Seth Vigdor
After weeks of debate, the Philadelphia Eagles were able to re-sign Sam Bradford early last week. As fans we always love to play the “what if” game. I know that I do. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Sam Bradford fan, so it definitely crossed my mind more than oh let’s say about 50 times that Bradford might not be back with the Eagles this year.
One of the scenarios I briefly thought about was one that saw the Eagles making a play for Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Right before the Eagles re-signed Bradford, Washington stuck the franchise tag on Cousins, which shot a proverbial arrow through my Cousins to the Eagles thought. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking about the possibility of Cousins landing in Philadelphia. So was Washington, according to a source.
Pro Football Talk is reporting that Washington was afraid that the Eagles were going to make a run at Cousins. Here are the details from the report.
Per a league source, Washington was concerned that the Eagles would make a run at Cousins, if Washington either didn’t tag him at all, or if Washington applied only the transition tag. From the perspective of the new coaching staff in Philadelphia, Bradford is as much of a stranger as Cousins would have been. However, Cousins has more experience in the West Coast offense that traces both through Eagles coach Doug Pederson and Washington coach Jay Gruden to Chiefs coach Andy Reid and former Packers and Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren. (Reid was a Holmgren assistant in Green Bay before getting the head-coaching job in Philadelphia.) Cousins was drafted by Mike Shanahan, whose own offense traces back to the common mentor of Shanahan and Holmgren: Bill Walsh. So if the Eagles were going to give Bradford $17.5 million on a two-year deal, what would they have offered Cousins? Washington didn’t want to find out the hard way, and so Washington decided to give Cousins $19.95 million for one year. With Cousins out of play, the Eagles did a deal with Bradford.”
From my perspective the Eagles would’ve never made a legit run at Cousins anyway due to what it actually would’ve cost them to sign him. Would they have kicked the tires on him had he not have been franchised by Washington? I think so. But let’s face it. Cousins may not get too many opportunities to command high value for himself. In the end, I think the Eagles were able to get a fair deal done for average player like Bradford.
Life after Chip seems to be going well so far. Only time will tell if the Eagles are heading in the right direction.