Bradford still absorbing Pederson's offense
A year ago at this time, Sam Bradford stood and watched other Eagles quarterbacks take snaps and throw passes in team drills. He wore a clunky brace on his left knee and walked gingerly off the NovaCare Complex practice fields.
A year ago at this time, Sam Bradford stood and watched other Eagles quarterbacks take snaps and throw passes in team drills. He wore a clunky brace on his left knee and walked gingerly off the NovaCare Complex practice fields.
What a difference a year makes.
Even after skipping two weeks of workouts, Bradford is significantly ahead of where he was last spring, when he was still recovering from surgery. He has taken every possible repetition over the last two-plus weeks of organized team activities, and is further removed from the second torn anterior cruciate ligament of his career.
"It's night and day," Bradford said Tuesday, "compared to last year."
And the year before. Bradford hasn't been 100 percent healthy during the offseason since 2013. Perhaps it was coincidence, but that season - limited to seven games after his first ACL injury - was statistically the best of his five NFL campaigns.
It was also his third season in the same offense - a luxury Bradford doesn't have this year as he goes about learning the fifth new system of his career. As unlucky as he has been, Bradford has a susceptibility to injury that is part of his evaluation. But any fair assessment has to include the carousel of offenses and play callers he's had to endure.
In 2010, it was Pat Shurmur and the West Coast. In 2011, it was Josh McDaniels and a hybrid Erhardt-Perkins spread. There was the aforementioned continuity from 2012 to 2014 with Brian Schottenheimer and his version of Air Coryell. And last year, Bradford toiled in Chip Kelly's up-tempo spread.
He has come full circle, so to speak, and has landed back on the West Coast in Doug Pederson's system. There are similarities with Shurmur's scheme - as there is with all ancillaries of Bill Walsh's revolutionary offense - but there is also a lot to learn.
"Some of the terminology is the same because it's West Coast-based," Bradford said. "I think, from what I've seen, we were probably in more [two-running back] personnel [with the Rams] than this offense will be. . . . It's still got some of those plays and personnel groupings, but I think it's almost more into a little spread."
Pederson's offense is based on Andy Reid's evolved West Coast version with the Chiefs, which utilized more spread concepts. He briefly had a fullback on the roster this spring, but there aren't enough two-back plays to justify keeping one when a tight end can fill the role.
So with more sets that include three and four receivers, Bradford will have to make more protection calls and have fewer blockers than he did in St. Louis during his rookie season. But there will still be more protection with chip blocking than he had last season.
But that may be one of the more insignificant differences between Pederson's vast offense and Kelly's play-specific one.
"Obviously, I think there are a lot more plays, a lot more concepts in right now compared to this time last year," Bradford said. "Last year, it was very repetitive in practice. You'd see the same plays, so you would get to run those plays multiple times.
"Whereas, this year we've got a big playbook. You might get one rep of a play that week and that's it, so you've really got to learn what you see on tape."
There will also be more plays with the quarterback under center rather than in the shotgun. Much was made of how the smaller number of under-center calls affected the running backs last year, but it also limited play-action and its effectiveness.
"It's a little bit more realistic when you are under center," Bradford said. "I think some of those fakes are better. And then if you stay balanced with the run and the pass under center, I think it just puts that slight-second hesitation in the defense."
The best weapon to counter today's sophisticated defenses, though, may be a quarterback's ability to audible. When it was up-tempo, Kelly's offense didn't allow for checking out of one play into another. Bradford clearly preferred to have the means because he was given the playbook at the line of scrimmage in the final game of the season after Kelly was fired.
But he still has a way to go before he is as versed in Pederson's offense.
"By Year 3 when you're going through this process, the offseason, you understand the big picture of what you're trying to do," Bradford said, "so you can really concentrate on some of the smaller details."
Backup Chase Daniel, who is entering his fourth year in the system, has clearly had more command during open practices. But he is nowhere near Bradford as a thrower. Rookie Carson Wentz has a comparable arm, but the Eagles' intent is to bring the rookie along slowly.
Frank Reich caused a minor stir when he said last week on the radio that the quarterback competition was, in essence, open. The new offensive coordinator appeared to counter Pederson's statement that Bradford was and will be the starter, but at this point the argument is moot.
Wentz clearly has a lot to learn and a long way to go.
"Every day we step on that field," Wentz said when asked about Reich's comments, "is an opportunity for myself as a player to get better."
Bradford has stepped on the field more this spring. It will help improve chemistry with his skill position players, as receiver Nelson Agholor said, but mostly the increased practice time will aid Bradford as he goes about learning yet another offense.
"It's been nice . . . to not have any physical limitations," Bradford said, "and be able to get out there and get the reps that I wasn't able to take last year."
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