Sam Bradford Breaks Down Pederson’s Offense

Bradford compares Pederson's system to what he ran as a rookie in St. Louis.

Sam Bradford. (Jeff Fusco)

Sam Bradford. (Jeff Fusco)

Sam Bradford disagrees with the common characterization of Doug Pederson’s offense. Although the Eagles’ new head coach has previously described his scheme as a “hybrid-type system,” many think of it as a typical West Coast offense.

“This is West Coast-based, it’s still got some of those plays and personnel groupings, but I think it’s almost morphed into a little more spread,” Bradford said.

Comparing Pederson’s scheme to the West Coast offense Bradford ran as a rookie in St. Louis, the quarterback said the Eagles will run more one-back formations. He added that play-action fakes from under-center sets will be more effective because they will show defenses more varied concepts, and that he’s benefited from Pederson’s terminology sharing some similarity with what he learned in 2010.

What is different for Bradford is his health now versus 12 months ago, when he couldn’t practice.

“It’s night and day compared to last year,” Bradford said. “Obviously, last year, at this point, it was still really rehab focused. It was about getting my knee to a place where I could go out there and practice and not have to think about it, not have to worry about it. Whereas this year, it’s really more about building strength and then being able to get on the field and do everything — take part in the OTAs and the offseason program.

“It’s been nice from that standpoint to not have any physical limitations and to be able to get out there and get the reps I just wasn’t able to take last year.”

Although Bradford is getting more repetitions this year, he’s getting less per play because Pederson’s playbook is much bigger than Chip Kelly’s. Carson Wentz also noted how much the quarterbacks have to learn, saying the playbook size is the biggest difference between the Eagles’ offense and what Wentz ran at North Dakota State. However, Wentz added that the schemes are similar.

Both quarterbacks said it was “great” to have Chase Daniel around to speed up their learning processes, while Bradford mentioned that he’s been through this kind of offseason before.

“Unfortunately, I think this is like Offense 5 or 6 [I’ve had to learn in the NFL], so it’s a process I’m familiar with,” Bradford said. “It’s something I’ve done before. The biggest thing is reps, but also just terminology — learning to speak this language, learning to speak the same language as our coaches so when we talk about it on film or when we talk about it on the field, we’re on the same page as far as what’s being said and what we’re seeing.”