Philadelphia Eagles Rumors: Team Upping Offer To Sam Bradford In Effort To Keep Him From Free Agency


The Philadelphia Eagles are rumored to be making a strong move to bring back Sam Bradford, with sources saying the team has increased its offer in a bid to re-sign the quarterback.

The Eagles have been in contract negotiations with Bradford, but the process has kicked into high gear in the last days as the Eagles try to prevent him from hitting free agency in March.

“The terms of the offer aren’t available, but sources indicated the Eagles believe it’s a very strong offer for Bradford — one that’s at the top of his expected range on the open market and one that should help get him under contract before that market opens on March 9,” Fox Sports reports.

Coach Chip Kelly had acquired Bradford in a play-for-player trade with the now Los Angeles Rams, sending Nick Foles in a deal that looks more favorable to Philadelphia. Sources say Foles is on the way out with the Rams, as coach Jeff Fisher has already stated that Foles won’t be starting next season.

The rumors that the Philadelphia Eagles are making a hard play for Sam Bradford can be explained, in part, by the league’s landscape and the need for a steady quarterback. Though Bradford has struggled with injury, he still sits among the top half of the league when he’s able to play. That gives the Eagles an advantage over the quarterback-starved teams like the Cleveland Browns, and a team with a good quarterback in the league today will do whatever it can to keep him.

Bradford set a career record by completing 65 percent of his passes last year and had a three-game stretch in which he threw for 1,061 yards; but, he finished the season with only 19 touchdowns and at times struggled in his recovery from a second ACL tear.

There could be another shakeup ahead for the Philadelphia Eagles offense. This week, reports circulated that running back DeMarco Murray, unhappy with how he had been utilized on the Eagles this season, asked the team for a trade. Murray made it clear he wasn’t happy with the team this year, with reports that he even went to owner Jeffrey Laurie to air his concerns about the now-fired coach Chip Kelly.

There are rumors that the Philadelphia Eagles may trade Murray back to the Dallas Cowboys, but there could be some difficulties with the plans. CBS Sports noted that the Eagles would take a $13 million dead money cap hit if Murray were traded.

Pro Football Talk noted that Murray would also likely take a pay cut if he were to find his way out of Philadelphia.

“But the question is this: Just how unhappy is Murray? Unhappy enough that he’d take less money to play elsewhere? Because if he’s not that unhappy, a trade probably isn’t going to happen. The five-year,t $40 million contract Murray signed last year calls for him to make a $7 million base salary this season, which it may be hard to convince any team to pay. And trading Murray would give the Eagles a $13 million dead cap hit this season, which means the Eagles aren’t going to be eager to make a move.”

Still, with the difficulties of a big cap hit and the added pressures of trying to trade him to a divisional rival, many think the chances of the Philadelphia Eagles trading DeMarco Murry are remote. That could be important if the team is able to re-sign Sam Bradford, giving what was a shaky offense a sense of stability heading into 2016.

[Picture by Elsa/Getty Images]

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