NFL exec: 'Chip Kelly is the one guy who can make Bradford a success'

The Philadelphia Eagles caught a lot of people by surprise with their decision to trade for oft-injured quarterback Sam Bradford, including NFL executives.

"I understand they gave up on (Nick) Foles. But I don't know why they're building up Bradford so much. I'm still confused about that whole deal," one anonymous NFL executive told Mark Eckel of NJ.com. "You can only talk about him being the first pick of the draft (in 2010) for so long. What has he done since then?"

Bradford won the 2010 Offensive Rookie of the Year award after setting rookie records for completions (354) and attempts (590), and finishing second in NFL history among rookies with 3,512 passing yards. But the years that followed were less impressive.

In his five seasons with the St. Louis Rams, Bradford went 18-30-1 while completing 58.6 percent of his passes and posting a 59-to-38 touchdown-to interception ratio. He's also recovering from his second torn ACL in as many years.

Despite his confusion over the trade, the aforementioned executive believes Eagles head coach Chip Kelly offers Bradford the best chance to succeed.

"If Bradford had gone anywhere else you wouldn't even be talking about him," the exec said. "He's been hurt the past two years and even when he was healthy, he was just average. But he's with Chip Kelly, so there's hope I guess. Chip Kelly is the one guy who can make Bradford a success.''

Asked about Mark Sanchez, who's competing with Bradford for the starting job, the executive had this to say: "I mean you know what you're getting with Sanchez. He's certainly had higher highs in his career than Bradford has.''

Sanchez has had his fair share of struggles, too, and Kelly said it's imperative that the best players start for the Eagles. That said, if there's one thing Sanchez proved last season, it's that Kelly knows how to get the most out of his quarterbacks.