The trade for Sam Bradford has to be part of a move to get Marcus Mariota, right? Just has to.

Or does it?

You and I see Sam Bradford as the guy who tore his ACL in October 2013 and then against last August. We see the guy who failed to look like a franchise QB in St. Louis. To us, while Bradford might be a great guy, he’s been a disappointment since being the top overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

It is very possible Chip Kelly sees something different.

Let’s go back to Bradford the college star. He absolutely deserved to be the top pick. While at Oklahoma in 2008, the Sooners set the NCAA record for points in a season and most games scoring 60 or more points in a row. Bradford had some good pieces around him, but he was spectacular at running OU’s up-tempo attack.

Bradford was used as a pocket passer at OU, but was more athletic than most gave him credit for. He had a strong arm and was an accurate passer. Bradford looked like the total package. He had NFL size. He was a skilled passer. Bradford was athletic enough. He had no character issues. This is a guy you wanted to build your franchise around.

Life hasn’t been so good in the NFL. Bradford played for a highly dysfunctional offense. As a rookie, his top 2 receivers were Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson (Eagles castoffs). His LT was Rodger Saffold. Peyton Manning stepped onto a field with Marvin Harrison, Marshall Faulk and Tarik Glenn. See the difference?

The Rams tried to fix the offense each year, but struggled to add good pieces. WR Brandon Lloyd was the offensive weapon Bradford got in his 2nd year. Andy Reid didn’t give Donovan McNabb star receivers, but he always had a good OL and TE.

Beyond lesser skill players and poor blocking, Bradford has played for very conservative coaches. Pat Shurmur was Bradford’s OC when he got drafted. Shurmur got the head job in Cleveland a year later and Josh McDaniels took over for a season. Then Brian Schottenheimer ran the offense from 2012-14. Bradford hasn’t come close to playing in an offense like the one from Oklahoma.

Bradford put up okay numbers. In 2012 he had a rating of 82.6 and threw for 21 TDs. In 2013 he finished with a rating of 90.9. Those don’t seem great, but remember who was blocking and who was catching. Isaac Bruce and Orlando Pace were long since gone.

Some high picks fail to show they can play at all. Jamarcus Russell was awful. Joey Harrington never threw 20 TD passes in a year or had a rating of 80 or more. Blaine Gabbert was awful. Vince Young was highly erratic in his bizarre career. And so on. Bradford hasn’t lived up to his draft status, but he’s better than those players.

You wonder if Bradford could have a similar situation to Alex Smith. Smith played on a bad offense from 2005-2010. Injuries, poor coaching and little talent around him were too much for Smith to overcome. Then Jim Harbaugh came to town. Smith played much better in 2011 and 2012. He’s now the starter in KC and has had good success there.

Bradford is bigger and stronger than Smith. He has a better arm. Bradford isn’t as mobile, though. If given the right coaching, put in the right system and surrounded by the right talent, you wonder if Bradford could have a similar career rebirth.

It seems like Kelly is guessing that could happen. Part of success is in the NFL is due to character and work ethic. Shurmur coached Bradford for a year. I’m sure Kelly is leaning heavily on what Shurmur says about Bradford the person.

Even if Bradford is a smart, hard-working guy who still has untapped talent, there is the question of injuries. As Kelly himself likes to say…the number one ability is durability. Bradford has played in 49 of 80 possible career games. Even Kelly would have to admit this is an issue. But look around the NFC East. RG3 has dealt with injuries since getting to the NFL. Tony Romo has a bad back. Nick Foles got hurt each of his 3 years. Eli is the only player who can stay healthy. Finding talented, durable QBs is easier said than done.

Back to Foles…this would seem to show that Kelly simply didn’t believe in him. There is no denying that Foles regressed from 2013 to 2014. The question is why and if the regression is permanent. Time will tell. Kelly did not like what he was seeing.

If you’re Kelly and heading into Year 3, you need some real answers. If you didn’t like Foles, who were you going to get? There are not great QB options. Bradford was available. He is a high-risk, high-reward player. Kelly liked what he saw and must have felt this was a good gamble.

I’ve written previously that you must take risks in order to build a great team. Jimmy Johnson traded away his best player (Herschel Walker) for draft picks. Bill Belichick traded Drew Bledsoe, his franchise’s greatest QB. Pete Carroll traded for Marshawn Lynch at a time when he wasn’t playing well and couldn’t stay out of trouble. Sean Payton acquired Drew Brees when his shoulder was a huge concern and no one knew if he could play, let alone play well.

Chip Kelly has taken plenty of risks in the past couple of weeks. They could help build the Eagles into an elite team or they could end up being a series of disasters that will hurt the team for several years. Only time will tell.

Forget whether you like this deal or not. Focus on trying to understand it. I hated Jeff Fisher getting passed over for Rich Kotite. I hated Reggie White leaving in free agency. I loved drafting Barry Gardner. I loved drafting Ryan Moats.

We’ve got our feelings. We’re going to be right and wrong over time. Kelly is putting his reputation into this move. He’s got something more than an opinion on the line. That doesn’t mean the move will work, but understand there is a lot of thought and effort that went into this. Kelly didn’t wake up today and do the move for the heck of it. He sees this as something that can really help the Eagles.

I hope he’s right.

Bradford isn’t a bust, but you can’t label his career so far anything other than disappointing. Kelly thinks playing behind a good OL in an aggressive system will change that. The 2015 Eagles will be the most talented roster Bradford has ever been on. This will be Bradford’s chance to show the world he can stay healthy and play at a high level.

This will also be the most pressure Bradford has had to deal with. He’s now the QB of a team with a rabid fan base and one that expects to win. And he’s got the NFL future of Kelly and himself riding on his 2015 performance.

What a crazy start to the offseason.

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Tim McManus wrote something pretty great recently.

Some of the qualities that make Kelly attractive and successful are the same ones that make him dangerous. He’s an original thinker and a risk-taker. He has strong convictions and he pushes through resistance and at times conventional wisdom to stay true to those convictions. That allows him to break new ground, but at times might send him to land that more experienced men know to be infertile.

Kelly’s approach has worked very well for him for the most part to date, and from that you can draw confidence. He has a history that suggests if you allow him artistic license, he can create something pretty special. But this is a new realm for him, and he’ll have to find and toe the line that separates bold from reckless. As long as he operates in that space, it will never be an easy, comfortable ride. But it will be entertaining.

Dead on the money.

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Some people are holding out hope this move helps with a trade up for Mariota. That’s not the feeling I’m getting, but here is Jimmy Bama with a theory.

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