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No one knows for sure what went down in the St. Louis Rams‘ offices on the night Sam Bradford was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. We do know, however, the general reaction of the Eagles fanbase when the first reports were that the team was getting Bradford and the Rams’ first-rounder, the No. 10 overall pick, for the younger, arguably better, less expensive and less-injury-prone, Nick Foles. “Sounds about right,” most Eagles fans said.
Then about two hours later came the disturbing news that the Eagles not only delivered Foles to the Rams, but it was the Eagles who threw in a high draft pick, a second-round pick in 2016, not the Rams. It was widely viewed in Philadelphia as a hold-up without a ski mask and hoodie.
“Sounds about right” turned into “huh?” and pretty much exposed head coach Chip Kelly as a GM and personnel neophyte who could be fleeced. In the end, it was also basically the reason the Eagles were not able to move up and land Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota on the first night of the NFL draft.
Look at it this way. The Eagles took an injured quarterback off the Rams’ hands, freed $12.5 million off the Rams’ payroll and gave them a guy making $1.2 million who many felt was better than Bradford. There is no doubt in a lot of football observers’ minds that the Eagles—with at least a little haggling—could have had Bradford, the No. 10 overall pick and a second-rounder had the issue been pressed.
In the Rams’ war room, they were probably thinking that they should offer Bradford to the Eagles for Foles and start the bidding by also asking for a second-rounder before giving the Eagles their best offer, Bradford and their No. 10 overall for Foles. It never got that far, because Kelly said “yeah, okay” before there could be any back-and-forth discussions. That’s the way it had to go down. It doesn’t make any sense otherwise.
Kelly the neophyte never pressed the issue and the Eagles got fleeced. Had the Eagles held the No. 10 and No. 20 overall picks, they could have easily moved up and landed Mariota. They could have added next year’s first and second-round picks to this year’s Nos. 10 and Nos. 20. The Titans would have been foolish to turn down that kind of a deal. The Eagles probably wouldn’t even have needed to include a single player. Tennessee made it clear it valued picks over players.
In the final analysis, the Eagles lost any chance to get Mariota not on draft night but on the night the Rams were able to unload Bradford on them. And that is one night Kelly and Eagles fans will regret forever.
Mike Gibson is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
