Sam Bradford signed a two-year $36 million deal with the Eagles. Photo by Contrastphotography.com.

NFL Teams are scrambling for quarterbacks, in a draft season that shows little promise

By Tim Blasco

Philadelphia, PA; March 2, 2016 – Philadelphia has its fair share of problems. When one looks at the roster it leaves a lot to be desired. One position that is never an easy fill is the Quarterback position especially when a team is looking for a franchise quarterback. In Philadelphia’s case it seems like they just needed a quarterback. Let me explain. Keep in mind that the worst word in sports is potential, its especially terrible in a contract negotiation.

There are seven viable draft options this year at the quarterback position. Jared Goff (California), Carson Wentz (North Dakota State), Connor Cook (Michigan State), Christian Hackenberg (Penn State), Cradle Jones (Ohio State), Paxton Lynch (Memphis), Dak Prescott (Mississippi State). None of these players other than Carson Wentz will most likely go before the fourth round. The only team desperate for a fresh start at quarterback is the Cleveland Brown’s. Every other team seems to be marginally happy with the guy under center. Its a horrendous draft class for quarterbacks. Although all these young men have a lot of potential, potential is the worst and only word that comes to mind when I view this list.

Sam Bradford finds himself coming off of a rookie contract with some forgettable years behind him. That nasty word potential shows up again. Bradford set at least one record in the NFL, he was a phenomenal rookie. The NFL named him the 2010 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was the highest paid rookie contract ever at a whopping $76 million. So much so that his contract was the epitome of a new collective bargaining agreement in 2011. To give that stat some perspective look at Andrew Luck who has done significantly more in less time at a meager comparative of $22.5 million. That’s a difference of over $6.5 million a year.

In that time Bradford has done little else to earn $76 million. He has however proved two things in Philadelphia (A) He’s not a rookie, (B) He’s got potential. I will concede though that Bradford makes everyone around him better including TE Zach Ertz and WR Jordan Matthes both had career highs last year. Bradford also seems to have struck a fair deal with a team that wanted a QB that would take a lower dollar deal so they could keep the cap low and bring in talent throughout the roster.

For retrospect look at the effects of a Super Bowl winning QB, Drew Brees is the highest paid player in the league, didn’t play in the playoffs. Joe Flacco signed a $40 Million three year extension today. Which actually brought down the salary cap hit from what it would have been. Flacco played decently but left the season early with an injury. Is it possible that no man is worth that much money to play football? No. Seriously no. Its not possible, because someone is writing the check. If any of these teams didn’t pay their quarterback someone will. Look no further than these quarterbacks in a 4th quarter, its at least better than what a rookie could do.

Finally, lets all stop grumbling about what these young men are getting paid. Don’t forget that although all quarterbacks mentioned will most likely be paid next year to play a game, but they only do it because they are so talented. It’s not easy to get where these men are and its even harder to get a win in a league that is beyond competitive. Grumbling in a lot of these situations can be ground down to a few facts. Players are now more like companies, they are represented and a percentage of that contract goes to their agent making contracts a little smaller on average ten percent.

Players don’t typically have a lot of prospects after they play in the NFL, sure the appeal of having a cubicle next to Drew Brees sounds cool but it would be a distraction beyond compare. Finally there is no hate here, anytime a check like that is written for someone it means they’re worth it.

Sam Bradford in my opinion did Philadelphia a favor, hopefully they can build on his charity.