By nearly all accounts, new Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford has been turning heads - in a good way - thus far into Eagles training camp. While the proof will, of course, be in the pudding for a guy who has now suffered two straight ACL tears, early returns on the Eagles and head coach Chip Kelly's investment - an investment which includes a second-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and quarterback Nick Foles - are promising. Most of the reports and recounting of Bradford's practice performances have been couched in a fair bit of "well, yeah, but..." and with good reason; Bradford has to prove he can stay healthy before any talk of his taking full ownership of the Eagles starting signal-caller spot can crystallize. That being said, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur apparently didn't shy away from making some pretty strong comparisons for Bradford's accuracy when speaking with Jason Cole of Bleacher Report recently.
Per Cole, Shurmur compared Bradford's accuracy to that of Super Bowl-winners like Kurt Warner or Peyton Manning. "He believes Bradford can get the ball to a receiver on the move and pinpoint it at any time," said Cole.
Even more importantly for fans of the team, Bradford has, per Cole, already instilled "great confidence" in Kelly, Shurmur and the rest of the team. Throughout training camp, Bradford has both been very accurate and gotten rid of the ball quickly and on time - two main components of Kelly's offensive approach.
As NFL.com's Conor Orr noted in his training camp check-in, Bradford has been "shining" thus far for the Eagles.
"Bradford, who was traded to the Eagles this offseason after five seasons with the St. Louis Rams, is incredibly accurate and will be a joy to watch in this offense, now that he has a suitable scheme and dynamic weapons around him," writes Orr. "The main difference between Bradford and Sanchez is that Bradford is hyper decisive, or at least he appeared that way Wednesday. Every ball -- for better or worse -- is off with a rhythmic timing that borders on clockwork. Every dropback, bounce and release is identical. Kelly's offense is impressive because it often presents a wide-open receiver on every play. Now, the coach might have the added luxury of a quarterback in Bradford who can thread the occasional show-stopper into double-coverage."
Of course, the team remains concerned over Bradford's ability to hold up for the season. Per Cole, while the team is cautiously optimistic thanks to his early performance, there is still worry that he may falter once the live bullets start flying.
In the end, it will simply take time for Bradford to either earn the trust of coaches and fans or to prove that he's simply unable to withstand the beating of an NFL gig.
