In only two seasons as Eagles coach, Chip Kelly has been able to get blood out of a stone (or at least solid fantasy production out of the mediocre quarterbacks on the Eagles). Michael Vick and Mark Sachez were both first round picks that had fallen from grace when the Eagles picked them up, while Nick Foles was a third rounder that was drafted during the Andy Reid regime in Phlly.
Kelly was able to make a relatively satisfying chicken salad with chicken scratch, and he hopes to perfect the recipe with former No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford.
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Despite being hampered with a below-average offensive line and an offensive coordinator with a limited imagination, Bradford was actually playing well back when we last saw him in 2013. The Rams QB put up 241 yards per game and had scored 14 touchdowns, compared to four interceptions.
Those numbers may not seem like much, but given the talent and coaching that surrounded him in St. Louis, Bradford was seen as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate. But a torn ACL in the fourth quarter of a 30-15 loss to the Panthers ended his season. Bradford would tear the same ACL in training camp of 2014, which caused the Rams to send him packing for Philadelphia.
Bradford's biggest question mark is clearly his health. Quarterbacks coming back from two ACL injuries to the same knee are far and few between, with one frightening tale (cough, RG III). But Bradford has already been cleared to participate at training camp and has the physical abilities of a player that was drafted first overall. Plug that talent in with a system that carried Nick Foles to a 27:2 touchdown to interception ratio in only 13 games, and you have yourself a chance to hit big with a QB1.
I wouldn't recommend drafting Bradford as your starting quarterback. Instead I would take a flier on him late in drafts, stash him on the bench, and hope he blossoms into the player he should have been in St. Louis (while holding your breath that Bradford stays healthy). If history tells us anything, it's that the quarterbacks of the famed Chip Kelly System outperform their talent for fantasy owners.
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