PHILADELPHIA -- Let’s start with the fact that we won’t necessarily know today whether the Philadelphia Eagles have decided to use the franchise tag on quarterback Sam Bradford. Teams are allowed to apply franchise or transition tags on players from this afternoon until March 1.

The Eagles could apply the tag beginning at 4 p.m. If they decide to use it, they could still choose to wait until the deadline.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, a certifiably smart guy, argued today that the Eagles should not tag Bradford. It was part of Barnwell’s list of five offseason suggestions for every NFC East team. I suggest reading his reasoning, but I will go ahead and continue the debate that unofficially began when I recommended using the tag.

Barnwell’s point that the $20 million franchise tag is too much is perfectly valid. But the salary cap is going up roughly $10 million from last year and salaries are growing as well. It used to be that a $20 million salary meant Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning. That’s changing quickly.

The Eagles could apply the franchise tag to Sam Bradford as early as this afternoon. AP Photo/Matt Ludtke

It is interesting that Barnwell suggests the Eagles replace Bradford with Kansas City Chiefs backup Chase Daniel. Daniel has spent the last three years working for Doug Pederson, so there is a natural fit there.

But let’s look at this another way.

Why would a team want a former No. 1 overall draft pick who was deemed expendable by his original team? That describes Bradford well enough. But it also describes Alex Smith, the starter in Kansas City.

Smith was the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. He started for the San Francisco 49ers for seven years. During those seasons, Smith missed 27 games because of injuries. He had shoulder problems but also missed games because of a thumb injury and a concussion.

Bradford was the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. He started for the St. Louis Rams for five years. Bradford missed 31 games because of injuries. The most serious were the two tears to his left ACL, which cost him nine games in 2013 and the entire 2014 season.

Smith didn’t play in a playoff game until after his sixth season. Bradford has played six seasons without reaching the playoffs.

The 49ers, with Colin Kaepernick emerging as a star, decided to trade Smith in 2013. The Chiefs gave up two second-round picks (one in 2013, the other in 2014) for Smith.

The Rams traded Bradford to the Eagles last year for quarterback Nick Foles and a 2016 second-round pick.

In his three seasons with the Chiefs, Smith has gone to the playoffs twice. His postseason record is 1-2.

Bradford and Smith seem like fairly comparable players, from their draft status to their injury history to their relatively slow-starting careers.

The Chiefs have Smith, now 31, starting ahead of Daniel. Daniel has started two games in his three seasons as Smith’s backup. He lost a start in 2013 and won one in 2014. He did not start a game in 2015.

If Daniel was a young, up-and-coming talent, it might be appealing to sign him as a free agent. But Daniel is a year older than Bradford. He has played less football than Bradford during the last three seasons without tearing his ACL. Daniel is 6-foot, which makes him four inches shorter than Bradford.

That doesn’t mean that Daniel can’t be a good starting quarterback. It just means there is absolutely no evidence that he is a good starting quarterback.

While Daniel would certainly cost a lot less than Bradford, it may be a case where the Eagles would be getting what they pay for.

One of the points I made in the earlier post about tagging Bradford was that it would allow the Eagles to hold on to Bradford while exploring other options. That includes Daniel and other potential veterans like Robert Griffin III and Brock Osweiler.

The most important consideration is whether the quarterback is one that Pederson believes in and wants to work with. It may be that Pederson has reviewed game tapes and decided that Bradford does not meet those criteria. And that’s fine. It would be better to acknowledge that and find an alternative than to spend $20 million on a guy the coach doesn’t connect with.

But it should also be acknowledged that Bradford is more likely to be as good as, or better than, Alex Smith than Chase Daniel is.