Compelling interview with Adam Schefter on 97.5 (leveraging its ESPN partnership to the max) this morning– Anthony Gargano (with whom I mostly agree here) grilling Schefter on Sam Bradford’s motives. The interview osmotes this entire saga and shows what a true clusterfuck it is. Bradford may overvalue himself, but the Eagles should’ve seen this coming.

Here are some excerpts– the full transcript is after the jump [thanks to Jim on the transcribe]:

Adam Schefter: “He wasn’t there yesterday. Didn’t show up yesterday. Didn’t call. Just no-showed. Gonna be the same thing today. Gonna be the same thing tomorrow. Now, maybe the draft is a touchstone type of thing where he’s tried to push it and waits to see if he can get something done this week. But I don’t think they’ll see him this week and then the Eagles, I think, made it pretty clear they want to hold on to him, they don’t wanna move him, they’re not gonna move him unless they get something that just knocks their socks off.”

Anthony Gargano: Talking to people around the league it’s like, Bradford, you were the last quarterback to get the big contract …

AS: So?

AG: And quite frankly you didn’t prove anything …

AS: So?

AG: You haven’t proved you’re worth anything …

AS: So?

AG: So you don’t have any standing.

AS: But he does.

AG: But he doesn’t. Where’s his standing at? Where’s his leverage?

AS: His leverage is that he’s not a part of their program right now. They have a new head coach, they’re missing their QB, they’re missing their defensive lineman. You want your starting QB missing for your offseason program?

AG: Where’s he earned that Schefty? I guess I look at Drew Brees …

AS: It doesn’t matter where he’s earned it.

AG: I know, I know. I look at Drew Brees, Schefty, and when the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers, he didn’t cry. He went out an played with a hurt shoulder and made the Pro Bowl.

AS: He left. He left.

AG: Yeah, but again there was no crying. When Brett Farve, when the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers …

AS: How do you know there was no crying?

AG: There was no public crying …

AS: Okay, fine. No public crying. That’s fine. So, he publicly cried yesterday. You know what? I was told last week when the whole thing came down he was very angry and visibly emotional in that building. So from the moment this trade was made, Sam Bradford was unhappy. So where’s his standing? His standing is in the sense that I guess he’s hoping and assuming and thinking that another team … is gonna make a move for him. And if they do, that’s a [inaudible] that’s a good quarterback, that he’s a starter in this league.

This is a mess. Gargano broached the subject that Bradford looks like a big sissy for wanting to avoid competition with a young top draft pick behind him. That’s a bad look for someone already viewed as somewhat soft. I saw this shit in Bradford’s eyes last year when he carried on over the Terrell Suggs hit a bit too much. There was something about his demeanor that made you wonder if he, quite frankly, had the balls to succeed in the NFL. [Carson Wentz just wrote about slicing his cracked fingers with bottle tops or something similarly vicious.]

On the other hand, while I side with Howie Roseman in all of this (because Bradford is delusional about his worth), the Eagles aren’t absolved of all culpability here. This is now, what, four straight offseasons with crazy turmoil? First there was Riley Cooper (sorry), then DeSean Jaccson, then the Chip-Howie-power-struggle-LeSean-McCoy-trade-roster-blowtorching, and now the coach-firing-Howie-reinstalling-draft-pick-trading-Bradford-tweaking-field-goal-kicking-gabage-man.

I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but a caller on Mike Missanelli’s show a week or so ago may have been right: He posited that the Eagles wouldn’t truly succeed as long as Jeffrey Lurie allowed such turmoil to take place. We’re bordering on HOT TAKE territory here – both with that assessment and in questioning Bradford’s fortitude – but I think there’s merit to much of it. I LOVE blogging this stuff– it’s highly entertaining and even fun. But from a football standpoint, it’s embarrassing. This has quickly devolved into a complete mess, partly because I don’t think the Eagles’ power structure, whatever that is right now, was in-place on March 1 when they signed Bradford to his contract extension. It wasn’t until three weeks later, on March 22, that Lurie held yet another press conference, this one announcing to the world that Howie was fully in charge.

This situation we have here is the kind that comes from that sort of turmoil and power vacuum. Does a guy, or team, with a plan really sign two quarterbacks and then trade up – TWICE! – to draft another? I don’t think so. The Eagles seem like they’re shooting from the hip here. That’s not a good way to run an NFL team. They’re displaying a remarkable ignorance to the outcomes of their decisions.

Full transcript after the jump.

“He wasn’t there yesterday. Didn’t show up yesterday. Didn’t call. Just no-showed. Gonna be the same thing today. Gonna be the same thing tomorrow. Now, maybe the draft is a touchstone type of thing where he’s tried to push it and waits to see if he can get something done this week. But I don’t think they’ll see him this week and then the Eagles, I think, made it pretty clear they want to hold on to him, they don’t wanna move him, they’re not gonna move him unless they get something that just knocks their socks off. That’s been their vantage point. Now the question becomes is there a team out there (i.e. the Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, whatever team it is) that jumps forward with a compelling enough package that the Eagles believe is worth it. Short of that, the Eagles aren’t doing it.

Look, they go into this draft and the next draft and the draft after short on picks. So they’re gonna want picks, I would imagine, back. I think other teams might have other ideas with whether they offer a pick or picks, pick and player, just player, whatever it is. Philadelphia, I think, is gonna be pushed around by what Sam Bradford wants. Sam Bradford wanted money. He got paid. You can’t get <i>everything</i> you want.

And so in this particular case, if there’s something out there that works for the Eagles as a team, I think they’ll do it. If there’s not, I think they’ll hold on to him.

Denver inquired last night, according to the Denver Post Online or whatever it was. I think they’ll get inquiries. But the whole thing is, what is somebody willing to pay? And Philadelphia values him at a very high number. Paid him $22 million in guaranteed money. Now, if you go back and look at other quarterback trades, Alex Smith went for two 2s. Alex Smith? I don’t think he’s been as productive as Alex Smith. He has not taked a team to the playoffs the way Alex Smith did. But let’s just say he’s worth one 2. Is there a team out there that’s willing to part with a 2? And then, would Philadelphia be willing to move him for a 2. I don’t think that they would to be honest with you. I think it would take more than that, but the draft is when teams put their cards on the table. You can play poker and dance until then. And I thought the Browns and Eagles would dance on that pick up until the draft … I think now they’ll dance the dance with Sam Bradford, with the Eagles planning to hold on to him. But the thing about plans is, they can change.

AG: Why not go the private route instead of public?

AS: I don’t think it’s gonna effect his standing at all. I understand your point, sometimes these things are better done privately. I think in this particular case, he’s trying to put some pressure on the Eagles. He’s trying to make it known: We wanna be traded out. You made your move that said you’re gonna mortgage your future to build around a quarterback, and we’re gonna make our move. And we’re gonna make this unpleasant. And my guess is if they started it that way, they’re gonna continue it that way. That’s where the Eagles have to make a decision. If it was just done privately and quiet, the Eagles might be able to say okay we’ll just bottle this up, stifle this, this will not be an issue, we’ll get through it. But I think that’s their first hint that they’re gonna make this tough on the Eagles. And the Eagles have a make a decision on how they wanna handle that.

AG: Talking to people around the league it’s like, Bradford, you were the last quarterback to get the big contract …

AS: So?

AG: And quite frankly you didn’t prove anything …

AS: So?

AG: You haven’t proved you’re worth anything …

AS: So?

AG: So you don’t have any standing.

AS: But he does.

AG: But he doesn’t. Where’s his standing at? Where’s his leverage?

AS: His leverage is that he’s not a part of their program right now. They have a new head coach, they’re missing their QB, they’re missing their defensive lineman. You want your starting QB missing for your offseason program?

AG: Well, uhkay, weuhwuhwuhwuh I still have you. If you’re Sam I say ‘Fine, you don’t wanna come, that’s great, just so you know, you can retire for all I care. Because unless I’m getting my second round pick in return for ya, I don’t wanna hear it.

AS: Well look, that’s an absolutely valid point. And ultimately, the Eagles do have the leverage here because they have him under contract and they paid him.

AG: Okay, how many holdouts have you covered Schefty in your illustrious career?

AS: A lot.

AG: And how many of em work out?

AS: All of ’em. I would say 99.99% of them work out eventually in one form or another. But again, if Sam Bradford is letting his feelings be known, the Eagles – to your point – have the leverage because they hold the contract and can fine him. Sam Bradford can say though ‘I’ve made $100 million in my career,’ which he has, ‘if you wanna fine me a couple million that’s fine. I don’t care. I wanna go to a place that’s gonna build around me and not look to the next guy.

AG: Where’s he earned that Schefty? I guess I look at Drew Brees …

AS: It doesn’t matter where he’s earned it.

AG: I know, I know. I look at Drew Brees, Schefty, and when the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers, he didn’t cry. He went out an played with a hurt shoulder and made the Pro Bowl.

AS: He left. He left.

AG: Yeah, but again there was no crying. When Brett Farve, when the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers …

AS: How do you know there was no crying?

[9:33]
AG: There was no <i>public</i> crying …

AS: Okay, fine. No public crying. That’s fine. So, he publicly cried yesterday. You know what? I was told last week when the whole thing came down he was very angry and visibly emotional in that building. So from the moment this trade was made, Sam Bradford was unhappy. So where’s his standing? His standing is in the sense that I guess he’s hoping and assuming and thinking that another team … is gonna make a move for him. And if they do, that’s a [inaudible] that’s a good quarterback, that he’s a starter in this league.

AG: He’s got an opportunity to start right now too and prove to the world that he can play.

AS: Sam Bradford as a QB still has a lot to prove. He’s never proven that he can be a playoff-caliber guy, take a team where it needs to go, he has not proven that … The Eagles made a statement. Their statement was ‘We think we have a chance to get a QB to build around for years to come and we’re gonna take that.’ So they did and they did the right thing.

AG: My point is, when you signed a two-year contract that was team friendly that you could get out of after one year, what did you think was happening? You’re in prove me time, Sam. You’re six years in the league and haven’t gone to the playoffs. It’s time now to show that you can play in the league. Here’s a year. Go show what you can play.

AS: That’s fine, and the Eagles paid him in that way and the deal was set up in that way. But he feels differently, for whatever reason, and he believes and hopes that there’s another team that’s willing to trade for him. It just creates the situation that it does. It’s an awkward, uncomfortable, sticky one. And it’s up to everybody to navigate through it.

I’m sure the city of Philadelphia is not pleased with Sam Bradford, and Sam Bradford is not pleased with the situation.