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New York Jets Rumors: Could Eagles’ Sam Bradford Be Traded To The Jets?

By Phillip Dengler
Published on: 08:15 PST, Apr 24, 2016

With the 2016 NFL Draft only a few days away, rumors are spiraling regarding the New York Jets and their plans for the No. 20 overall pick. With quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s uncertain situation, many NFL insiders believe that the Jets will target a quarterback in the opening round. While that is still a possibility, trading for current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford could be the smarter decision.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the Jets have been linked to Memphis Tigers quarterback Paxton Lynch. While Lynch is viewed to have a tremendous amount of upside, he is not ready to start for the Jets on the first game of the 2016 season. After finishing with a record of 10-6 last year, the Jets are ready to compete now. Ryan Fitzpatrick remains in the mix, but the Jets are still unable to come to an agreement with him.

Like Fitzpatrick, Sam Bradford has not exactly been an elite quarterback over the course of his career. While Fitzpatrick had the best season of his career in 2015, he is going to turn 34-years-old in November. Not exactly ancient for an NFL quarterback, but he is probably not going to get much better at this point in time. Bradford has had his struggles throughout his career, but his play improved tremendously over the second half of the season in 2015. Bradford will turn 29-years-old in November, and there is a chance that he has not yet played his best football.

As ESPN reports, trading Bradford to the Jets makes sense for both teams.

“I wrote on Thursday about why the Eagles should deal Bradford. He has played his part, with reports suggesting that he’ll ask the Eagles to be traded in lieu of serving as a lame-duck starter this season. Philly could badly use the extra pick that would come with a Bradford trade and could install Chase Daniel as the starter until Carson Wentz is ready to take over. The Jets would have to pay only Bradford’s $7 million base salary this season, crucial for a team that is $1.4 million over the cap after you account for the money needed to sign their draft picks. (They would likely have to cut Breno Giacomini and/or do something with Muhammad Wilkerson’s $15.7 million cap hold to clear out space.) Bradford would likely be an upgrade on the Ryan Fitzpatricks and Brian Hoyers of the world, even if they played better than the former first overall pick last year; Bradford also would be a solid fit in Chan Gailey’s spread attack.”

While Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has stated that Bradford will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2016, it might make more sense to trade him. Since the Eagles will be drafting California Golden Bears quarterback Jared Goff or North Dakota State Bison quarterback Carson Wentz, they are going to have too many quarterbacks. While Goff or Wentz will not be the starting quarterback at the beginning of the year, there are only so many repetitions in practice. The Eagles also signed quarterback Chase Daniel, which takes away even more repetitions from their rookie.

Additionally, the Eagles now have a lack of draft picks after their recent deal with the Cleveland Browns. While Bradford is not going to net a lot of picks, he can give the Eagles a little more flexibility this year. In trading Bradford, the Eagles will have dead money on the salary cap, but the return of acquiring draft picks and freeing up more repetitions in practice for their rookie quarterback could offset it.

As CBS Sports reports, Bradford is likely to ask for a trade. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Bradford has already been linked to the Denver Broncos. Neither team is likely to give up a first-round pick for Bradford, but the Jets have higher picks in all of the later rounds. While the amount of compensation that it will take to get Bradford is unknown, the Eagles may view the Jets as a more compelling trade partner.

With Ryan Fitzpatrick’s situation uncertain and the NFL Draft on the horizon, rumors will likely continue to link the New York Jets with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford. Bradford has not yet asked for a trade, but he cannot be happy with his situation in Philadelphia. If anything is going to happen, expect it to take place before Thursday.

[Photo by Elsa/Getty Images]

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