:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49514647/GettyImages-501240620.0.jpg)
When will Sam Bradford return to the Eagles this offseason, if at all? Bradford and his agent, Tom Condon, have made it clear the veteran quarterback doesn't want to be in Philadelphia. Bradford has demanded a trade and he's been skipping voluntary workouts. According to one Eagles player, however, the holdout might be over soon.
"I think obviously [Bradford] didn’t see [the trade up to the No. 2 overall pick] coming and was surprised by it, but I expect him to be back in the next week or two and be the starting quarterback next year,” said Connor Barwin in a recent interview with 94WIP. “He’s still on the team. He’s got to come to work, and from my conversation with him it sounded like he was coming back sooner than later.”
Barwin might be right about Bradford eventually returning to practice. The Eagles' three-day mandatory minicamp begins on June 7. If Bradford doesn't show up for those practices, he'll be fined up to $70,000. Then again, that's just not a lot of money with respect to how much Bradford has made over his career.
But if Bradford only shows up for minicamp, well, that will pale in comparison to the time he'll have missed. There are 10 OTA sessions scheduled between May 17 and June 3. That's in addition to the time Bradford has already skipped out on this spring.
It was originally reported that only one player reached out to Bradford since his trade request, but now we've seen two players say they've been in communication with the disgruntled quarterback. Jordan Matthews recently spoke about how the Eagles would love to have Bradford return.
The feeling here is that Bradford's best option is to return to the Eagles as soon as possible. Philadelphia has made it clear they don't want to trade Bradford. Even if they did, there's little evidence to suggest there's much of a demand for him. Bradford may feel like he might not have a future in Philadelphia, and he's probably right. But at least he can try to go out and have a the best season he can in order to earn a better opportunity in 2017.