National Football League

Report: Sam Bradford wouldn't sign extension with Browns

Published Mar. 30, 2015 11:25 a.m. ET

foxsports

Another day, another member of the media confirming that it was in fact the Cleveland Browns who offered a first-round draft pick for former St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford.

Bradford was ultimately sent to the Philadelphia Eagles in a deal for quarterback Nick Foles. According to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, however, the machinations of the failed deal run a lot deeper than just the Browns being one-upped by the Chip Kelly.

I think I can now say with certainty that The Other Team in the chase for Sam Bradford—as many have inferred—was Cleveland. The Browns would have been willing to part with a first-round pick in either 2015 or 2016 (I do not know which year) for Bradford, but there were two problems: One, the Browns didn’t have a quarterback to give in return, and Philadelphia was willing to fork over Nick Foles. Two, Bradford would not have been willing to sign a new contract this off-season if he were traded to Cleveland, and he is willing to consider an extension in Philadelphia. So the Philly deal was really the only one that made sense for the Rams and for Bradford, in the end.

So, let’s take this step by step:

Apparently none of the three quarterbacks on the Browns—Johnny Manziel, Josh McCown, or Connor Shaw—counted as actual quarterbacks. Splendid. While Browns fans could play the “grumble grumble national media narrative bias grumble” card, fewer individuals are more plugged in to the Rams than King. If he’s reporting it, it’s true.

Then there’s the contract situation. Bradford was not willing to sign a contract extension with the Browns. Entering the final year of his gigantic six-year, $78 million deal, Bradford is set to be a free agent in 2016. This report insinuates that not only was Bradford willing to sign with the Eagles, but he will most definitely sign an extension with them, effectively washing away the hope that Cleveland could still acquire him on Draft Day. While it’s not worth ever counting out Kelly and his potential to make a head-scratching move, it appears that the former Sooner will be in the City of Brotherly Love for the next several well-compensated seasons. Not bad considering he was pondering retirement as recent as a few months ago.

Meanwhile, the Browns are still without a quarterback. They have plenty of ammunition in the way of draft picks, but even those are up for debate as the NFL is expected to take at least one of them this week. Teams with quality quarterbacks are not willing to trade them and free agency is never the answer. It’s looking more and more like the Browns will be picking another QB come draft time. It is also looking more and more like we’ll be having these exact same discussions a year from now.

More from Waiting For Next Year: