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From Peter King:
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/03/16/sam-bradford-chip-kelly-jimmy-johnson-eagles-nfl/print/
Now for the craziest facet of the zany week we’ve just seen. Jimmy Johnson, who quietly has become a good sounding board for Philadelphia coach/franchise czar Chip Kelly, knows that when he watches Kelly operate he’s looking at an offensive version of himself from a quarter-century ago. And new Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford, who flies from his home in Oklahoma to Philadelphia this morning to get on a new rehab track for his left ACL injury, still needs to be pinched. Bitterness-free, Bradford can’t believe his good fortune.
My one point, apropos of nothing, that was cool from the conversation with Bradford: The same afternoon he got the news he’d been traded from St. Louis to Philadelphia, he texted his old college roommate from Oklahoma, DeMarco Murray, and the following exchange occurred (from Bradford’s memory Sunday night):
Bradford: “Just got traded to the Eagles. Come to Philly!”
Murray: “Yeah, we’re talking to them now.”
Bradford: “Don’t mess with me. Really?”
Murray: “Dead serious. Talking to them right now.”
The rest, of course, is angry Cowboy history.
* * *
Jimmy Johnson has advised Chip Kelly, and the new quarterback likes it.
A little history here: When Jimmy Johnson took over the Cowboys a quarter-century ago, he was Chip Kelly. College coach with a satchel of ideas he would bring to the big leagues—a small and fast defense, a willingness to trade in a league that hated trading (Dallas made 55 trades in his tenure), hubris, believing that what won in college could win in the NFL, and being married to no individual player or coach. It worked. Dallas won three Super Bowls, two with Johnson as coach and then one with Barry Switzer coaching Johnson’s players.
So here comes Kelly, with his own ideas the way Johnson had them. Big on sports science; running more plays than anyone in the league; a willingness to deal in a league warming to the idea of building through trades; hubris; believing that was won in college could win in the NFL; and being married to no one.
“You can’t be afraid to make moves. Chip’s not. So some of it is similar,” says Jimmy Johnson. “But there is one big difference: We were the worst team in the league, and people were ready for a big change.”
“Does Kelly remind you of you, 25 years ago?” I asked Johnson the other day.
“Well, in some ways,” Johnson said. “I really like what I have seen out of Chip Kelly. Chip called me and we visited a couple times, and what I heard from him, I liked. No one can say from the outside—right moves, wrong moves. You gotta let ’em play out. You won’t know until you see the results. I felt I was right when I did the things I did, but who knew? I traded away my starting quarterback, Steve Pelluer, to Kansas City. The leading receiver, I don’t remember his name [it was Ray Alexander] we got rid of. I talked to Danny White, and he retired. Then I traded Herschel Walker. You can’t be afraid to make moves. Chip’s not. So some of it is similar. But there is one big difference: We were the worst team in the league two years in a row [1988, 1989]. People were ready for a big change.
“The similarities? We’re both confident, both competent, both know how to win. We talked after he got the new responsibilities this year. I just said, ‘Go with people you believe in, and go with players who fit your personality and fit your system.’ I have talked to Bill Belichick about this too. Certain players are going to be successful in his system and not in others.”
The most controversial trade of them all last week was Bradford and a fourth-round pick to Philadelphia for Nick Foles and a second-round pick. Bradford’s played seven games in the past two years. He’s had two ACL tears to the same knee. By the time this season kicks off, he will have not played in a regular-season game for 22 months. That concerns most everyone who loves the Eagles. It also concerns Johnson.
“Well, with Bradford, the biggest concern I have, and the thing that concerned me with some players that I got burned on, is the injury factor. I remember I traded for [former University of Miami running back] Alonzo Highsmith, because I had great memories, and I did it against my doctor’s recommendations, and he wasn’t the same. So that’s my biggest concern, the health. I love Bradford, but is he gonna be on the field? But if he plays, I like him. Foles, his accuracy was a question. Bradford’s better at that, and it’s not even a questions if he’s healthy. I think Chip looked at Foles as not his guy.”
I asked Johnson if he got a sense in his talks with Kelly that he was going to be active in remaking his roster this off-season.
“Oh yeah,” Johnson said. “The last conversation was over an hour, going over everything. He was loading his guns.”
The Eagles won 10 games in Kelly’s first year, 2013. They won 10 games in his second year, 2014. And have zero playoff wins in his two seasons.
Not good enough.
So you’re Chip Kelly, and you look at the quarterback landscape, and this is what you see:
The quarterback you want, Marcus Mariota, going somewhere in the top five or six picks of the 2015 draft, and you’re picking 20th, and you know it’ll obliterate two drafts to have a chance to move up to get him.
Nick Foles, who had a very hot streak in 2013, but just isn’t accurate enough downfield for your taste.
A bunch of schmoes in free agency.
One interesting, but flawed, prospect: Sam Bradford, the first pick in the 2010 draft, who’d played for an offensively challenged team in St. Louis—and played but seven games in the past two seasons because he tore his left ACL in two straight seasons. Bradford was intriguing because he’d operated a fast-paced spread scheme at Oklahoma, and Kelly was playing a fast-paced spread scheme with the Eagles (though with some significant differences).
“From afar, it looks like a blast to play in the offense,” Bradford says. “I feel it’s similar to what I did at Oklahoma—playing fast, putting pressure on the D.”
Bradford told Philadelphia media last week he knew this trade had been in the works for three or four weeks. Bradford is polite and accommodating, almost to a fault. He says the right things the right way. But when we spoke Sunday night, he was almost giddy.
“Usually,” Bradford said from his home in Oklahoma City, “when you get to go to a new team, you’re going somewhere that’s rebuilding, or somewhere starting over. How often do you get to a team that’s won 10 games the last two years?
“From afar, it looks like a blast to play in the offense. I love the tempo, the mindset. They’re trying to score points every time they snap the ball. Very quarterback-friendly. The ball’s getting out quick, always places to go with the ball. If you’re getting heated up, there’s a place to go with it, always. Constantly putting pressure on the defense. I wish I had more knowledge of the offense to go into depth there. They’ve been top five in offense in both of his years there, and you don’t do that without creating a lot of explosive plays. It almost seems like they go short, short, short, almost lull you to sleep and then they’ll blow one by you. I feel it’s similar to what I did at Oklahoma—playing fast, putting pressure on the D.”
The MMQB Roundtable
The NFL is still reverberating from the frantic series of signings, trades and retirements that marked the official opening of the league year. Our staffers debate the reasons, look at who’s done well (Raiders!) and project what’s still to come
FULL STORY
Bradford flies from Oklahoma to Philadelphia today to start his second act. It’s a strange situation in this way: He tore his ACL in mid-season 2013 and went into rehab led by Reggie Scott, the Rams’ trainer. After tearing the same ACL again last August in a preseason game, he went back to work with Scott to rehab it all over again. And last Tuesday, after a rehab session with Scott at the Rams’ facility in suburban St. Louis, Bradford was told by coach Jeff Fisher that he’d been traded. Bradford was in his car going home when Kelly called to welcome him to the Eagles. They’d never spoken before. Bradford didn’t have a chance—and still hasn’t had one—to thank Scott for all the work he did with him for two years.
Now Bradford will be in the hands of new trainers and doctors. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but now he’ll be out of his comfort zone more in terms of rehab than he is with football.
As for that “injury-prone” label …
“I don’t think you let it bother you,” Bradford said. “The past two injuries, I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. I just think I’ve been unlucky. It just happened. You can’t say now, ‘I just want to make it through the year healthy.’ The more you think about it, the more danger you’re in for it happen again. You’ve just go to play, and that’s what I am going to do.”
Bradford is convinced his knee “is going to be as strong as it ever was,” and he believes the leg will be back to normal by the time the season begins. “I do. I do. I really do,” he said. “Last year, I was as strong as I’ve ever been. By the time I’m cleared and I’m ready to go, when I’m cleared, I will be back to where I was.
“I think I will be as good as I have ever been playing the position. And playing for Chip excites me. I love being challenged. I want to soak up all of it.’’
* * *
The more Johnson spoke, the more he was buying stock in Kelly futures.
“I am a fan of Chip Kelly,” said Johnson, “and I will be a fan of Chip Kelly’s until he proves me wrong. I love his offense, I love his style, I love the nutrition stuff, love his practice schedule, love how he turns over the roster.”
It’s not a honeymoon in every precinct. Philadelphia’s doubting Kelly right now, and there’s still an outside chance he could shock the world and pick Mariota to be his guy at quarterback, should Mariota go tumbling down the draft board. But with the first game six months away, there will be plenty of time for apoplexy. Let’s enjoy one man gambling his future on a quarterback with a wounded knee.
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/03/16/sam-bradford-chip-kelly-jimmy-johnson-eagles-nfl/print/
Now for the craziest facet of the zany week we’ve just seen. Jimmy Johnson, who quietly has become a good sounding board for Philadelphia coach/franchise czar Chip Kelly, knows that when he watches Kelly operate he’s looking at an offensive version of himself from a quarter-century ago. And new Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford, who flies from his home in Oklahoma to Philadelphia this morning to get on a new rehab track for his left ACL injury, still needs to be pinched. Bitterness-free, Bradford can’t believe his good fortune.
My one point, apropos of nothing, that was cool from the conversation with Bradford: The same afternoon he got the news he’d been traded from St. Louis to Philadelphia, he texted his old college roommate from Oklahoma, DeMarco Murray, and the following exchange occurred (from Bradford’s memory Sunday night):
Bradford: “Just got traded to the Eagles. Come to Philly!”
Murray: “Yeah, we’re talking to them now.”
Bradford: “Don’t mess with me. Really?”
Murray: “Dead serious. Talking to them right now.”
The rest, of course, is angry Cowboy history.
* * *
Jimmy Johnson has advised Chip Kelly, and the new quarterback likes it.
A little history here: When Jimmy Johnson took over the Cowboys a quarter-century ago, he was Chip Kelly. College coach with a satchel of ideas he would bring to the big leagues—a small and fast defense, a willingness to trade in a league that hated trading (Dallas made 55 trades in his tenure), hubris, believing that what won in college could win in the NFL, and being married to no individual player or coach. It worked. Dallas won three Super Bowls, two with Johnson as coach and then one with Barry Switzer coaching Johnson’s players.
So here comes Kelly, with his own ideas the way Johnson had them. Big on sports science; running more plays than anyone in the league; a willingness to deal in a league warming to the idea of building through trades; hubris; believing that was won in college could win in the NFL; and being married to no one.
“You can’t be afraid to make moves. Chip’s not. So some of it is similar,” says Jimmy Johnson. “But there is one big difference: We were the worst team in the league, and people were ready for a big change.”
“Does Kelly remind you of you, 25 years ago?” I asked Johnson the other day.
“Well, in some ways,” Johnson said. “I really like what I have seen out of Chip Kelly. Chip called me and we visited a couple times, and what I heard from him, I liked. No one can say from the outside—right moves, wrong moves. You gotta let ’em play out. You won’t know until you see the results. I felt I was right when I did the things I did, but who knew? I traded away my starting quarterback, Steve Pelluer, to Kansas City. The leading receiver, I don’t remember his name [it was Ray Alexander] we got rid of. I talked to Danny White, and he retired. Then I traded Herschel Walker. You can’t be afraid to make moves. Chip’s not. So some of it is similar. But there is one big difference: We were the worst team in the league two years in a row [1988, 1989]. People were ready for a big change.
“The similarities? We’re both confident, both competent, both know how to win. We talked after he got the new responsibilities this year. I just said, ‘Go with people you believe in, and go with players who fit your personality and fit your system.’ I have talked to Bill Belichick about this too. Certain players are going to be successful in his system and not in others.”
The most controversial trade of them all last week was Bradford and a fourth-round pick to Philadelphia for Nick Foles and a second-round pick. Bradford’s played seven games in the past two years. He’s had two ACL tears to the same knee. By the time this season kicks off, he will have not played in a regular-season game for 22 months. That concerns most everyone who loves the Eagles. It also concerns Johnson.
“Well, with Bradford, the biggest concern I have, and the thing that concerned me with some players that I got burned on, is the injury factor. I remember I traded for [former University of Miami running back] Alonzo Highsmith, because I had great memories, and I did it against my doctor’s recommendations, and he wasn’t the same. So that’s my biggest concern, the health. I love Bradford, but is he gonna be on the field? But if he plays, I like him. Foles, his accuracy was a question. Bradford’s better at that, and it’s not even a questions if he’s healthy. I think Chip looked at Foles as not his guy.”
I asked Johnson if he got a sense in his talks with Kelly that he was going to be active in remaking his roster this off-season.
“Oh yeah,” Johnson said. “The last conversation was over an hour, going over everything. He was loading his guns.”
The Eagles won 10 games in Kelly’s first year, 2013. They won 10 games in his second year, 2014. And have zero playoff wins in his two seasons.
Not good enough.
So you’re Chip Kelly, and you look at the quarterback landscape, and this is what you see:
The quarterback you want, Marcus Mariota, going somewhere in the top five or six picks of the 2015 draft, and you’re picking 20th, and you know it’ll obliterate two drafts to have a chance to move up to get him.
Nick Foles, who had a very hot streak in 2013, but just isn’t accurate enough downfield for your taste.
A bunch of schmoes in free agency.
One interesting, but flawed, prospect: Sam Bradford, the first pick in the 2010 draft, who’d played for an offensively challenged team in St. Louis—and played but seven games in the past two seasons because he tore his left ACL in two straight seasons. Bradford was intriguing because he’d operated a fast-paced spread scheme at Oklahoma, and Kelly was playing a fast-paced spread scheme with the Eagles (though with some significant differences).
“From afar, it looks like a blast to play in the offense,” Bradford says. “I feel it’s similar to what I did at Oklahoma—playing fast, putting pressure on the D.”
Bradford told Philadelphia media last week he knew this trade had been in the works for three or four weeks. Bradford is polite and accommodating, almost to a fault. He says the right things the right way. But when we spoke Sunday night, he was almost giddy.
“Usually,” Bradford said from his home in Oklahoma City, “when you get to go to a new team, you’re going somewhere that’s rebuilding, or somewhere starting over. How often do you get to a team that’s won 10 games the last two years?
“From afar, it looks like a blast to play in the offense. I love the tempo, the mindset. They’re trying to score points every time they snap the ball. Very quarterback-friendly. The ball’s getting out quick, always places to go with the ball. If you’re getting heated up, there’s a place to go with it, always. Constantly putting pressure on the defense. I wish I had more knowledge of the offense to go into depth there. They’ve been top five in offense in both of his years there, and you don’t do that without creating a lot of explosive plays. It almost seems like they go short, short, short, almost lull you to sleep and then they’ll blow one by you. I feel it’s similar to what I did at Oklahoma—playing fast, putting pressure on the D.”
The MMQB Roundtable
The NFL is still reverberating from the frantic series of signings, trades and retirements that marked the official opening of the league year. Our staffers debate the reasons, look at who’s done well (Raiders!) and project what’s still to come
FULL STORY
Bradford flies from Oklahoma to Philadelphia today to start his second act. It’s a strange situation in this way: He tore his ACL in mid-season 2013 and went into rehab led by Reggie Scott, the Rams’ trainer. After tearing the same ACL again last August in a preseason game, he went back to work with Scott to rehab it all over again. And last Tuesday, after a rehab session with Scott at the Rams’ facility in suburban St. Louis, Bradford was told by coach Jeff Fisher that he’d been traded. Bradford was in his car going home when Kelly called to welcome him to the Eagles. They’d never spoken before. Bradford didn’t have a chance—and still hasn’t had one—to thank Scott for all the work he did with him for two years.
Now Bradford will be in the hands of new trainers and doctors. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but now he’ll be out of his comfort zone more in terms of rehab than he is with football.
As for that “injury-prone” label …
“I don’t think you let it bother you,” Bradford said. “The past two injuries, I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. I just think I’ve been unlucky. It just happened. You can’t say now, ‘I just want to make it through the year healthy.’ The more you think about it, the more danger you’re in for it happen again. You’ve just go to play, and that’s what I am going to do.”
Bradford is convinced his knee “is going to be as strong as it ever was,” and he believes the leg will be back to normal by the time the season begins. “I do. I do. I really do,” he said. “Last year, I was as strong as I’ve ever been. By the time I’m cleared and I’m ready to go, when I’m cleared, I will be back to where I was.
“I think I will be as good as I have ever been playing the position. And playing for Chip excites me. I love being challenged. I want to soak up all of it.’’
* * *
The more Johnson spoke, the more he was buying stock in Kelly futures.
“I am a fan of Chip Kelly,” said Johnson, “and I will be a fan of Chip Kelly’s until he proves me wrong. I love his offense, I love his style, I love the nutrition stuff, love his practice schedule, love how he turns over the roster.”
It’s not a honeymoon in every precinct. Philadelphia’s doubting Kelly right now, and there’s still an outside chance he could shock the world and pick Mariota to be his guy at quarterback, should Mariota go tumbling down the draft board. But with the first game six months away, there will be plenty of time for apoplexy. Let’s enjoy one man gambling his future on a quarterback with a wounded knee.
