Sam Bradford, Quite Literally, Could Not Have Gotten Injured at a Worse Time
A week before injuring his head and shoulders (knees and toes to follow), Sam Bradford has seemingly been lost for at least a few weeks. The Eagles have also lost the conditional pick they may have kept if this injury happened a week earlier.
Here were the details of the trade:
Eagles get:
QB Sam Bradford
2015 5th round pickRams get:
QB Nick Foles
2015 4th round pick
2016 2nd round pickPer ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Eagles will also get a conditional 2016 pick from the Rams. It will be a third-round pick if Bradford does not play at all, and a fourth-round pick if he starts less than 50 percent of plays.
Through halftime of this week’s game, Sam Bradford had played 100% of the Eagles’ offensive snaps. That means “Sunday’s game against the Dolphins was Bradford’s ninth start of the season, putting him at well over half of his team’s snaps this year. That’s significant because if he plays more than half of the snaps for the Eagles this year, the Rams do not owe the Eagles any draft picks as part of the deal.”
But, unless I’m missing something here, there’s still a small chance the Eagles could get that fourth-round pick. Bradford would have to miss the rest of the season, and Mark Sanchez (or whoever) would have to average more plays per game – aka be more successful moving the ball – to push Bradford into the sub-50% category. According to Turf Show Times, “if [Bradford’s play] constitutes a majority of the Eagles’ offensive snaps in 2015, the Rams are no longer beholden to provide the Eagles with their 2016 NFL Draft fourth-round selection either. Of course, there’s no certainty in that. The Eagles, hypothetically, could have more offensive snaps in the final eight games of their season than their first eight.” Schefter reported that the deal was done, but if Mark Sanchez goes on a roll and ends up running more plays than Bradford (an unlikely scenario, I know) the Eagles could still technically land that sweet, sweet fourth-rounder.
According to CSN, Bradford has 607 snaps. Sanchez has 38. Through eight games, Bradford averaged 68.6 snaps/game, so Sanchez just has to make sure Bradford is out for the year, and average 81.4 snaps per game to get one more than Bradford.
So you’re saying there’s a chance. This is what the season has been reduced to… oh, wait, what’s that, the Eagles could still win the division and we have to continue paying attention to this festering turd? Great.