NFL

Sam Bradford, Who's Never Been an Above-Average Quarterback in the NFL, Is Now Demanding a Trade

Now that the Eagles are more than likely taking a quarterback in the draft, Sam Bradford wants out. And it's cute and hilarious.

Sam Bradford is angry.

After being traded to the Eagles last offseason, Bradford was ready to start fresh. He was ready to move on from his injury-riddled, mediocre days in St. Louis. He was ready to live up to the hype that surrounded him coming out of college.

Fast forward about a year, and Sam Bradford is angry. He's angry because he probably thinks he didn't get a big enough chance to prove himself, and the Eagles -- well, the Eagles made a move last week that essentially said, "Hey, Sam, you're not our guy."

That led to the following report this morning:


Anyone can understand why Bradford's a little upset, but when you dig into what's actually happening here, it's kind of laughable.

Bradford's yet to do anything really meaningful in his NFL career. Yes, he won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2010, but that was also during a season of little competition.

The truth is, Bradford hasn't had a single NFL season where his per drop back numbers are above average. Seriously.

According to our Net Expected Points (NEP) metric -- which you can read more about in our  glossary -- Bradford's best season came last year, where his per drop back Passing NEP rate was 0.08. That may appear good if you assume average is zero, but it's not. Last season, the average Passing NEP per drop back rate among passers was 0.11. (Passing is more efficient than rushing, which is why this number is continually on the rise.)

Here's a look at his entire career versus how the league -- all quarterbacks -- performed.

Year Passing NEP Per Drop Back League Average
2010 -29.04 -0.05 0.05
2011 -70.05 -0.18 0.01
2012 10.10 0.02 0.06
2013 -1.02 0.00 0.07
2015 43.40 0.08 0.11


Sure, he can demand a trade. He can say that he wants out of Philly -- I'm sure he does. But Bradford's a little delusional if he thinks he's deserving of yet another shot.