Brookover: Eagles look like losers in 2016
Oh, the drama, the intrigue, the excitement. Will Sam stay? Will Sam go? Is Sam afraid to compete for his job? Is it really possible Howie is going to be perceived as the tough guy who stared down a quarterback and agent? Carson or Jared?
Oh, the drama, the intrigue, the excitement.
Will Sam stay? Will Sam go? Is Sam afraid to compete for his job? Is it really possible Howie is going to be perceived as the tough guy who stared down a quarterback and agent? Carson or Jared?
Enjoy it, folks. This is as good as 2016 is going to get for your Philadelphia Eagles.
I do not know exactly how this soap opera is going to play out beyond the likelihood that the Eagles are going to use the No. 2 overall selection Thursday to take Carson Wentz after the Los Angeles Rams make Jared Goff the first overall pick.
After that, it's all about what happens with Bradford. Regardless of the outcome, the forecast for the Eagles' 2016 season is gloom and doom.
The only people who should be excited once the Eagles actually start playing the games that matter are the Cleveland Browns and their fans, which is a rare occurrence indeed. That 2017 first-round pick the Browns acquired in last week's megatrade is going to be a really good one.
Perhaps that is the real reason Bradford and his agent Tom Condon have staged their workout boycott in an attempt to force the Eagles to trade the veteran quarterback with the unremarkable resumé. It would certainly be a better one than Condon gave on a Sirius XM radio show Monday night.
"When you're on a two-year contract and the second pick in the draft is behind you, you better really play well because you're really going to hear it from the fans if you don't," Condon said. "Sam is a competitor, and he wants to go some place and know that he's the man. He doesn't just want to be there holding a place card."
Condon did his client no favors with those words. The complaint should have been that the Eagles have impeded Bradford's opportunity to succeed because a team that needs a lot of help for the 2016 season will get none in the first two rounds of this weekend's draft.
Question Bradford's heart and steel if you'd like, but he is not the scarecrow in the land of Igz. His brain is functioning perfectly if he looks at what has transpired during this offseason and sees wicked witches ahead. The moment the Eagles made the deal with Cleveland that will bring them the quarterback of their future, they forfeited their chance to upgrade their long list of needs for 2016, the season they want Bradford to be the caretaker at the game's most important position.
Now, in the present, they have one quarterback who no longer wants to be here and another who probably will not help them at all this season.
Assuming Bradford is traded, that will leave Chase Daniel playing the role of Doug Pederson in the Eagles' effort to re-create 1999. If you want to lose a lot of games, a recipe that is heavy on Daniel and devoid of Bradford is the right one. That's fine, of course, if it leads to a smooth transition and a great career for the rookie quarterback who will mostly watch from the sideline in 2016.
But if you remember the Eagles' 1999 season fondly, you are in the minority. The thing I remember most about it is the story Andy Reid told me a few years later. As he left the Veterans Stadium parking lot following a day at work, he held his phone out the window so his friend, Marty Mornhinweg out in California, could hear a group of fans screaming obscenities at him from another car. The Eagles went 5-11 in Reid's first season, and it's likely they will be that bad or even worse in 2016.
Even if they come to an accord with Bradford and Condon, it is difficult to see how the 2016 Eagles will be better than the 2015 version and very easy to see how they will be much worse.
Yes, DeMarco Murray was miscast in former coach Chip Kelly's offense last season, but somehow the Eagles managed to get almost nothing in return for a guy who is only two years removed from winning the NFL rushing title.
Here in this election season, it is fair to ask if the Eagles are better off now than a year ago at running back? Rueben Randle is an upgrade over Riley Cooper at wide receiver but hardly a difference-making weapon for a team that dropped the most passes in the NFL last season.
Brandon Brooks was an upgrade at guard, but does anybody believe aging tackle Jason Peters is going to play 16 games in 2016? And even if he does, is it realistic to think he'll be anything close to the guy who manned the position in 2013?
Some will make the case that the Eagles should be better on defense with a new coordinator and the exile of Byron Maxwell, another big-money cornerback who did not live up to his contract. I'll believe that when I see it.
What I see straight ahead for the Philadelphia Eagles is a disastrous 2016 season, and I think Bradford and his agent see it, too. So enjoy the drama this week because the season is going to be a real drag.
@brookob