this season that he is a franchise quarterback, he deferred to Pederson.

"I think really, this is the time to leave that to the evaluation process," he said. "We have a new head coach who understands the quarterback position a lot more than I do.

"All of the input of someone who really now is in charge of our football team as head coach will have a large influence over that. Sam did a lot of good things. He seemed to get better during the course of the season."

Strictly from a football standpoint, keeping Bradford is a no-brainer. He is a very good quarterback in a league that has a shortage of very good quarterbacks.

As Pederson acknowledged, Bradford fits his hybrid West Coast offense the way an expensive suit fits Chris Hemsworth.

"Sam has all the tools," he said. "There's no denying that. He has good size, a great arm, a good mind for the game. It's just a matter now of plugging him in and cutting him loose and utilizing those strengths in this system."

That sounds like Pederson is going to lobby hard for re-signing Bradford.

But as the source in Anderson's report pointed out, the question of whether to keep Bradford is more about the rest of the team than it is about him.

If they don't keep him, it's basically an acknowledgment by the organization that they don't think they can be a playoff contender next season and need to put a "closed for renovation" sign on the 2016 season.

They'll let somebody else gamble $18 million a year on Sam's left knee and they'll sign a lesser free agent like the Chiefs' Chase Daniel, who has two career starts and 55 regular-season pass attempts in six years, and/or draft somebody like Connor Cook or Christian Hackenberg.

But Pederson insisted Tuesday that he believes the Eagles can be a playoff contender next season. And considering that they reside in the NFC East, who's really going to argue with him?

"There's some pieces we have to work on and try to get back," he said. "Free agency, you're going to lose some and you're going to gain some.

"But I think the nucleus of this football team is very good. It's structured very well. There's some talent here. I do believe you can put yourself in position to not only win the (NFC) East, but have a chance to get yourself into the postseason, and then go deep into the postseason."

Of course, that's what you'd expect a brand-spanking new coach to say at his coming-out news conference. "We're going to suck for a couple of years" doesn't play quite as well with an NFL audience as it does with an NBA one.

pdomo@aol.com

On Twitter: @Pdomo

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