Philadelphia Eagles Rumors: Colin Kaepernick Likely To End Up In Philly Next Year, Insiders Say
The Philadelphia Eagles are likely to be making a quarterback change after this season, and rumors indicate that the team could turn to Colin Kaepernick to take the reins from the injury-prone Sam Bradford.
The Eagles traded for Bradford in the offseason, giving him one year to prove himself before his contract is up and he becomes a free agent. But all Bradford proved this year is that he struggles to stay healthy, and was out of the team’s blowout loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanskgiving.
As it stands, the Eagles are drifting a bit too close to the middle of the 2016 NFL Draft to find a start-now quarterback, leading many to believe they will make a run for soon-to-be-free-agent Colin Kaepnerick. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback once appeared to be the team’s future, but he has steadily fallen out of favor and this season was benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert.
Sources within the team say that Kaepernick is almost assuredly gone next year, as he has a team-friendly contract that makes it easy and very cost effective to cut him loose.
“It seems like Gabbert has a little bit better grip on what’s going on.” https://t.co/WdyjSBoOBa pic.twitter.com/cYutvKPKTm
— NFL (@NFL) November 26, 2015
As Peter King of The MMQB noted, there are rumors among league personnel that the Philadelphia Eagles are the most likely landing point for Kaepernick.
“Obviously the likely scenario, with Kaepernick’s deal not being guaranteed in San Francisco beyond next April 1, is for the Niners to either trade him or cut him and move on to the next quarterback prospect. I doubt San Francisco will be able to make a trade, because who’s going to want to pay Kaepernick a total of $13.9 million next year when they’re not sure he can be their quarterback of the short- or long-term? I talked to a few league people over the weekend about possible landing spots for Kaepernick, and the ones that seem to make the most sense, in order:”
“1. Philadelphia. If Chip Kelly is, as expected, still the coach, he’ll need a quarterback with his QB depth chart a disastrous minefield right now.”
That last point could be in question now. Though his job appears safe at least for the time being, there are rumors that Chip Kelly could be losing favor quickly with the Philadelphia Eagles. Kelly took the blame for Thurday’s embarrassing loss, and it’s been a difficult stretch for the team. In the last two games the Eagles were outscored 90-31 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Lions, giving up 951 total yards.
“It starts with me.” Chip Kelly owns up to being part of the Eagles’ 45-14 loss vs. Lions: https://t.co/cetp1WJLeV pic.twitter.com/9ftEZOsawV
— ESPN (@espn) November 27, 2015
To make matters worse, an anonymous agent who represents a starter on the team said that Kelly has lost the team.
“Chip Kelly has lost the team,” the agent told NJ. “Between the losses and his bulls–t methods that aren’t working, I can tell you that the players have tuned him out.”
The rumors of Colin Kaepernick coming to the Philadelphia Eagles could depend largely on whether Chip Kelly is still there next year. Kaepernick appears a good fit for Kelly’s system, he’s mobile with a big arm, but a new coach may try to find a quarterback more tailored for a different system.
What Kaepernick does have in his favor is a relatively weak free agent pool for quarterbacks next year. If the Philadelphia Eagles aren’t going to be giving Sam Bradford a new contract, their best option may be to try to find a young quarterback in the draft who can develop behind veteran Matt Sanchez. Or Colin Kaepnerick.
[Picture by Christian Petersen/Getty Images]
