Sam Bradford: The Football Gods Can Be Cruel...

Let's face it: Players we like - for whatever reason - get traded or cut all the time. I liked Sam Bradford "the person" a great deal. The player? Well, it started to get hard to watch Bradford play. There was this impending dread at times... Will he make it through this game? "Get up Sam! That hit you took because no one blocked wasn't that hard?"

The Eagle's Chip Kelly is either a player-talent savant, or showing just how naive he is at the NFL level. He's made some seemingly bizarre moves lately. Dumping LeSean McCoy after letting Jeremy Maclin walk away in free agency has Eagles fans screaming. Then he added to the roster carnage by snagging Sam Bradford for Nick Foles in a complex, condition-riddled trade that really doesn't make me feel like Kelly completely buys into Bradford's durability...

You see, there's either a great story about to unfold in Philadelphia, or a tragic end to a career that never happen. Sam Bradford was blessed with the skills to be a great quarterback, but his body betrayed him, and what could have been to this point in his football life. He came into the league as a #1 overall pick. But it's what was behind the next curtain that he couldn't possibly have imagined. St. Louis is a beautiful city, with great people. But the football Gods really haven't blessed this river side city of light. The St. Louis Cardinals had their time almost four decades ago, but they moved to Arizona. In walked a former Las Vegas cigarette girl with a team, but no idea how to run it well. Bang-bang! A former grocery clerk gave St. Louis hope, then a little finger unraveled it all. A series of high draft picks went nowhere until the Rams found new reason to believe when a kid from Oklahoma walked onto the stage in Radio City Music hall to pose for a picture with Rodger Goodell...

Coaches and front office people came and went. Ownership changed, with a steadfast (cough, cough) St. Louis businessman taking the helm. On the field, offensive philosophies never stayed around for long, and neither did the players around Sam Bradford. Jeff Fisher arrived, and he began sorting through the mess left behind. A guy named Les Snead started to wheel and deal, adding actual receivers to catch passes thrown by Bradford. But Bradford never had the chance to find out if he could steer a young, talented offense. Injuries came calling, and they just wouldn't stop. Back to back ACL tears in the same knee rocked Bradford's world to the point I actually wrote an article on why I thought Sam should hang up his cleats for good...

As much promise as I saw in Bradford, there were flaws. The worst aspect of his game for me was his play-action fakes. Did I say bad? They were Ishtar/Show Girls/You're Shoe's Untied bad. No, really! His battering due to the lack of blocking led Bradford to kind of devolving into a check down quarterback, and in truth it may have been a blessing now that he's in Chip Kelly's fast-paced offense. His time in the pocket will diminish, or at least I hope it will...

Nick Foles been added to take Bradford's place. No offense to young Mr. Foles, but I really don't care, or at least not right now. Foles represents a quarterback his former coach didn't want, and has had his own injury bug. So for now, I'll sit back and see if he works out or not...

In truth, all I've learned about Sam Bradford is that the football Gods have a cruel sense of humor...