Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford sat down with Comcast SportsNet's Quick Slants crew this week and talked about a wide range of topics, including his newest wide receiver, his relationship with Carson Wentz, his comfort level with Zach Ertz and Jordan Matthews, his eventful offseason and much more.

Here’s a transcript of Bradford’s talk with Derrick Gunn and Reuben Frank after practice on Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex.

Quick Slants: You’ve got a new big target to throw to in 6-foot-5 Dorial Green-Beckham. What does he give you?

Sam Bradford: “You know, as a quarterback, I think I’m greedy. I want as many wide receivers, as many targets as possible. Obviously, I think, like you said, he has a lot of potential. I still don’t really know a whole lot about him, but what I have heard has been really good. So I’m just excited to get him here, get him around the guys and try to get him caught up to speed."

Quick Slants: One thing Dorial Green-Beckham gives you is a guy who can go down the field. He averaged 17.2 yards a catch last year, which was sixth-highest in the league and highest among rookies. How much does that help you having a guy like that who can run the go route and get down the field and make big plays?

Sam Bradford: “As many of those guys that we can have on this offense, I think the better. You’re always looking for ways to create explosive plays. If you’ve only got one of those guys, defenses tend to know where he is, but you know, I think if we can have a couple of those deep threats, I think if we can create explosive plays from a variety of different positions and different concepts, I think it’s going to make it tough for defenses to defend."

Quick Slants: In the preseason opener, you only played three snaps. How much would you like to play Thursday night against the Steelers and how much extended time do the starters need to play to get in a rhythm?

Sam Bradford: “You know, I think the biggest thing to me is that we find that rhythm. I’m not sure how many plays that takes, I’m not sure how many plays we need. But, you know, I’d really like to see us come out and establish a nice rhythm in both the run game and the pass game. Obviously, I think just the mechanics of getting the play call in, getting to the line of scrimmage quickly, just being as efficient as possible with all of our pre-snap mechanics. I think that’s really kind of what I’m looking to see Thursday night."

Quick Slants: It’s been an interesting offseason for you, a lot happened. But during training camp you had a real sense of calm about you. Your mantra has been “only worry about things I can control.” It’s easy to say and sometimes hard to do. How tough has it been to adopt that mantra and live day to day by it?

Sam Bradford: “It really hasn’t been that tough at all, to be honest. You know, I think this year it’s been a lot easier for me, just in the sense that last year I didn’t get to participate in OTAs. I was new here. I was still kind of trying to establish my place in the locker room. I was still trying to get to know the guys. Whereas here I’m very comfortable with the guys in that locker room. Even though it’s a new offense, I feel comfortable with what we’re trying to do schematically. So, I think from that standpoint, it’s been pretty easy, you know, to adopt that mantra."

Quick Slants: You’re in somewhat of a unique situation. You go to meetings, practices, film study with a guy who, eventually, could replace you. How do you control the competitive edge of trying to go out there being the best that you can be so that he doesn’t get on the field, yet being the best mentor you can possibly be to him?

Sam Bradford: “You know, I just try to be myself. Carson’s a great kid, he really is a good guy to have in our quarterback room. I think everyone in that room has learned a lot from just watching the other guys on tape, in practice. But I think it just goes back to that question right there. I try to control what I can control. And I go out every day just trying to make this football team better, trying to be a better quarterback than I was the day before. And I think as long as I do that, things will take care of themselves."

Quick Slants: Carson’s going through, I’m sure, a frustrating time for him right now. He won’t play in Pittsburgh, probably won’t play in Indianapolis, could play against the Jets. But he’s missing valuable time. As a guy who’s been through a couple injuries yourself, what’s your message to him, what’s your advice to him to help him get through this?

Sam Bradford: “Obviously any time you’re banged up it’s frustrating because you want to be out there with the guys. You put so much work in, and to have it taken away, to not be able to be out there, is tough. But just staying plugged in mentally. Obviously, not being able to get the physical reps is tough. But I think he’s done a good job of coming to practice, staying plugged in and being involved, trying to get as much on the mental side as he can, and I think that’s really all you can do when you’re not able to participate."

Quick Slants: We all have certain things in life where we go, if we could do it all over again, we might do it a little bit differently. So with that said, you go back to the spring, you find out the Eagles move up to No. 2. As you look back on it now, is there anything you would’ve done differently to handle that situation?

Sam Bradford: “No. Like I said before, at the time, I trust my agent (Tom Condon), and I feel like he’s one of the best there is out there. I’ve trusted him from Day 1. He felt like the best decision at that time was to do what we did. Obviously, it didn’t work out great as far as some of the fans. But I trust Tom and I will continue to trust him.”

Quick Slants: Let’s talk about your career a little bit. You’re going into Year No. 7 and you’re going into offensive coordinator No. 5. Brian Schottenheimer is probably the only guy you’ve had for more than one year in a row. How much do you think that’s held you back? Is there a positive aspect in that you’ve been exposed to a lot of different schemes and systems? How beneficial for your career do you think it would be to kind of be in the same system for a long period of time?

Sam Bradford: “You know, obviously it’s frustrating. I think any time you over start with a new offense you take a little bit of a step back just because you have to learn essentially a new language, a new way to communicate. Especially early in my career, some of the offenses were quite different from each other, so they were almost completely different from a schematic standpoint. But, I think on the positive side, I’ve seen a lot of football, I’ve seen a lot of different schemes, so I feel like I have a lot of knowledge about a lot of different things. But I go back to my second and third years in St. Louis and those were really probably the best I’ve ever felt on the field, especially that preseason of the third year with Schotty (Schottenheimer) before I got hurt in Cleveland. It just seemed like the third year we had a lot of the basic points of the offense down, so Day 1 of training camp was spent on the finer details of the offense. And I think any time you can do that, I think it’s easier on everyone else. But, that’s just kind of how it is and you just kind of have to roll with it.”

Quick Slants: You seem to be more at ease, more comfortable. Is it because of the health, is it because you’re more familiar with your teammates, why are we seeing a happier Sam Bradford in training camp?

Sam Bradford: “I think it’s a little bit of both to be honest. From a health standpoint, at this time last year, I was still battling a little bit of my knee, it wasn’t quite 100 percent. It was obviously still good enough to play, but it still didn’t feel great. Like I said a minute ago, I was still trying to figure out my place here. I hadn’t been able to participate in OTAs, I hadn’t been able to practice, it was a completely new offense, so I think there was just a lot of anxiety last year, whereas this year I just feel much more comfortable here.”

Quick Slants: Let’s talk about the second half of last year, starting with that second Dallas game, from Week 8 to Week 16. You completed 68 percent of your passes, your 97.0 passer rating was eighth-best in the league. Ten touchdowns, four interceptions, you threw for 280 yards a game. It was probably the best stretch of your career over a long period. Do you feel like you’re kind of starting over now or are there things you can take from that that’ll help you begin the season as sharp as you were that second half of last year?

Sam Bradford: “I hope we pick up right where we left off in the second half of the year. Obviously, with a new system, I think it’s going to be tough to do that, just being realistic. But I think going through this process with these guys, I think already having developed chemistry with the guys on the outside and the guys inside at tight end and running back, hopefully it doesn’t take long for us to get this rolling. Hopefully, as soon as we get out there, we can kind of pick up where we left off last year.”

Quick Slants: Sam, you’ve talked about being able to audible in Doug Pederson’s offense, something you didn’t get to do much of last year. Does that make you a better all-around quarterback having that leeway?

Sam Bradford: “I hope so. Obviously, like I’ve talked about, you hope that you don’t have to come to the line and audible. If we’re audibling every play, then something has gone wrong during our week of preparation and with our gameplan. But, having the ability to change the play at the line of scrimmage, having the ability to get out of a bad play, hopefully it’s going to eliminate some of the negative plays that really kind of set us behind the sticks last year. So hopefully we’ll be able to keep ourselves ahead of the chains. And when you’re playing from second and two, third and two, there’s a lot more plays that you can call and the defense is always guessing.”

Quick Slants: Let’s talk about Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz, because they were two guys that you, especially in the second half, developed a tremendous chemistry with last year. Jordan hasn’t been out here this training camp, but how good is it as a quarterback to have two guys like that you just know that like third and six, that big play, the red zone, whatever it is, crucial time, that they’re going to be out there with you?

Sam Bradford: “Really comforting. Obviously, as a quarterback, that’s really what you’re looking for. And those two guys just do a great job flattening out routes, staying friendly for me. Like you said, I felt like toward the end of the year last year, we were all really on the same page as far as what I was expecting, where they were expecting the ball. And on third down and in the red zone, that’s how it’s got to be. I’ve got to trust them to win, I have to make sure the ball has to come out a little bit quicker, and it’s on them a little bit quicker, so I think we have to be on the same page. And those guys are really consistent in what they do. And they work extremely hard too, I think that’s really what makes both of those players so good, it’s the extra time they put in.”

Quick Slants: Sam, final question to you. You don’t get involved in a lot of social media stuff, Twitter, Instagram, like a lot of people out there do. Why do you stay away from that stuff?

Sam Bradford: “Man, there’s a lot of other things I would probably rather do in my free time than be on social media. It’s one of those things, it’s not like there aren’t good things that can come from social media because I think that there are people who use the platforms to send good messages, but you just hear a lot of bad stories about social media and the negative impacts it can have on people, and so I just kind of choose to stay away from it.”