Report: The Eagles Won’t Let Sam Bradford Walk

Since the offseason for the Eagles began, even without a head coach at the helm before Jeffrey Lurie introduced Doug Pederson last week, an ongoing question surrounding the team was whether they would try to bring Sam Bradford back next season. To do so, they would probably have to slap the franchise tag on him so he won’t hit the open market as a free agent and then try to work out a deal. That often allows bad blood to surface and tensions to run high, and I’m not so sure Bradford is in love with Philly or the Eagles to try and work out a deal.

Zach Ertz certainly wants him back. So do a few others that have spoken on the record. And, according to Howard Eskin, there’s no way the Eagles will let him walk this offseason.

Angelo Cataldi: Howard, I’m gonna put you on the spot right now because I wanna know what’s gonna end up happening with Sam Bradford. So, [to] the best of your knowledge, with all your sources and everything else – will he be franchised, will they sign the long-term deal, or do you think they’ll let him go?
 
Howard Eskin: Uh, I think he’s gonna be fran- they’re not gonna let him go, so eliminate that completely.
 
Cataldi: They will not? That is definitive?
 
Eskin: That is definitive. There’s not a chance that they let him go, because then you’re telling everybody this is a rebuilding process. And you got no chance. There’s no quarterbacks. Mark Sanchez is a backup quarterback. That’s what he is. I mean, you cannot play 16 games without Sam Bradford and with Mark Sanchez as the quarterback. And there’s nobody else – nobody else out there – that’s as good as Sam Bradford. Whether Sam likes it or not, and I don’t think any player likes it, you can franchise him and then try to do something from that point on, but I think they’re gonna try to sign him. I don’t think they wanna sign him for six years because, obviously, of the injury situation with the quarterback, I don’t think he’s in that position – that $25 million number, I don’t even know if it’s real – but the agent threw out numbers as a kind of hocus pocus knowing he’s not going to be paid more than anybody else. But I think, at worst, he’s back here next year – I think he’s back here next year regardless – and right now I think they’ll franchise tag him so he can’t go out in the open market and then try and work out a deal.
 
Cataldi: I’ve heard all I needed to know. If he’s going to be an Eagle in 2016, I’m happy. Because you’re right. The other options are awful. Terrible.
 
Eskin: There are no options. There really are no options.

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Eskin certainly isn’t wrong. Who would the Eagles get that gives them a better shot at winning football games than Sam Bradford at this point? But, there’s one thing that I’d worry about if you’re a fan of Bradford in an Eagles uniform, and that’s Eskin’s immediate history with Eagles quarterbacks.

Gulp. Don’t get too comfortable now with the Gospel of Eskin.

The audio of the entire Eskin interview is below, courtesy of 94WIP. Eskin’s comments on Bradford begin around the 6:30 mark.