Eagles new quarterback Sam Bradford came out onto the Nova Care Complex field this afternoon and immediately started doing a high knee jog. The high knee drill is a way to strengthen the stomach muscles and hip flexors which allow you to raise your legs. I could see that he still needs to add more strength to his injured leg because he drags it a bit when he walks. That’s to be expected at this time in his recuperation process.
“I think I get more comfortable out here every day. I get more comfortable with my knee and where it’s at every day the more I’m out here,” Bradford said. “Obviously it would be nice to get out there and take some live reps and I think that we’re progressing towards that and I’m sure that once I get out there and take some reps in seven-on-seven and ‘team’ things will really start to come together.”
From what I hear, the Eagles trainers are pushing the former Heisman Trophy winner to get him back to full strength. The rehabilitation process from an ACL tear is not an exact science, so no one can tell exactly how Bradford’s knee will respond to the day-to-day work. There will be times when the knee feels great and there will be other times when he feels like it’s not getting any better. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
“Overall the process, it’s taken a little longer the second time around,” Bradford said. “But I think I told you guys when I first got here, from everyone I’ve talked to they say that’s normal, they say that’s what to expect. I think it really has gotten a lot better in the past two months, month and a half. And as long as it continues to do that, it should be no issue.”
I was pleased to see the injured quarterback out there in front of the media working out and limping through it. It’s not a shock that he’s limping because that’s where he is right now. Bradford wore a bulky brace on his left knee as he dropped to make throws during the individual drill period. After those initial drills, he started loosening up more by jogging fifty yards one way then fifty yards the other. Next, he jogged and cut one way, then he jogged and cut the other. You can see that’s he’s working gradually on put weight on the knee.
“It feels great,” Bradford said. “The staff here has done a great job in the past six to eight weeks. Things really kind of turned a corner. We made a lot of progress. I think as long as we continue to trend in the right direction I’ll be fine.”
Bradford did all the throwing drills with the other quarterbacks and there’s no question about his arm. They plan on him participating in more of the drills next week, which would be a huge step in him getting ready to play. He definitely has more work to do to strengthen that left leg, but I thought it was all very positive today.
“He is on schedule,” Kelly said. “We all think there’s three phases – there’s medical rehab, performance rehab, and prepare to play. He’s probably at the tail end of medical rehab. He’ll probably start throwing some 7 on 7 next week, and I think he’s right on schedule.”
Bradford didn’t take any snaps or play quarterback when during team drills, but I like the fact that I didn’t see any apprehension on his part, when he was on the field. The Birds married Bradford for a period of time, when they traded away Nick Foles
His state of mind is just as important as his leg in this process. The only thing that he didn’t do during the individual drills was the zone read option drill, which had the Eagles quarterbacks running with the football.
“It’s a lot of fun. I haven’t gotten a chance to get out there and actually run it, but just watching it on tape and talking about it, I love the tempo, I love how fast we play,” he said. “It fits my style of game, making quick decisions. The run game is a little different — we’ve been running two-back’power’ (in St. Louis), it’s a lot of the zone-read stuff (here) which is new to me, but I see the advantages of it.”
Mark Sanchez was the quarterback for the first team when they were running plays against the defense in the team drills.
Bradford has a brace on his leg and is still dragging it a bit when he runs, but he’s working hard. He was dropping back and throwing the football, then rolling out and throwing the ball with the other quarterbacks during the individual drills.
