Sam Bradford's agent: Competition vs. Carson Wentz wouldn't be 'real'
Tom Condon doesn't believe a competition would be 'real.'
When the Eagles traded a boatload of draft picks to select Carson Wentz with the second pick in the NFL Draft, they did so at the expense of Sam Bradford, the team's incumbent starting quarterback who signed a two-year contract earlier this offseason. After grabbing Wentz, the Eagles maintained that Bradford remained their starting quarterback ("our guy," as head coach Doug Pederson put it), but Bradford appears to be set on avoiding the team until he's granted a trade out of Philadelphia.
Because Wentz isn't universally regarded as pro ready and because Sam Bradford is an underperforming injury-prone quarterback, Bradford's critics have pointed out that he should simply win the starting job in training camp instead of forcing his way out. But, according to Bradford's agent Tom Condon, that's not really possible.
As Condon told Andrew Brandt on The Business of Sports, a competition between Bradford and Wentz wouldn't be "real."
"I know people say, 'Well, why doesn't he just compete and win the job?'" Condon said, according to Pro Football Talk. "There is no real competition. If you've given up the draft choices [to trade up] and he's the second pick in the draft, he's playing. That's all there is to it."
The way Condon sees it, the transition from Bradford to Wentz would happen sooner rather than later.
"There's not really a competition," Condon said. "You're holding the card until you're replaced, and as far as the club is concerned, and I would guess the fans, the sooner, the better."
Due to the fact that Bradford only signed a two-year contract to stay in Philadelphia, the idea that Bradford is insulted by the Eagles' decision to draft a quarterback of the future is still extremely odd, even if what Condon said above makes sense. Yes, the team will want Wentz to play as soon as he's ready and, no, that's not good news for Bradford, but did Bradford really assume he was the team's long-term answer after signing that short-term contract?
There's nothing quite like a May quarterback controversy involving a new head coach, a mediocre veteran, and a rookie who played college ball at North Dakota State.
