Sam Bradford was the can't-miss prospect who kept missing

[Merlin]

He was at times ehh and at times good.
Shit offense, garbage coaching, bad OL and weapons (for the most part).
He could have quit long before he did.
He kept coming back from injuries which takes want.
Not sure how anyone can speak knowledgeably about a players heart.

Sounds like excuses to me. Bottom line is even when he was healthy the guy never could consistently string together a level of play commensurate with his extensive physical gifts.

Dude was Captain Checkdown. Not gonna win shit with a QB like that in this league.

 

[ozarkram]

Oh man put this subject back to bed. Watched it destroy more than one message board.

 

[dieterbrock]

How do you explain his play when healthy.

mediocre, check down king

 

[Rams4life]

He could really sling it, but so can my neighbor. Like someone else said in this thread, he didn't have the competitive drive to play in the league.

 

[TK42-RAM]

I liked Sam -- his body just let him down.

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

haha, no heart.

more like no confidence in the system.

new system every year for the first 3 years of his career. as soon as he got comfortable in the same system for the second year in a row and on the verge of breaking out his knee collapsed on him.

when healthy again, a new system after being traded to the eagles in march. next season, a new system again. then he gets traded the week before the season begins to another team where he has to learn a new system again.

next season having a full off season in the same system he tears the saints apart in the first week of the season. then his knee gives way again.

that's when he was finally a broken man. i was aghast when i saw him play the rams in 2018. every pass was a check down. it was no surprise he was never seen again after the cards benched him the next week.

.

 

[GoodBadUgly]

In a parallel universe somewhere Sam Bradford was drafted by Sean McVay and the Rams are winning ten superbowls.

Ah yes. The brightest timeline...

 

[JonRam99]

Bradford had issues staying healthy in college and it transcended into the NFL, from the neck up, Bradford was amazing and was a humble guy, but he was blessed with having the best agent in the NFL IMHO and now he can sit on his deck in Oklahoma, play his cello and never have to do much of anything.

View: https://gfycat.com/windingsmoothegret

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

mediocre, check down king

But how much of that was from coaching? I remember him saying he hated it when coach Spags would time him in practice with a two second stopwatch or something like that, telling him to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. Why would a defensive coach be meddling in a QBs development like that?

And speaking of that, if there was a blueprint to ruin a potential NFL QB, it would be to give him a new system every year, bad Oline, WRs that can't catch, and then have him get hurt eventually.

But in my opinion, he would have became a very good QB regardless of all that, if he hadn't blown out his knee in the first place.

 

[dieterbrock]

But how much of that was from coaching? I remember him saying he hated it when coach Spags would time him in practice with a two second stopwatch or something like that, telling him to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. Why would a defensive coach be meddling in a QBs development like that?

And speaking of that, if there was a blueprint to ruin a potential NFL QB, it would be to give him a new system every year, bad Oline, WRs that can't catch, and then have him get hurt eventually.

But in my opinion, he would have became a very good QB regardless of all that, if he hadn't blown out his knee in the first place.

Sam was physically gifted, has a release that is just perfect. But he was just missing that one thing that separates the decent from the good/great. He folded in his college bowl games, and in NFL he wouldn’t go thru his progressions, was a 1 read and check down QB. Period.
Same issues in Philly, same issues in Minnesota.
He just didn’t have it

 

[TK42-RAM]

View: https://gfycat.com/windingsmoothegret

If coach had only put Uncle Rico in in the fourth quarter -- they'd have made State - no doubt about it - no doubt in my mind!!

 

[ScotsRam]

Sam was physically gifted, has a release that is just perfect. But he was just missing that one thing that separates the decent from the good/great. He folded in his college bowl games, and in NFL he wouldn’t go thru his progressions, was a 1 read and check down QB. Period.
Same issues in Philly, same issues in Minnesota.
He just didn’t have it

He had it alright. What he also had was a series of limited OCs, a terrible o-line and a bunch of nobody's at WR. He also had a defense that couldn't get off the fucking field.

This is the circular argument that has been going on since time began. It's a team sport. He might never have reached the heights many of us thought he would, but nobody can seriously argue he was ever given a fair shake at it.

 

[Merlin]

But how much of that was from coaching? I remember him saying he hated it when coach Spags would time him in practice with a two second stopwatch or something like that, telling him to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. Why would a defensive coach be meddling in a QBs development like that?

Because Spags knew the ball had to come out fast at this level. That is the NFL. QBs have to get through their reads before a rush typically arrives and that conditioning starts in camp with the stopwatch and drilling the QB to get it out.

Give any of these guys 3 or more secs in camp and they'll look like Joe Montana.

 

[Ram65]

I wished Sam stayed healthy that last year with the Rams to see what he could do. I always rooted for him. I was excited about his connection with DX before but, that did not last too long. Amandola gave him a good short WR. Lloyd wasn't here long enough. Sam never did have much of a supporting cast or even average coaches which had to hurt his development. The offensive line was a big mess. There was the big question mark about drafting a QB #1 without a foundation surrounding him. Not only was there no foundation but, little help with the draft and free-agent signings after Sam was drafted.

Somewhat hard to believe that Bradford is still only 32 years old which is still young for today's quarterbacks. I don't know if he would have ever been a more than a good QB had he stayed healthy. I do think he could have been a solid starting NFL Quarterback. Most times it takes some time in a solid system to bring out the potential in a quarterback. Had Sam had that opportunity maybe he grows into more but, I would have settle for a solid healthy NFL starter until a better replacement came along.

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

Because Spags knew the ball had to come out fast at this level. That is the NFL. QBs have to get through their reads before a rush typically arrives and that conditioning starts in camp with the stopwatch and drilling the QB to get it out.

Give any of these guys 3 or more secs in camp and they'll look like Joe Montana.

But that's how you create the dink-n-dunk check down tendencies, he aired it out in college.

 

[Merlin]

But that's how you create the dink-n-dunk check down tendencies, he aired it out in college.

Apples and oranges. In college you have wideouts open by 10 yards it's pitch and catch. In the NFL guys are usually not open, so you have to be able to get through 3 to 4 guys quickly in progression to be a starting QB. Some teams have better lines too of course, but the 2 second thing is sort of a standard and a lot of teams do that to their QBs in camps.

 

[BuffaloRam]

2010 was a terrible year for QBs: Bradford, Tebow, Colt McCoy...

 

[yrba1]

I’ve always wondered how Bradford would’ve panned out playing under McVay as a rookie. His tangibles are up there, and I could see him duplicating Goff’s production under favorable circumstances.

Coaching is as important as talent in terms of development.

 

[SubZero405]

Always felt bad for Sam especially being an Oklahoma fan. People keep saying he was injury prone in college, but he only had the shoulder issue his Jr year. His only other injury was a concussion in 07 and played the next week. He always came back from the injuries and tried to play through what he could. He played part of 2011 with practically 1 ankle. To say he had 0 heart is just wrong

I've felt that Sam was screwed from the start. In his 4 years, his best wr was probably danario Alexander and maybe mark Clayton for 2 games. The oline was also routinely bad.

The coaching on that side of the ball was just God awful. Shurmur to McDaniels, McDaniels to Schottenheimer, and then that to cignetti (sp?). None of us would want any of them back at all. We all saw what Boras and Fisher did with Goff. A lot of people wrote Goff off after season 1 and look then look what McVay did. Sam would have been better off drafted elsewhere.