Sam Bradford can afford to wait in contract talks

In April 2010, Kevin Kolb had just been named the Eagles starting quarterback. He had spent the first three seasons of his NFL career behind Donovan McNabb and had earned about $3 million.

He was slated to make an additional $1 million-plus in the final year of his rookie contract, but both the Eagles and the quarterback wanted an extension beyond the next season. Kolb would have preferred a long-term deal, but he had little leverage and was restricted by a rule in the expiring collective bargaining agreement that limited annual raises in base salary to 30 percent.

He could have rolled the dice and played out the final year, but the Eagles were dangling a two-year, $12.2 million deal with $10.7 million in a guaranteed signing bonus. Rather than risk leaving the game with little money, relatively speaking, Kolb signed the offer.

It was a short-term solution that worked for both sides at the time.

Five years later, the Eagles find themselves in a quarterback contract situation that could be resolved in the short term, but the players and the climate are different.

Sam Bradford, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, has 65 million reasons why it makes little sense for him to agree to an extension when his leverage is at its weakest.

Bradford doesn't have to worry about financial security, unlike Kolb or, say, Nick Foles, whom the Eagles traded to the Rams in the final year of his rookie contract as a third-round pick. Bradford already has pocketed $65 million from the deal he signed as the top pick in 2010. He has an additional $13 million coming this season.

ESPN reported Tuesday that the Eagles had interest in giving Bradford a shorter extension than the typical four- or five-year offer. Chip Kelly already had confirmed that the Eagles were negotiating with Bradford in April, and the logical assumption then was that their offer would be a team-friendly deal (read: short-term and incentive-laden) for the oft-injured quarterback.

Asked about the ESPN report, Kelly reiterated his stance that he doesn't publicly talk about contract negotiations.

"There was a report last week that we weren't doing it," he said, referencing an NFL Network story that Bradford had decided to play out the final year of his existing deal. "So, believe what you want to believe."

The belief here is that Bradford won't come back to the bargaining table until he has leverage to get a deal that is in line with what top NFL quarterbacks make ($20 million to $22 million a year). With each day that he practices without injury, that leverage grows. And it will continue to mount once the season starts and Bradford presumably stays healthy and thrives in Kelly's offense.

But Bradford is still 11 days from his first preseason game since he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee for a second time last August. And he's still more than five weeks away from his first regular-season game since he tore the ACL for the first time in October 2013.

One could make a case that he has three reasons - two knee surgeries and a shoulder surgery in college - to accept a short-term, pay-as-you-go deal that would have incentives based upon how much he plays over the next two seasons. If the Eagles were to get a franchise-caliber quarterback to agree to an extension with two new years worth $12 million to $15 million each with health-based incentives, it would be a solid investment.

There is risk, of course, but the Eagles don't have many other alternatives to finding a franchise quarterback, unless they inexplicably tank this season. Kelly anted up for Bradford; why wouldn't he push a stack of his chips in now?

One could argue that the Eagles already have bungled negotiations when their leverage was at its greatest. Bradford wanted out of St. Louis, and the Rams were willing to oblige him. They had offers on the table from the Eagles and the Browns. Bradford didn't want to go to Cleveland and made it clear that he wouldn't negotiate an extension - the type that teams usually want once they trade for a significant player in the final year of his contract.

The Eagles knew this. Couldn't they have gotten Bradford to agree to a short-term extension or a cheaper one-year deal if he wanted to avoid the Browns? Kelly's reluctance to engineer a trade-and-sign twofer suggested that he was hoping to flip Bradford to the Titans or Browns to ultimately land Marcus Mariota.

He has denied that theory. The Eagles, of course, didn't draft Mariota and still haven't given Bradford an extension. Middle ground could be forged as the season progresses. But Bradford will likely wait until he can get the Eagles to sweeten the pot.

He has the bankroll to bet on himself. Kolb didn't.

If Clay Matthews had driven Kolb's head into the ground even harder than he did in the 2010 opener, the quarterback's career could have been over and he would have at least walked away with $14 million.

Even after being benched for Michael Vick, Kolb went on to earn an additional $25 million. He started only 14 more times and eventually retired because of concussion-related symptoms. He might give all that money back to be completely healthy.

Bradford could walk away from the game today a millionaire many times over. But football and contracts - they're both gambles.

@Jeff_McLane