INDIANAPOLIS — The Philadelphia Eagles say they want Sam Bradford back as their starting quarterback. But with the start of the free agency signing period just two weeks away, there still is no guarantee that is going to happen.
Howie Roseman, the team’s executive vice president of football operations, has had over-the-phone contract discussions with Bradford’s agent, Tom Condon, and said that he expects to meet with him in person at some point this week during the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. But whether that will result in a deal getting done remains to be seen.
Doug Pederson, the Eagles’ new head coach, said in no uncertain terms Tuesday that he hopes Bradford will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2016, and said that Bradford has told him he wants to re-sign with the Eagles.
But it’s going to come down to money. A lot of it. Bradford is believed to be looking for a deal in the $18-20 million-a-year range. The Eagles could prevent Bradford from signing with another team by placing the franchise tag on him. But so far, they haven’t done that. The deadline for teams to franchise a player is March 1.
“Being a player in his shoes, you have to want to be somewhere, and I think Sam wants to be in Philadelphia,” Pederson said. “Just talking to him on the phone, he talked like he wants to be there (in Philadelphia). I think it’s important to him. And why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t you want to come back to Philadelphia given the success he had at the end of the year.
“We’ve expressed to him that we want him back. But free agency can do funny things to a lot of people. So that’s where we are right now.”
Bradford struggled in the first half of the season last year as he came back from back-to-back ACL injuries. But he was one of the league’s most productive quarterbacks in the second half of the season.
Even though he wasn’t with the Eagles at the time, Pederson said he also was impressed by the way Bradford took a leadership role with the club in the second half of his first season with the Eagles.