For a quarterback who shares a meeting room with his successor, will likely have a new employer in a few months, is learning his fifth offensive system in seven years and has the scars from two significant surgeries on his knee, Sam Bradford could be forgiven if he had a cluttered mind.
But that hasn't been the case during the first week of Eagles training camp, and others around him have noticed _ both with the way he's playing and the way he's acting. When first-year offensive coordinator Frank Reich was asked what has impressed him about Bradford, he pointed to the quarterback's approach to football: "He keeps it really simple," Reich said.
"It's not because he has to. It's because that's the best way to play football," Reich continued. "You want to have a sophisticated understanding of everything but yet still keep it simple, and that's really what we try to teach and ingrain in the guys.
"When you teach a system and when you teach all the options that are available, you tell a quarterback, 'Here are all the options. Here are the progression. Here are all the protection checks.' But his job is to keep it simple."
Bradford interpreted this as making sure he does not "overcomplicate things." He said he plays better when he's reacting instead of thinking.
"I think this position, obviously you're in charge of making decisions every play, and there are a lot of different variables that affect that decision," Bradford said. "But if you can keep it as simple as possible when you get to the line of scrimmage and not overcomplicate things and put a million thoughts in your hand, I think it kind of frees you up to react."
Bradford said this is partly the byproduct of experience. He conceded last summer that when he first came into the league he tried too often to be "perfect." His mind would wrestle with an incompletion. In fact, Bradford used the same term last September that Reich used Monday _ "just keep it simple" _ when explaining how he's grown in his career.
He said Monday he's learned "not to let thoughts get into your head" and has realized he won't always have the perfect read or perfect throw. What might be interpreted as a tendency to check down Bradford views as not overthinking the play or the situation.
"Getting a completion here, getting a completion there, finding a check down, those are good plays," Bradford said. "Plays that get you in second and 2. That's a lot better than trying to make a perfect throw on first and 10. Now you're stuck in second and 10. I think that's kind of a natural progression of things you work on throughout your career."
Wide receiver Jordan Matthews, who is close with Bradford, said Bradford understands to take the play that is available. He'll throw downfield "if there's a play to be made," but he'll otherwise focus on limiting mistakes.
And it extends beyond the field, too. Matthews said coaches must deal with "so much" it helps to have a quarterback who carries himself in a way that doesn't cause concern. That's why it was so noteworthy when Bradford skipped some of the offseason workouts after the draft. It wasn't just a starting quarterback who was absent. It was out of character for a player whose calm approach would have been useful in such a situation.
That has since been forgiven and perhaps even forgotten.
"A guy like Sam, who, with all this stuff going on, is still the same? You love that. We love that," Matthews said. "That's what you need on a football team. You need to deflate all outside distractions and anything that's trying to be made like a big deal outside this locker room, it always goes to the head. And the head is Sam Bradford. When that guy is calm, cool, and collected and keeps it simple ... it's just good for us."
That has been apparent with the way Bradford is dealing with the Carson Wentz hoopla this summer. At the public practice Monday, Bradford signed autographs and had a favorable reception. But he knew the fans wanted to see Wentz. He said he understands the excitement, and he was not bothered by it. Bradford is the clear starting quarterback and aware of the tenuous nature of his job. He's reminded himself to not let it clutter his mind.
"There's a million other things going on outside this building and outside this team that I, and no one else in this locker room, has control of," Bradford said. "So really just controlling what I had the power to control."
