By
Vincent Frank on Wednesday, November 18
th 2015
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford found himself banged up a great deal in the team's loss to the Miami Dolphins last weekend.
Exiting the game with both a shoulder injury and a concussion, Bradford seemed iffy at best to play this week against a suddenly surging Tampa Bay Buccaneers team.
That's now closer to becoming a reality after ESPN's Ed Werder reported on Wednesday that Bradford suffered a separation of his non-throwing shoulder in a play that saw him driven into the ground by a Dolphins defender.
The much-maligned quarterback also has to pass through the league's concussion protocol to be able to go against the Buccaneers this upcoming weekend. Considering Bradford was completely out of it following the play that saw him suffer the concussion, it's reasonable to believe he will not pass through the protocol.
At 4-5 on the season, Philadelphia will likely have to turn to Mark Sanchez in a game against an opponent with as many wins as the Eagles on the season. In reality, this matchup could have some wide-ranging playoff implications, especially when it comes to the NFC East race.
Sanchez took over for Bradford last Sunday, throwing a costly late-game interception in the surprising Eagles loss. If he's tasked with being under center this week, the former first-round pick will have to pick his game up big time.
Bradford, 28, has been all sorts of banged up this season. He's also struggled to perform at a high level in Chip Kelly's offense. Through nine games, the former first overall pick has thrown 11 touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions and is leading the league's 14th-ranked scoring offense. That's a far cry for an offense that finished in the top-five in scoring in each of Kelly's first two seasons as its head coach.
From a fantasy perspective, it's hard to gauge exactly where Sanchez stands in DFS contests. On one hand, Kelly-led offenses tend to give quarterbacks ample opportunities to put up fantasy points. On the other hand, the idea of relying on Sanchez to win you some cash seems foolish.
He will, however, be taking on a Buccaneers defense that ranks in the bottom third of the NFL against fantasy quarterbacks.