NBC on Yahoo SportsWill Sam Bradford retire?
The Eagles and quarterback Sam Bradford remain at an impasse.
The team, which committed $22 million in fully-guaranteed money to Bradford under a two-year deal, envisions Bradford to be the Week One starter. Bradford, who accepted the two-year deal without a gun or other weapon pressed to his head but who now believes he’ll be getting the hook sooner than later, wants to be traded. The other 31 teams are bemused, at best, by his availability.
So what happens with Bradford? Via PhillyInfluencer.com, Reuben Frank of CSN Philly thinks Bradford will retire.
It could end up being the only way out of the corner into which Bradford has painted himself. But it would be expensive; he’d immediately forfeit the $11 million signing bonus he received earlier this year from the Eagles if he retires.
Still, there’s a potential Carson-Palmer-in-2011 appeal to a retirement decision. Like the former Bengals quarterback did five years ago, Bradford could call it quits (losing the signing bonus but avoiding the fines and forfeitures that would arise from holding out while under contract) and wait for another quarterback to tear an ACL or pop an Achilles or (like former Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell did two days before the trade deadline in 2011) break a collarbone.
Bradford would simply sit and wait until a trade opportunity arises, whether it happens later this year or next year. If the opportunity never arises, he’d simply never play again.
With no one currently clamoring to make Bradford “the guy” and with Bradford unwilling to be “a guy” in Philadelphia, this is the only approach that makes sense — costly as it may be.
