Like it or Not, It’s Sam Bradford’s Team Now

It's time to accept the facts - it's Sam Bradford's team now.

The first round of the draft came and went and Bradford's still here and Marcus Mariota is not - it's time to accept that and embrace it.

While many speculated before the draft that Bradford, would be heading to Cleveland, the Browns have wanted Bradford all offseason, initially offering the Rams the No. 19 overall pick for him.  However, while rumors swirled that Bradford would be on the move, Eagles coach Chip Kelly said Bradford's name was never mentioned in any deal.

"We didn't offer any players to anybody," Kelly explained.  "We didn't get into any discussions.  It was just a really steep price.  It was like driving into a nice neighborhood and looking at a house, and they tell you the price and you walk away.  We didn't walk in the front door and take a look around.  Part of our plan, as we've said all along is we're going to build this team.  We still think there is a lot of value in this draft and in future drafts.  So we want to try to hold on to our picks, if we can."

So Bradford remains an Eagle, entering a contract year, and only wants to sign an extension with the Eagles - is that something that is coming?

"We have talked to him about contracts," Kelly stated.  "Do I feel like I have to have a conversation with him?  No.  I talked to him tonight about taking a wide receiver, so he seemed pretty fired up about that."

Bradford is in Philadelphia, working out, and now that it appears he will be staying, its time to embrace him as the starting quarterback of this team.

The Rams struggled to surround Bradford with weapons but it was ultimately his lack of durability that make people look at his St. Louis tenure as such a frustrating question mark.  Here in Philly, the Eagles, who added a weapon for him in the first round of the draft, which should help answer the question of - who will he throw too now that Maclin is gone or what weapons does he have in Philly?

"I like the guys we have right now," Kelly said.  "I think the guys we've added with bringing Miles [Austin] and [Seyi Ajirotutu] in here to go along with Jordan [Matthews] and [Josh] Huff and [Riley Cooper] and Jeff Maehl, and we feel we wanted to get another guy in that room.  It was kind of our plan going into this thing, and we were excited to get Nelson to add to that group."

So now Bradford has another weapon, something he didn't have a lot of in St. Louis. With a solid running game and some young wideouts, Bradford has much more talent around him in Philadelphia than he ever did with the Rams.

He'll get his first taste of Chip Kelly and the new offense on Monday during the offseason workouts.  Bradford has the tools to succeed if he can somehow stay on the field and while he is not fully cleared and ready to go, he can and will be out on the field on Monday. Kelly has been lauded for his sports science, but it will be put to the test with Bradford.

"He can run around.  It's a total non‑contact thing," said Kelly.  "We don't have any equipment on.  He can run around, we just haven't specifically sat down to see what he can do, but we're in the infancy stages of our offseason program."

So like it or not, this is Sam Bradford's team, this is Sam Bradford's time and it's time for fans to embrace him.  Like it or not he his the Eagles quarterback and while I like Marcus Mariota and think he would have been a great fit for this offense, I am excited to see what Bradford can do if he can remain healthy.