Sam Bradford's agent explains why his client wants the Eagles to trade him

Sam Bradford's agent, Tom Condon, appeared on an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday evening. Condon did nothing to dispute the reports that Bradford wants the Eagles to trade him. Instead, Condon explained exactly why Bradford is looking to leave Philadelphia. Here's the entire transcript of what Condon had to say.

"He was excited about signing back with Philadelphia and the contract was, I think, pretty good for him. And then Chase [Daniel] came on, and they paid him a substantial amount of money to be on the roster as well. And I don’t think that anybody foresaw the [trade up to] second pick in the [NFL] Draft which we anticipate, obviously, to be a quarterback.

So I think from that situation Sam’s only been in the league for six years, and he wants to go some place and be there and know he’s going to stay as long as he plays well. His situation now in Philadelphia is different. It’s one of those things where I completely understand from where Howie [Roseman’s] standpoint and the Philadelphia Eagles, they signed Sam and they had no idea they were going to come up and get the second pick in the draft and to have that be a quarterback. Even being able to sign Chase, certainly not sure of that when they signed Sam.

But nevertheless, none of this is personal, it’s just business. And so from our perspective it is that Sam wants the opportunity to try to go some place and not only be the starter but be the starter there long-term. There’s a couple of things that go along with this. If you’re on a two year contract and the second pick in the draft is behind you, then you better really play well because you’re going to hear it from the fans if you don’t. You better play well or your teammates are going to look at you sideways and wonder about when the next guy is going to step in. I think from that standpoint too it’s that’s the other players understand you’re a short-term guy. And you’re going to be out of there even if you play well because you can hopefully be traded or something like that before you contract expires. Sam would like to forego all of that.

From this standpoint the ideal situation is that, he understands he’s under contract [with Philadelphia] for two years, but the offseason program is voluntary and he can certainly make his wishes known with regard to wanting to go some place else and set up and be there for the rest of his career. Sam’s a competitor and he wants to go some place that he’s the man. He just doesn’t want to be there holding a place card and then wondering where he’s going to go at the end of the year. He’d liked to go some place where he can participate and play.

Last year, he was coming off of the ACL two years in a row, he got through the 14 games and his stats over those 14 games put him in about the middle of the starters. If you look at the second half of those 14 games, in the last seven, he was in the top eight or so. And as he got closer to the finish, in his last three games his statistics were really pretty very remarkable.

He doesn’t view himself as somebody who is a stop-gap kind of quarterback and he wants to go some place and take a chance on being with a team for a long time and I can’t blame him for that."

Here are some thoughts on what Condon had to say.

• First of all, I can't get over how this whole thing is just such a mess. Bradford looks so weak and bad for pulling this.

• Nobody saw the trade up to the No. 2 overall pick? Come on, that's bullshit. The Eagles made it clear they wanted to draft a quarterback prior to Bradford re-signing. Doug Pederson talked about getting a "young quarterback" that the team could develop. He explicitly said the team was looking for a franchise quarterback. It's true that trading up to No. 2 may not have been obvious when the Eagles were originally picking at No. 13. But if the Eagles were in the market for a young quarterback in the draft, why would it be out of the question that they'd try to get one of the best ones available?

• I simply don't agree that with the notion that Bradford had NO chance to be the Eagles' long-term starter. The Birds guaranteed him the starting job for 2016. It's possible he could have played well enough to make it so the Eagles don't move on from him. Is that scenario likely? No. The Eagles gave up a lot to trade up for their rookie quarterback and they clearly want to play him at some point. But I just don't think it's IMPOSSIBLE that Bradford could hold the rookie off. Or even assuming I'm wrong and there was 0% chance Bradford would return in 2017 no matter how well he played, at the very least he'd be auditioning for another team. And what's so bad about that?

• Fans aren't going to boo Bradford if he plays bad just because there's a second overall pick waiting behind him. Fans are going to boo nearly anyone who plays bad regardless of their backup. And why is this even relevant? Bradford wants out of Philly because he's afraid fans might boo him? That's the weakest shit ever.

• "Sam’s a competitor and he wants to go some place that he’s the man." ... THIS SENTENCE IS A BLATANT CONTRADICTION. If he was truly a competitor, he'd go out this season and fight for his job! Not request a trade to a team that doesn't want to threaten his job security!

• Oh great now we're talking about the arbitrary and overrated seven game stretch again. Hey, here's a reminder that Bradford's best seven game stretch was only the 21st best seven game stretch of any starting quarterback last season. And hanging your hat on those last three games is pretty weak. Bradford racked up a lot of those stats in blowout losses in Week 15 and Week 16. Then he played well in a completely meaningless Week 17 game against an historically bad Giants defense.

• This line right here: "He doesn’t view himself as somebody who is a stop-gap kind of quarterback" ... if Bradford doesn't view himself as somebody who is a stop-gap kind of quarterback, then why the hell did he sign a contract that clearly indicates he is a stop-gap kind of quarterback?! Did he not realize that the deal he signed essentially is good for one season? No one forced him to sign that contract. He willingly did it on his own behalf.

...

I really just don't get what Bradford and Condon are trying to achieve here. They're trying to force a trade but it was clear there was no market in him for free agency or else they would have tested it. So how is there going to be a market now? Who is really going to want to trade for the injury-prone, average at best quarterback who turns 29 this season? How can there not be serious questions about Bradford's ability as a leader after abandoning his team like he's done with the Eagles ... and just two months after instantly earning $5.5 million? I just don't see a way where they come out of this situation looking like winners. This is all so very bizarre.

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