Eagles Wake-Up Call: The Business Side With Bradford

Eleven million sunk, or eleven million saved? How the Eagles choose to view that quandary will go a long way in deciding the path forward when it comes to Sam Bradford.

There are several factors at play here. To gain some further clarity on the business side of things, we called on former agent and salary-cap expert Joel Corry.

“It’s a hard trade to make because no matter what the Eagles are responsible for $11 million to Sam Bradford. Granted, only $5.5 million of the signing bonus has already been paid — the other $5.5 is due on September 1 — but you’re not going to be relieved of the obligation of paying it in a trade [based on precedent],” he said.

“It’s really how they view the cash: we’re committed to 22 [million guaranteed] and it’s only 11 [that we’re left with]? Or, I don’t want to pay $11 million to this guy for nothing. It depends on their orientation. That will really determine how serious they are about trading him.”

The Eagles’ plan for the time being is to have Bradford start for them in ’16. They are not currently allowing his agent Tom Condon to seek out a deal with another team. But if the situation remains problematic, those plans could change.

There are a couple potential trade partners out there including the Broncos, who appear to be shopping for quarterbacks right at Bradford’s price point.

“He fits very nicely in Denver’s salary parameters for a quarterback because they only want to pay $7 million to a guy this year; that’s all they would be paying to Sam Bradford this year — that means cap number as well — s0 it works out nicely from that standpoint for Denver,” said Corry, who believes a fourth-round pick would be fair compensation for both sides.

Corry also noted that the Niners — with some $50 million in cap space — could easily take on Bradford if they so desired.

While moving Bradford would provide financial relief and prevent some future headaches, it would also deprive the Eagles of their top quarterback option for 2016 while potentially setting a dangerous precedent by placating a pouty player.

All considered, Corry believes the Eagles’ best course of action may be to stand firm and allow the leverage to swing back in their favor as the mandatory portion of the offseason schedule nears.

“If I’m Philadelphia, I just wait out Sam. Because he’s only hurting himself by not taking reps to get more comfortable in this offense,” said Corry. “The real litmus test to me is if he’s still on the roster after the draft and mandatory minicamp rolls around in mid-June, is he going to incur the $70-75 thousand dollar fine to miss three days of minicamp? And then is he going to risk $[3]0 thousand a day in fines and giving back a portion of his signing bonus in training camp? I have a hard time thinking Sam Bradford is going to try and become the second Carson Palmer.”

“They can take away 25 percent of your signing bonus in the preseason. He’ll incur $1 million in fines by missing the whole training camp — probably more than that. Miss the first game, that’s 25 percent more of the prorated portion of your signing bonus (50 percent of the prorated number would be $2.75 million dollars). Why would he do that?…

“If they’re really being honest with their plan that Sam is supposed to start and Wentz, presumably, would sit and learn a year, then why would you ever trade him unless somebody knocked your socks off? And I can’t see anyone knocking their socks off.”

WHAT YOU MISSED

Josh details the Eagles’ signing of defensive tackle Mike Martin.

“He’s going to be traded.” What They’re Saying About the Eagles.

More from Bradford’s agent in yesterday’s Wake-Up Call: Condon Explains Bradford Holdout.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Tom Condon tells Sal Paolantonio that the Eagles did not talk to Bradford before pulling the trigger on the trade.

“As they were making this plan, it would have been nice if they had told him about it,” said Condon, who said that he re-iterated to Eagles vice president of football operations Howie Roseman in a recent phone conversation that Bradford wants out of Philadelphia.

“It’s his right to demand a trade and he wants to be traded,” said Condon…

“Basically, our contention is that the team could have used the draft picks on offensive and defensive players for this season, to win this season,” said Condon. “If the plan was to build for the future, where does that leave Sam this year?”

Condon said he asked the Eagles for permission to shop Bradford, but that permission was denied.

Condon said he has informed the team that Bradford will not show up at the Eagles practice facility until June 7, the first day of mandatory mini-camp. He said that Bradford feels it will be difficult for him to return to the Eagles as a lame duck.

Bob Brookover thinks the Eagles have been mismanaged this offseason.

Oh, the drama, the intrigue, the excitement.

Will Sam stay? Will Sam go? Is Sam afraid to compete for his job? Is it really possible Howie is going to be perceived as the tough guy who stared down a quarterback and agent? Carson or Jared?

Enjoy it, folks. This is as good as 2016 is going to get for your Philadelphia Eagles.

I do not know exactly how this soap opera is going to play out beyond the likelihood that the Eagles are going to use the No. 2 overall selection Thursday to take Carson Wentz after the Los Angeles Rams make Jared Goff the first overall pick.

After that, it’s all about what happens with Bradford. Regardless of the outcome, the forecast for the Eagles’ 2016 season is gloom and doom.

The only people who should be excited once the Eagles actually start playing the games that matter are the Cleveland Browns and their fans, which is a rare occurrence indeed. That 2017 first-round pick the Browns acquired in last week’s megatrade is going to be a really good one.

COMING UP

One day until the draft. We’ll have it all covered for you.