Sam Bradford - Former coaches see perfect fit with Chip Kelly
By Paul Domowitch | Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, June 12, 2015
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.
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.
Kelly's offense, like Wilson's, accentuates many of the things Bradford does best. Both Wilson and Stoops said he processes information faster than anyone they've ever seen, which is a huge plus in a tempo offense.
"He's unbelievably smart," said Wilson, who left Oklahoma in 2011 to take the head coaching job at the University of Indiana. "He can handle a lot mentally. As an athlete, he's very good. But he's got as quick a mind as anybody I've ever seen. So he can process."
"The guy was almost a 4.0 in finance," Stoops said. "It tells you he can process information. I know book-smart and football-smart can be different. But in his case, he's really smart on the football field, too."
Bradford isn't a robot. He knows how to ad-lib when things break down. Wilson still remembers a play he made against the University of Miami in just his second game as the Sooners' starter in '07.
"We put in a little goal-line pass that we felt would work to one of our top receivers, Malcolm Kelly," he said. "We worked on it in practice a lot. In the game, when we ran the play, though, Malcolm wasn't open. So Sam threw the ball to the fullback in the flat.
"I remember thinking at the time, that's pretty great because we hadn't practiced it that way one time. And here he was, in just his second game as a redshirt freshman and thinking on his feet and proving he can handle a lot."
Kelly has made it clear that he puts a high premium on intelligence, and there's no position where that is more critical than quarterback. Particularly in a tempo offense where you're running a play every 22 seconds.
"Because of the no-huddle and some of the communication, sometimes you have to do some things where some players can get weighted down in the communication process," Wilson said.
"But Sam's mind is so quick, that's something that doesn't hold him down. I think he can mentally do a lot of things where the ability to mentally play in the no-huddle, it's not just reading defenses. But you're going so fast. Not only is Sam smart, he's extremely quick-minded. That's a great skill-set that he has."
Bradford, 27, has been in the NFL for five seasons. It could have been six, but he passed on the 2009 draft and stayed at Oklahoma an extra year after the Sooners lost to Tim Tebow's Florida Gators in the BCS championship game in January of '09.
"He would've gone pretty high (in the '09 draft)," Wilson said. "Probably No. 1. He came back, not so much to help his (draft) stock, but to try to compete for another national title.
"He came back for the team and not for himself. More because he was a good teammate and a good team leader than it was about him. I think that's why he'll be good in Philadelphia. Because it's never about Sam. If he stays healthy, I think he's going to do really well there with Chip."
By Paul Domowitch | Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, June 12, 2015
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.
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.
Kelly's offense, like Wilson's, accentuates many of the things Bradford does best. Both Wilson and Stoops said he processes information faster than anyone they've ever seen, which is a huge plus in a tempo offense.
"He's unbelievably smart," said Wilson, who left Oklahoma in 2011 to take the head coaching job at the University of Indiana. "He can handle a lot mentally. As an athlete, he's very good. But he's got as quick a mind as anybody I've ever seen. So he can process."
"The guy was almost a 4.0 in finance," Stoops said. "It tells you he can process information. I know book-smart and football-smart can be different. But in his case, he's really smart on the football field, too."
Bradford isn't a robot. He knows how to ad-lib when things break down. Wilson still remembers a play he made against the University of Miami in just his second game as the Sooners' starter in '07.
"We put in a little goal-line pass that we felt would work to one of our top receivers, Malcolm Kelly," he said. "We worked on it in practice a lot. In the game, when we ran the play, though, Malcolm wasn't open. So Sam threw the ball to the fullback in the flat.
"I remember thinking at the time, that's pretty great because we hadn't practiced it that way one time. And here he was, in just his second game as a redshirt freshman and thinking on his feet and proving he can handle a lot."
Kelly has made it clear that he puts a high premium on intelligence, and there's no position where that is more critical than quarterback. Particularly in a tempo offense where you're running a play every 22 seconds.
"Because of the no-huddle and some of the communication, sometimes you have to do some things where some players can get weighted down in the communication process," Wilson said.
"But Sam's mind is so quick, that's something that doesn't hold him down. I think he can mentally do a lot of things where the ability to mentally play in the no-huddle, it's not just reading defenses. But you're going so fast. Not only is Sam smart, he's extremely quick-minded. That's a great skill-set that he has."
Bradford, 27, has been in the NFL for five seasons. It could have been six, but he passed on the 2009 draft and stayed at Oklahoma an extra year after the Sooners lost to Tim Tebow's Florida Gators in the BCS championship game in January of '09.
"He would've gone pretty high (in the '09 draft)," Wilson said. "Probably No. 1. He came back, not so much to help his (draft) stock, but to try to compete for another national title.
"He came back for the team and not for himself. More because he was a good teammate and a good team leader than it was about him. I think that's why he'll be good in Philadelphia. Because it's never about Sam. If he stays healthy, I think he's going to do really well there with Chip."
