Sam Bradford benched after just three starts into his $40 million contract

The Arizona Cardinals are stupid.

For some reason, they thought it’d be a great idea to sign the oft-injured, perpetually mediocre-at-best Sam Bradford to a two-year contract worth $40 million ($15 million guaranteed) this offseason.

Arizona did this AFTER Bradford was only to play one game in 2017 due to a lingering knee issue that was described as “degenerative.” And the Cardinals actually gave him a RAISE from last year!

To no surprise, the Bradford signing has already proved to be a flop just three games into the 2018 season. The 30-year-old quarterback is averaging a mere 5.0 yards per attempt and he’s thrown two touchdowns to four interceptions (plus he’s fumbled three times). His passer rating checks in at 62.5, which is bad.

The Cards have admitted their mistake by benching Bradford. Arizona will be starting rookie quarterback Josh Rosen this week, which is the right move for them. Bradford was just always a complete waste of time.

If you’re wondering why I’m so frustrated by the Cardinals’ stupidity, it’s because they were stupid in a way that didn’t help the Eagles. If Arizona was going to be so reckless at the quarterback position, why couldn’t they have traded two first round picks for Nick Foles? At least they could’ve used the Super Bowl MVP angle a selling point to their fans.

Another annoyance with the Bradford signing is that it’s going to net the Vikings a 2019 third-round compensatory pick. But then again, that 2019 mid-round pick pales in comparison to the value that Minnesota surrendered to the Eagles when the Vikings traded for Bradford back in 2016. Philadelphia ultimately got Derek Barnett, who forced a key strip-sack against the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game and recovered Brandon Graham’s strip-sack in the Minnesota-hosted Super Bowl, and Josh Sweat with the 2017 first-round pick and the 2018 fourth-round pick the Eagles received for Bradford.

It remains to be seen if teams have finally learned their lesson when it comes to Bradford. I won’t believe it until I see it. Maybe it’s worth holding out hope that Pat Shurmur will try to bring him to the Giants if/when New York moves on from Eli Manning after this season. Or, hey, the Cowboys could really use a new starting quarterback.