Bradford, Eagles could be a long-term fit

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Sam Bradford isn't thinking about his future.

The Philadelphia Eagles are locked in a three-way tie for first place in a mediocre NFC East, so Bradford is hoping to lead a team to the playoffs for the first time in his career.

There's plenty of time to discuss his contract after the season.

Bradford is making $13 million in the final year of the rookie deal he signed after St. Louis drafted him No. 1 overall in 2010. He'll be a free agent after this season and coach Chip Kelly already said the team wants to keep him.

''I don't really think that means a whole lot and that's not going to change the way I approach things,'' Bradford said. ''I'm sure I'll pay more attention to that stuff in the offseason.''

Bradford has improved since the start of the season, and the Eagles (6-7) are 6-2 in the last eight games he's started and finished. He missed 2 1/2 games with a shoulder injury and concussion, and the Eagles lost all three games.

''I'm starting to see the things in him that I remember seeing when he was a rookie,'' offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. ''It takes a while to come back from what he went through (two ACL operations), and he's getting more and more used to the way we're doing things.''

Bradford isn't the ideal quarterback to fit Kelly's up-tempo offense because he isn't a threat to run, so zone-read plays don't work. But he has the accuracy to thrive in this system.

''I do like it here,'' Bradford said. ''Obviously, it's a lot different than anywhere I've ever been before.''

Kelly has used four starting quarterbacks in his three seasons in Philly. He realizes stability at the position is important.

''This is a quarterback-driven league, and when you have a team that's been very successful for an extended period of time, usually it's because there's stability at the quarterback position,'' Kelly said.

Bradford has played for three head coaches, so he prefers to stay with one team for a while.

''If you look around, a lot of the guys who are playing at a high level have been in their systems for a while and have gotten really comfortable with what they're doing,'' he said. ''I would hope if I were in this system for multiple years, I would get more comfortable and we could really kind of tailor it and get it nailed down to what we were really good at.''

A strong performance and a victory over the Cardinals (11-2) on Sunday night would go a long way toward proving Bradford can win big games. If so, he might stick around with Kelly.

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