Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles coach Doug Pederson has nothing but praise for Sam Bradford

Published Jun. 4, 2016 4:55 p.m. ET

foxsports

Sam Bradford might have missed three weeks of practice time due to his holdout, but that hasn't seemed to affect his spot in the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback pecking order.

"I think he's done an outstanding job," Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said, via ESPN. "Again, when you're spreading reps equally, with three guys, that's what you want to see, and I think he's really done a nice job and taken that next step to be the leader of this football team and be the starter. He's done a good job there."

Pederson has said previously that Bradford will be the starting quarterback when the season kicks off. Bradford held out earlier this offseason, when the Eagles traded multiple picks to move up to the No. 2 spot in this year's draft and selected quarterback Carson Wentz.

But Pederson reiterated that Bradford is the man come Week 1, with Chase Daniel as the backup and Wentz third on the depth chart.

"I've said that from day one," Pederson said.

But Pederson warned that Bradford's position on the depth chart is not set in stone and wants to see how all three quarterbacks handle the pressure.

"It's still a competition," Pederson said. "Listen, I brought guys in here at all positions for competition. That's what makes you better. Iron sharpens iron. Don't misunderstand what we're saying. I've played the position. Donovan McNabb was drafted to take over my spot eventually. That's just the nature of the deal.

"But competition is great. It helped me as a quarterback. I look at what Sam's done, and he's taken this thing and run with it. It's unbelievable what he's done. I'm so excited about the direction he's going, and the stuff that he's doing on the field right now are the things that I expected and what I saw at the end of the season last year from Sam Bradford."