The Philadelphia Eagles remained true to their word when they said they would not be wagering a whole draft in order to select Marcus Mariota. There were certainly several rumors flying that they were pushing heavily to move up in the draft, but they remained at their original position and will move forward with their original quarterback rotation. While the Eagles consider getting a deal done for Sam Bradford, Chip Kelly is endorsing the future of Tim Tebow.
The next move the Eagles could make is signing Bradford to a new contract and lessen his salary cap hit. The Eagles gave the quarterback a silent endorsement by not drafting someone over the weekend. According to Matt Lombardo of NJ.com, insiders believe a contract for Bradford could be coming sooner than many believe. Now that the Mariota drama is a distant memory, the Eagles will aim get Bradford signed, but a timetable is not known. Right now the quarterback is set to earn $12.9 million in the final year of his deal.
Mark Eckel of NJ.com reported prior to the NFL Draft that Bradford was hesitant to sign a contract unless it had a no-trade clause in the deal. The Cleveland Browns were circling a trade and the quarterback reportedly told his agent he had no desire in making that move. That could be the deal breaker for the Eagles. Bradford is still coming off another major injury and if he cannot prove himself to be healthy, Philadelphia would need to make a move.
Head coach Chip Kelly is not necessarily worried about injuries, convinced the Eagles have quality depth to help out. Sanchez returns for another season after seeing brief time as a starter last season. The Eagles also shocked the world by signing Tebow to a contract. While Sanchez told ESPN.com that Tebow was merely a camp arm while Bradford got healthy, Kelly is making it clear that is not true.
"No, I think everybody here that we bring to our organization is here to compete for a job," Kelly said, via the NFL Network. "That's what Timmy is going to do. He's an unbelievable competitor. ... If we were just going to have guys throw drills, we'd take (Mike) Mayock in the offseason and bring him down here and let him throw to them."
According to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport, the Eagles are still pushing for a trade of Matt Barkley, but that might not happen until training camp. Barkley is a total unknown getting very little playing time since being in the league. He would merely be a depth addition for any team who has just two quarterbacks in the rotation.