As the old saying goes, “anytime you are offered the worse player for the higher price, you have to make that trade!” Wait, no one says that. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the Philadelphia Eagles from trading Nick Foles, a 2015 4th round pick, and a 2016 2nd round pick to the St. Louis Rams for Sam Bradford and a 2015 5th round pick (plus a 2016 6th round pick that never conveyed). Just a horrible deal the minute it happened, and it never got better from there. Just one of the many team-crushing missteps of our 1-year GM/Coach.
at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Let’s set the scene: It was the end of a 10-6 season, the second under Eagles coach Chip Kelly. His offense seemed revolutionary and produced some incredible highlights, but did not make the playoffs a 2nd straight year. The problem was clearly the personnel (punches self in the face). The coach and the GM simply did not meet eye to eye and this was made clear to owner Jeffrey Lurie. On January 2, 2015, Howie Roseman lost the power struggle and Chip Kelly would now be in charge of the roster. This began his reign of terror that saw LeSean McCoy traded straight up for Kiko Alonso; Trent Cole, Todd Herremans, and Evan Mathis released; and Byron Maxwell and DeMarco Murray sign huge free agent deals. First thing’s first though, his offense needed a new QB.1
The incumbent was future hero Nick Foles. After an unbelievable 2013 season, Foles began 2014 as the full-time starter. Unfortunately, a broken collar bone ended his season and forced backup Mark Sanchez into action.2 Despite Foles going 6-2 as a starter that year, Chip wanted one of his guys under center. On March 10, the Eagles made that terrible trade and sent Foles to St. Louis for Sam Bradford.
In just two full seasons with Oklahoma, Bradford played for a National Championship and won the Heisman Trophy. Despite missing almost all of his final season in Norman with a shoulder injury, Sam Bradford was still selected #1 overall by the Rams in the 2010 NFL Draft. Wait, how in the world did such a pedigree lead to him being traded just 5 years later? Well, after winning Rookie of the Year, Bradford slumped in Year-2 and eventually went on IR with an ankle injury. After a better Year-3, Year-4 was cut short by an ACL injury. Year-5 never got off the ground to tearing that same ACL in the preseason. THIS is what the Eagles were getting in this famous trade. Over his last 6 seasons including college, he only finished out the year twice, played only 52 games, had multiple shoulder and knee injuries, and absolutely nothing in the personal highlight reel.
I remember thinking at the time of the trade that getting Bradford and a 2nd round pick for Foles was probably a decent risk to take since neither looked like “the guy” but Foles was still clearly better. My brain hemorrhaged when it came out that we were GIVING Foles and a 2nd away for the guy who hadn’t played football in 18 months. Sadly, I’m ashamed to say that it wasn’t long before I was giving Chip the benefit of the doubt on all his moves.
Bradford’s 2015 season in Philly was horribly and unpredictably average: 7-7 record, 19 TDs, 14 picks, 7 yards per attempt, and absolutely nothing like what we had seen over the previous two Chip seasons. He had 3 TDs in a game just once. The Eagles finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs. We went from the most explosive offensive in the league to the most boring. The only good thing to come of the Bradford trade was Chip’s firing at the end of the year and Howie being reinstated.
Well, not quite the only good thing. While locked away in the wrong side of the NovaCare Complex, Howie must have been planning his grand return to power because he started right in on his grand plan of getting a QB in the draft by trading up to #8 and then inexplicably re-signed Sam Bradford to a 2-year contract. The Eagles traded up again, drafted Carson Wentz, then managed to fleece the Vikings out of a future first by trading them Bradford when Teddy Bridgewater went down in the preseason.
Then there was obviously the return of the legend, Nick Foles, to deliver us our first Super Bowl title.3 He lasted one year in St. Louis and another in KC (I guess he just liked Missouri) before coming back to the Eagles. Does any of that happen without the initial Bradford trade? Of course it was that future first acquired for Bradford (Derek Barnett) who recovered the Brady strip sack fumble in the Super Bowl, but I’m not giving the Rams credit for that.
- Technically the McCoy trade was first, but QB is always the top priority. ↩︎
- Stupid college football anecdote. College QBs were superstars back then with Bradford, Sanchez, Tim Tebow, and Colt McCoy seeming like sure things. I’ll never forget listening to a radio program while some southern analyst with a thick accent explained who he thought was the best prospect of the group: I’ll tell you what, if Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy are all driving in a car [dramatic pause], Mark Sanchez is drivin’ that car. ↩︎
- BTW, how much better is it to say “first” Super Bowl title as opposed to “only” Super Bowl title? ↩︎
Philly Front Office 
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