Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins thinks Sam Bradford can be a Super Bowl winning quarterback.
"If you protect Sam and give him weapons to use," Jenkins said on Philly Sports Talk, via CSN Philly. "I think he can be one of those quarterbacks to win a championship."
Jenkins added: "I think it was kind of a tale of two seasons for Sam. Early, especially in the first half of the season, I don't know how comfortable he was in the locker room or being in the role of the leader on the team when he had just gotten here."
The weird thing about hearing this from Jenkins, who seems to have been the voice of reason all along.
During the Chip Kelly fiasco, especially in the moments after his firing when it was open season among Eagles players, Jenkins was the one keeping a level head and providing some of the more reasonable assessments on what went down. He also was the one asking other players to hold themselves accountable, which is exactly what a quarterback should be doing.
Jenkins is again flashing his leadership ability here, though it's hard to know what he -- or any player in that locker room right now -- truly believes when it comes to Bradford.
The evaluations on Bradford coming out of college were so tantalizing that no one can seem to get past his total body of work, even if that body of work came between serious ACL injuries and two relatively underwhelming football teams. In many ways, this season could be the best evaluation year for Bradford, as the second year after an ACL tear is typically the one where players return to form.
If Philadelphia does not use the franchise tag, the only problem is cost. How much can Philly spend to see if Jenkins is right?
