The Philadelphia Eagles are coming into the season with Sam Bradford as the starter over Mark Sanchez and with Tim Tebow likely to make the roster, a Matt Barkley trade could still be an option and this comes as Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews could see some heavy work behind DeMarco Murray in Chip Kelly's offensive scheme this season.
The Eagles pulled off a trade for Bradford with starter Nick Foles in the offseason and now he is coming in following a serious knee injury. Bradford tore his ACL for the second time in the preseason last year for the Rams and now Kelly is expecting him to be healthy for the season. According to CSN Philly, Bradford was able to make it on the field for a full week of practice after being held out of team activities earlier in the summer.
Bradford said to CSNPhilly.com that his knee is feeling "better" than he expected and that he though the knee would "hold up." Kelly did extensive research about the re-injuring of ACLs and he felt comfortable giving up draft picks and his starter for Bradford. Mark Sanchez was signed back as a free agent and he is expected to be the backup. Kelly feels comfortable with Sanchez after he stepped in last season and started games after Foles was injured. Sanchez has shown a good handle of the offense and can take over if Bradford is injured.
Last season Kelly used Matt Barkley sporadically and he only had one pass attempt even with Foles missing half the season. That is not a lot of confidence in a backup player and while Barkley is young and could develop, the team is likely keeping Tim Tebow on the final roster as the third QB. According to NJ.com, the Eagles are expected to keep Tebow over Barkley this summer and the Philly Voice's Jimmy Kempski reports that Barkley is "still available" in a trade after being shopped earlier in the offseason.
Tebow adds some value to the roster as a backup since he can also be used on short yardage plays and as a decoy and that could lead Kelly to keep him. Kelly is considered an outside the box thinker and after two nothing seasons from Barkley, he could be on his way out. The Eagles offense should be good once again even with the removals of Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy. The team signed DeMarco Murray to a contract and also added Ryan Mathews to give some strong depth along with Darren Sproles.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Eagles could use their three running's backs on a "a 50-30-15 split" this season and Kelly also has said that he plans on using Sproles as a receiver. The team drafted Nelson Agholor but lost Maclin in free agency and Sproles has shown that he is an elite receiving running back over his career. Mathews has the skills to be a consistent runner, but he has to stay healthy and he could not do that last season, playing in just six games.
