By Jim Thomas
For Rams veterans, next week marks the end of the spring practice period with the players getting a nice, long break before the start of training camp in late July.
But for the skill position players, particularly the wide receivers and tight ends, they’re not totally off the hook. Once again, they will be asked to participate in “Camp Bradford” at the request of quarterback Sam Bradford. These are informal workouts run by Bradford back home in Oklahoma.
“Yes, I’m actually planning on that,” Bradford said Thursday following the Rams’ OTA session. “I’m having a (youth football) camp – I believe it’s the second weekend of July. So I’m planning on bringing those guys in and getting a few days of work with them, and hopefully they can stay and help out with my camp as well.”
As was the case last summer, as well as during the lockout offseason of 2011, Bradford will lodge his Rams teammates at the Sooner Legends Inn and Suites in Norman, Okla. Each room is named after a former OU great and decorated with pictures and information on that player or coach.
So who gets the “Sam Bradford suite” this July? Last year it was wide receiver Danny Amendola.
“I don’t know yet,” Bradford said. “That’s up to the people at the hotel.”
He jokingly added: “Hopefully, no one has to stay in that room. We can get them some better player’s (room) to stay in.”
As for what he’s seen so far at Rams Park, Bradford says he can already see improvement in the young group of wide receivers.
“It’s definitely come a long way since two, three weeks ago when we first started with those rookies,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed by some of the young guys that we’ve had – Tavon (Austin), Stedman (Bailey) – I thought they’ve done a great job.
“We’re asking them to play a lot of different positions right now. Of course there’s still mistakes, but for the most part they’ve been extremely sharp. The chemistry, I think, is really coming along. We’ve put some time in after practice together and obviously the more reps we’ve gotten together on the field in practice, things have really started to click.”
