Philadelphia Eagles fans were crawling in their skin when they heard the franchise was trading quarterback Nick Foles for Sam Bradford. Many of them believe Nick is a proven franchise player at the position while Bradford is an unproven, washed up and injury-prone signal caller who never did anything in his five years with the Rams.
Lets compare:
Nick Foles
Most people don’t know where Nick Foles went to college, but it was Arizona. He redshirted his freshman year. The year after he would get in a quarterback position battle with Matt Scott. Scott won the battle for being more athletic. After Scott struggled in the first three games of the season, the job was given to Foles. Foles didn’t really do anything spectacular with the job. His senior season he had a good year posting a little over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. Foles lead the Pac-12 in total offense, and was 5th in FBS. While these numbers looked really good, they did not lead to wins. The Wildcats went 4-8 that year and did not get to a bowl game. No wonder he was relatively unheralded when he was drafted in the third round (88th overall) to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012. Judging by his level of play at the college level, Foles does have all the tools to be a good backup quarterback in the NFL, but he is no starter. Maybe in the right system (Chip Kelly)?
Sam Bradford
Sam Bradford had a very successful career at Oklahoma.
This is a list of some of Bradford’s college achievements:
• 2007 Freshman of the Year
•2007 Second-team All-American
•2008 All-Big 12 Academic Team
•2008 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year
•2008 First-team All-American
•2008 Davey O’Brien award winner
•2008 Heisman Trophy winner[45]
•2008 College Football Player of the Year
•2010 NFL Draft first overall pick
Need I go on?
I know college football foreshadows very little toward a quarterback’s future NFL career. As we can see from examples like Joe Flacco who is a University of Delaware alum it’s not always the case. However, many times the player who went to the bigger college does show who was recruited higher. You get recruited higher for being bigger, stronger and faster then everyone in your class. You are probably more athletic, and when it comes to the quarterback position, smarter. Bradford’s college resume led him to getting drafted first overall.
So, where did it go wrong for Bradford, and where did it go right for Foles?
I am glad you asked.
Picture two graduates from the same field of study. Both want to go into the same line of work. One graduated from Harvard, and one graduated from the University of New Mexico. The Harvard graduate gets his first job offer from a small town in Wisconsin. They are paying him a lot of money, and have high expectations for him. The only problem is, they don’t have a very good training program, the leadership at the company is not very good, and they cannot afford the A1 software and equipment the job requires.
The other graduate from the University of New Mexico goes to a much more wealthy company. They have top level training, the leadership is top notch, and all the equipment and software is revolutionary.
Who will be more productive?
The New Mexico graduate.
You see, you can place Sam Bradford, who has all the talent in the world, in St. Louis. This is a place where they have to play Seattle and San Francisco twice a year. Not to mention the fact that they have not had a Pro-Bowl caliber receiver since Torry Holt (Bradford’s freshman year in college). We wonder why Bradford looks like he should be a backup.
On the other hand, you surround Nick Foles with weapons and a coach named Chip Kelly who may go down as the most innovative coach of our time, and Foles looks like a franchise quarterback.
Now the tables are turned. Bradford is in Philly playing for Chip, and Nick plays for the awful Rams. As taken from Aaron Rodgers, I just have five letters for Eagles fans: R E L A X.
The Eagles have made some huge moves this offseason. They now have probably the best inside linebacking corps in the NFC. They’re bringing in two top caliber running backs in DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews. They have made a major upgrade at QB, and they still have CHIP.
EAGLES FAN: What if Bradford gets hurt? He is injury-prone you know.
Everyone in the NFL is prone to injury, and you still have the insurance policy of Mark Sanchez who will be better in his second year with the offense.
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