How offseasons have changed in Philadelphia. A year ago, this city was obsessed with the possibility of flipping one Heisman winner, Sam Bradford, for another, Marcus Mariota. Now there’s legitimate talk about whether a 29-year-old undrafted free agent with one career touchdown pass can win the starting job from Sam Bradford.
It might sound crazy, but even a quick look at Chase Daniel’s contract shows that the Eagles may think of Doug Pederson’s former Chiefs backup as more than just a backup quarterback. Daniel signed a three-year deal worth $21 million, including an insane $12 million in guaranteed money – a full $5 million more in guaranteed money than any other backup quarterback in the National Football League.
A more comprehensive breakdown of Daniel’s contract shows that he can earn up to $36 million if he meets specific incentives – incentives that are centered around the former UDFA earning the starting job.
Furthermore, there’s a clause in Bradford’s contract that prevents his signing bonus from kicking in until March 18th, which suggests that the Eagles could shop him and perhaps even find a trade suitor despite recently locking him up to a two-year deal worth $36 million with more than half in guaranteed money.
This isn’t normal, people. Starting quarterbacks don’t sign contract extensions with the legitimate possibility that they could be traded a week later. And there’s never been a backup quarterback, especially one as unproven as Daniel, to receive as much money.
That’s the part that doesn’t make sense. The Eagles didn’t need to give Daniel even close to $12 million in guaranteed money. Last offseason, they gave Mark Sanchez, a highly competent backup quarterback with proven success as a five-year NFL starter, a two-year deal with $5.5 million in guaranteed money. So Daniel, who has thrown 57 career passes in six seasons, receives more than twice as much money as a quarterback who twice led the Jets to the brink of the Super Bowl?
That’s mind-boggling, and it suggests that a quarterback competition isn’t completely farfetched, even with new head coach Doug Pederson openly calling Bradford his starter and Daniel the backup. After all, my sources tell me that coaches sometimes lie. In fact, the last Eagles head coach did so frequently.
So that raises the question: Should there be a quarterback competition between Bradford and Daniel?
If you’ve read my work or seen my tweets, you know how I feel about Bradford. As a quarterback, I can’t stand him. I think he’s as blah and mediocre as any starting quarterback in the league. In fact, I think he’s worse. I think he’s a bad quarterback, one that ranks 26th among the 32 starters on my rankings.
I can’t recall a quarterback who has earned more money and received more excuses – some valid, most not – to accomplish less. Take last season for example. Bradford threw 19 touchdowns against 14 interceptions with an 86.4 passer rating. He ranked below average in every league-adjusted passing statistic, except for completion percentage, and that’s largely because he threw the highest percentage of passes fewer than 10 yards. Master of the checkdown, Bradford struggled mightily for the first half of the season. Fans forget how poorly he played, even in games like the 39-17 win against the New Orleans Saints, when the former Heisman winner threw three interceptions, including two in the end zone.
Over his final seven starts, Bradford played much better. He was solid. You could probably use the word good. He tossed 10 touchdowns against four interceptions, while posting a 97.0 passer rating. If you took every starting quarterback’s best seven-game stretch, Bradford ranks 21st in passer rating and 32nd in touchdown passes. He led the Eagles to a 4-3 record, although he played poorly in the season’s two biggest games before posting his best showing when the Eagles had already been eliminated from playoff contention.
There will always be those who look at Bradford’s impressive track record in college – seven or eight years ago – and suggest that the former number one overall pick has some serious untapped potential. There’s no denying that Bradford has been dealt some unbelievable bad luck throughout his career, especially from his wide receivers. It’s also hard to deny that a successful quarterback elevates his teammates and wins in spite of his supporting cast, and Bradford is a quarterback who has made 63 starts and never led his team to 25 offensive points in consecutive games. That, seriously, is unbelievable.
But while I could certainly have lived with the Eagles moving on from Bradford this offseason and starting over at the quarterback position, as tough as it would have been, there’s nothing to remotely suggest that Chase Daniel could be a more viable option at quarterback than Bradford.
I’m not sure I understand Pederson’s obsession with Bradford. I certainly understand the comfort of a quarterback familiar with his offensive system, but realistically, what are the odds that the soon-to-be 30-year-old becomes a once-in-a-generation diamond in the rough? It’s not going to happen.
If Daniel was anything special, he would have been able to beat out another disappointing former number one overall pick, Alex Smith. There’s nothing from Daniel’s past, whether at Missouri, with the New Orleans Saints, or with the Kansas City Chiefs, to suggest that he could unseat Bradford and lead the Eagles into the postseason. He’s not a hot young prospect, a former high draft pick, a big quarterback with an unusual skillset. He’s just a guy who has never played, knows Pederson’s system and is now drastically overpaid to backup one of the league’s most overrated and injury-prone quarterbacks.
There’s a very good chance that Eagles fans will see Daniel on the field for a game, probably multiple games, in 2016. After all, Bradford has missed at least two games in four of the last five seasons, and there’s nothing to suggest that he will play in all 16 games for the first time since 2012. But suggesting that Daniel, who’s almost a nobody, could beat out a quarterback who, while a classic underachiever, is at least passable as a starter, is ludicrous.
Sam Bradford is far from the future at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. But he’s a lot closer than his new backup Chase Daniel will ever be. That’s a guarantee.
