Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford has already made upwards of $50 million as an NFL player, so you'd think he'd be a little less focused on striking it big on his second contract, especially considering the fact that injuries and inconsistency have robbed him of a lot of time on the field and therefore severely limited his production to date.
According to the latest report though, that is not the case.
"There's a six-week gap to make an extension happen before training camp, and the Eagles have made overtures," writes Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports. "But the contract figures aren't even in shouting distance due to the volcanic escalation in quarterback contract figures, a league source said. Barring another injury, Bradford and his camp are expecting to get paid big. Yet again."
HNGN passed along a report Thursday that Bradford's reps and the Eagles had had discussions on a contract extension this offseason, but that nothing had yet come of it or was likely to come of it because, really, there's not much incentive for either side to do a deal at this point.
Bradford is already being paid handsomely in 2015, to the tune of $12.985 million, and he likely knows any deal he signs now would represent a reduced rate thanks to his lack of output to this point in his NFL career. The Eagles and head coach Chip Kelly likely want to see what Bradford is capable of next year and leave themselves an out should he prove unable to stay healthy or otherwise fail to take advantage of the opportunity ahead of him.
As the last first overall NFL draft pick to be drafted before the rookie wage scale was implemented, Bradfords' rookie contract reflected both the inordinate value teams place on finding a franchise signal-caller and the ridiculously out-of-whack first-round contract system which existed only a few short years ago - six years, $78.045 million with a $17.975 million signing bonus and $50 million guaranteed.
And what did the St. Louis Rams get for such an investment?
49 regular season games played out of a possible 80, 1,032 completions for 11,065 yards, 59 touchdowns, 38 interceptions, 18 fumbles, zero Pro Bowls, zero playoff appearances and now, a 2016 second-round pick and Nick Foles.
For the Eagles, it's not really surprising that Bradford wants to maximize his value - he likely realizes at this point that it's his last chance to hit it big - or that the Eagles aren't ready to commit big dollars to a player they're still waiting to see return from a second ACL tear.
This is the kind of issue that will move to the backburner once the season begins, but will again move to the fore - hopefully for Eagles fans - when the team has to determine what kind of contract to give him after a promising 2015 season.
