Domo: Sam Bradford welcomed back by Eagles teammates with open arms

WHILE SAM Bradford still may be Public Enemy No. 1 around much of Eagle Nation for having the audacity to miss two weeks of the team's voluntary workouts and requesting a trade after the Eagles moved up to the second spot in the draft to select Carson Wentz, there was nothing but love for him inside the locker room at the NovaCare Complex Tuesday.

"He's still the leader of this team," tight end Zach Ertz said after the Eagles finished up the first of 10 voluntary OTA practices over the next three weeks. "He only ended up missing seven days (of workouts). People want to make it a huge deal. Like it was a holdout.

"No one in here is looking at him with any sort of grudge. I think 90 percent of the guys either texted or talked to him when he was gone. I spoke with him on the phone regularly. He's not a grudgmental guy. He's not going to hold a grudge against anyone. I think he's excited to be here again. Like I said, he only missed seven days. It's not like he held out for the entire offseason program or anything."

Bradford, who returned to the team last Monday, participated in Tuesday's two-hour practice session in the rain, then addressed reporters for the first time since his trade request.

If you wanted him to get down on his knees and plead for forgiveness, well, you were disappointed. He acknowledged he was thrown for a loop when he heard about the Eagles trading up to get Wentz. He was foolish enough to think he had a future with the Eagles.

The claims by some reporters that he knew the team almost certainly would take a quarterback in the draft are misleading. He, like most of us, suspected they would take a flier on one in the middle rounds. That's a bit different from trading five picks, including next year's first-round pick and a second-rounder in 2018 to move up and grab Wentz with the second pick in the draft.

He signed a new two-year deal with the Eagles in March with the hope that he would play well enough to earn a long-term deal and finish his career with the Eagles. Once they traded up for Wentz, though, he knew that was a pipe dream. Frustrated, he asked to be traded and went back home to Oklahoma City to clear his mind.

Two weeks later, when it became clear the Eagles weren't going to trade him, he came back and all was forgiven. At least by his teammates.

"It was one of those things where after time and after thought, I realized that this is still the best place for me to be," he said. "There's a lot of guys in that locker room that I really care about, and I know they really care about me.

"I think some of the conversations I had with some of those guys in the two weeks I was away just made me realize how much I missed being around them, how much I missed being on the field with those guys. Knowing they had my back and knowing how much support they had for me made me realize this is still the right place for me to be."

In the last month, Bradford has been called disloyal, greedy, gutless and disruptive. But none of those negative comments came from his teammates, who rallied around him in the second half of last season, even if the Eagles' final 7-9 record didn't show it. You can thank the defense for that.

"I think this city took (Bradford's trade request) personally because it's a blue-collar city, a hardworking city, and you see a guy making the type of money that Sam's making and complaining (about his situation)," center Jason Kelce said. "I kind of understand why Philadelphia was pissed off.

"But at the same time, I know Sam. I still respect him as a teammate and am ready to go back to work with him. And I have nothing but trust and respect for him."

When Bradford came back last week, it was with little internal fanfare. He didn't need to call a team meeting and explain why he left. Depending on whose math you use, he missed between seven and nine voluntary - voluntary - workouts.

Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and running back Darren Sproles haven't attended a single voluntary workout this spring and also aren't at this week's first round of OTAs. Hell, no one outside the NovaCare Complex even knew Sproles hadn't been attending the offseason workouts until the league-owned NFL Network reported it Tuesday.

"This is optional right now," Ertz said. "If somebody isn't here for seven days of voluntary workouts, we don't need a team meeting to address it."

Said wide receiver Jordan Matthews: "We understand that right now is a time when guys don't have to be here. For Sam to decide (that) 'Hey, everything will work out. Let me get back in there with my guys and get back to work,' that was big for us."

Bradford made it clear Tuesday that when he decided last week to return, it was, in the words of coach Eric Taylor, with clear eyes and a full heart. He has bottled up his disappointment over the drafting of Wentz and tucked it away. He is focused only on the here and now.

He knows he's almost certainly one more year and done in Philly and he has accepted that. There will be no pouting or hard feelings over it. He is totally committed to this team and these teammates for the next seven-plus months.

"He hit me on a ball today in the last couple of periods and it was the same Sam, coming over to me (after the play) and saying, 'That's what I'm talking about,' " said Matthews. "He's gassed up. He's fired up. He wants to go out there and play.

"Sam loves to play the game within the game. He loves being precise. So he's making his throws and doing his thing. He's a great golfer and is the same way on the golf course. He wants to be precise.

"Out there in practice, it's the game within the game for him. If he's focused on that and trying to go out there and make us better in practice, I feel that's all we need from him.

"If Sam came back and didn't have that same demeanor, then I'd be worried. But when he comes back and gets right back to work and we go out there for practice and he's still trying to make his throws, still trying to focus on the things he needs to focus on, that puts me in a real good place as one of his receivers."