OKLAHOMA CITY – Bob Stoops thinks Chip Kelly and Sam Bradford are going to make beautiful music together.

He thinks Bradford fits Kelly's tempo offense like peanut butter fits jelly, like Melissa McCarthy fits a Paul Feig script.

"I think Sam fits everything about what Chip wants to do," the University of Oklahoma coach said. "He's an incredible athlete who, because of injuries, hasn't been able to demonstrate it yet.

"He's just incredible at making good decisions. He's got uncanny accuracy that I have never seen, at least not in the college game. And he throws on the run well. And he's a better athlete in space than he's given credit for.

"Just running and moving. He's not going to make anybody miss him, but I'm just saying, the fluid athlete out there running and throwing the ball, he can do it."

Obviously, there is a big "if" here. If he can stay healthy. He's torn the ACL in his left knee twice in the last two years, most recently last August.

He is on schedule for a full recovery, and orthopedic experts insist he is no more at risk to tear the ACL again than a guy who has never had the injury.

MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff photographer

But when your team hasn't won an NFL title in 55 years, well, you tend to become a devout believer in Murphy's Law, which is why most Eagles fans have kept their emotional distance from Bradford since the March 10 trade. They don't want to get their hopes up only to have him get carried off the field in September.

The tempo spread offense Bradford ran at Oklahoma isn't identical to Kelly's offense. But it has a lot of similar concepts. Eight years ago, Kelly, then the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon, even flew down to Oklahoma to visit with Stoops and his offensive coaches.

"Sam was here then and Chip came by and watched a full day of practice and spent some time with our staff," Stoops said. "So, I knew he knew first-hand what Sam was capable of, having seen it in person.

"That was my first thought (when the Eagles traded for Bradford). I remembered when he was here watching us and watching Sam."

Bradford had an exceptional career at OU in then-offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson's offense. Threw 88 touchdown passes and just 16 interceptions in 31 games. Completed nearly 68 percent of his passes and averaged 9.4 yards per attempt.

He never came close to matching those numbers in his five seasons with the Rams. But a lot of that had to do with the scarcity of talent around him in St. Louis and, of course, the injuries.