Nick Piccone
Don’t you love days like today? NFL free agency has run amok and nobody knows anything but everybody knows everything. So, naturally, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk took this moment to talk about the Eagles potentially trading Sam Bradford… today.
Now, I’ll especially ask you to keep your laughter to yourselves. Certainly, it’s true that it seems like the Eagles and Doug Pederson wanted Sam Bradford back here despite Pederson being so non-committal to him in interviews leading up to the signing that I couldn’t even tell if he regretted becoming the Eagles head coach based off how unconvincing he sounded. But, the Eagles signed Bradford last week and that was that. It’s a two-year deal, so they aren’t married to the guy. And that’s why Florio decided to pick today to publish his post about the possibility of the Eagles trading Bradford. And that’s why I’m writing about what he wrote about.
Now, before today, I would’ve said this is baseless speculation and Florio is out of his mind. But the Eagles just signed Chase Daniel as their backup quarterback. Many Kansas City Chiefs fans wanted Daniel as their starting quarterback ahead of Alex Smith dating back to before last season, and I’ve already heard from quite a few Chiefs fans that they’re not happy Daniel left the team to reunite with Pederson.
The Eagles’ coach thinks Daniel can be a starter in the NFL.
“Given an opportunity, yes, I think he can be,” Pederson said. “The people that obviously worked with him for the last three years know that he has an opportunity there, and hopefully he gets his chance.”
Pederson said Daniel’s diligence and work ethic in a reserve role — which he learned first while shadowing Brees for four years — during his Chiefs tenure impressed him, calling him a leader in his own way.
“He’s a solid backup, kind of reminded me of me when I was a backup in Green Bay,” Pederson said. “He’s a guy that really helped Alex, on and off the football field … what he’s done with Alex behind the scenes, the way he’s kind of coached Alex, the way he prepares during the week, the way he studies, the way he puts himself in a starter’s mentality on Sunday.
“The couple games he did start in Kansas City, to me, has proven that he can take over a team.”
So, is there an ulterior motive for Pederson in acquiring Daniel? For one, he’s a cheap backup compared to Mark Sanchez, who is likely the odd man out among Bradford, Daniel and himself. Sanchez sucks, for two. And three, I’m not wearing any pants.
Just checking to make sure you’re still reading. I digress.
Florio said that based on the terms of Bradford’s contract, the team could trade him before your next meal.
Per a source with knowledge of the deal, the first $5.5 million installment of Bradford’s $11 million signing bonus isn’t due until March 18, 2016. The second is due on or before September 1, 2016. So the Eagles have yet to pay Bradford a penny; they could transfer his entire contract to a new team.
It’s not unusual for contracts to contain a lag between the signing of a contract and the payment of the signing bonus. But with the Eagles reportedly reaching a deal with quarterback Chase Daniel and with the terms of Daniel’s deal on complete and total lockdown until 4:00 p.m. ET at the earliest, it’s entirely possible that the Eagles will do what Bradford feared they’d do if he had signed an extension after arriving via trade a year ago — abruptly flip him to another team, like the Browns or the Texans or the 49ers.
Even though the Eagles haven’t paid Bradford’s bonus, they’d be responsible for the full $11 million under their 2016 cap. But they would get a full credit for the money in 2017, allowing for the bonus money to essentially be carried over by a year. Besides, the move also would clear Bradford’s $7 million salary off the books, creating a net cap gain for 2016 of $1.5 million.
We’re not reporting that it’s happening or speculating that it will or otherwise doing anything other than pointing out that, given the structure of Bradford’s contract (which per a source with knowledge of the deal does not contain a trade clause), it could happen.
Hey, it could happen.
Nothing shocks me anymore with this team.
you wrote:So, is there an ulterior motive for Pederson in acquiring Daniel? For one, he’s a cheap backup compared to Mark Sanchez, who is likely the odd man out among Bradford, Daniel and himself. Sanchez sucks, for two. And three, I’m not wearing any pants.
How is he a cheap backup compared to Sanchez?? Daniel is to get $7M a year?? Sanchez gets $5M???
This was written before the terms of Daniel’s contract were released. Nobody thought he was going to get that much money.