Sam Bradford is apparently returning Jordan Matthews' messages.
Matthews, who has 152 catches for 1,869 yards and 16 touchdowns in two seasons with the Eagles, said he's spoken with Bradford, who hasn't returned head coach Doug Pederson's messages while sitting out voluntary workouts and practices the last two weeks.
Matthews gave Bradford a strong vote of confidence, saying, "He's the best quarterback" on the team. But he fell short of predicting that Bradford will return to the team once workouts become mandatory on June 7.
"We all want him here, so we'll see what happens," Matthews told Comcast SportsNet Thursday. "It's no question. Everybody believes in him. Sam's the guy for the job. He's the best quarterback that we have on the roster. He's the guy. That's why we signed him back. You wouldn't do that unless you really had confidence in the guy.
"There's a lot of quarterbacks who were in situations where they didn't know if they were going to sign back with teams. But we got that done early. So we want him here, all the guys believe in him. I'm one of the main guys that believe on him. If he does decide to come back or walk through that door, I'll be one of the first guys to be really excited and get to work with him."
Bradford, who went 7-7 in 14 starts for the Eagles last year, has been AWOL since the Eagles traded up to the second pick in the draft and took quarterback Carson Wentz out of North Dakota State.
His agent has informed the Eagles he wants to be traded, something the Eagles have said they have no intent on doing.
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Matthews and tight end Zach Ertz spent some time throwing footballs around with Bradford in Oklahoma, but Matthews said it's not his place to try to talk his teammate into reporting.
"We understand that Sam's Sam," Matthews said. "The way everybody else deals with certain things may not be the same way he does. Sam's a very private person. He's going to do things on his time, and certain people do do other things on other peoples' time. That's the way it is.
"You've got to understand that he's not you, and he's going to figure out what he wants to do, and none of us can pull his arm, make him to do something on his time. … We've just got to respect that.
"We know we want him here, so we just continue to reach out and whenever that time comes, we can get that rolling."
What does Matthews expect Bradford to do?
"At the end of the day, what I think really doesn't matter, so I don't like to put anything out there in the media or anything that might possibly be misconstrued as, ‘This could happen,' or, ‘This won't happen.'
"I don't like making guarantees. but at the same time, like I said, we all want him here, so we'll see what happens."
As high as Matthews is on Bradford, he also speaks very highly of Wentz.
"It's always really exciting around draft time," he said. "Obviously, you never know what's going to happen. I feel like Howie (Roseman), whenever he's up there, he's like a mad scientist, man. He gets going, he really gets that wheel turning. When we went up to the second pick, it was crazy. That's a big step for us moving forward with our future.
"You start knowing you're going to get a quarterback between Wentz and (Jared) Goff, and I think we got the guy. I think we got the best out of the two, the best out of the bunch.
"I talked to him a couple times. Very sharp kid - and I say kid, we're the same age. It's funny, he's basically a man already coming into the league. But I'm excited to really get him into the building and get to know him a little bit more.
"It's been great so far. Now it's all about getting him in there and get him working out with the guys and kind of get him acclimated along with the rest of the class."
