..and can you?
As I have said in this blog many times, I am really not against Sam Bradford as an NFL prospect. The past several days I have been morose over the thought that our team is so ill prepared to receive & benefit from a rookie QB phenom, which Sam Bradford may well become in the right situation. Our opportunity to draft a Jim Plunkett type-talent is on the clock right now, but we don't have the line the Raiders had, which will be necessary to make Sam Bradford a champion. We have the sort of line the Patriots had when Plunkett was there; the type that will keep Bradford in the surgery room. Ergo, our opportunity here will probably go by the boards, one way or the other.
You don't know the frustration, the contempt, the irritation, and the exasperation that last paragraph makes me feel It's pathetic. We could have done so much more to be in the right position to receive Bradford right now.
We could have gone after Alan Faneca, not Jacob Bell. Does that decision look like a catastrophe in hind site? It better. Look at where the Jets line is now. Look at where the Rams line is now. Remember that our outstanding 1999 OL did not harden like concrete until we added one excellent veteran guard: Adam Timmerman. I still believe Alan Faneca would have the same effect our our current line.
You know we could have drafted DeShaun Jackson instead of Donnie Avery? That 'error' was pointed out to me the day after it happened by my NFL Jersey vendor. He slammed me on that occasion. There have been occasions since that day when... I am not ready to cancel the order on Donnie. DeShaun is a big weapon, but he has a rep for stupidity in the clutch. Our draft decision looks like a killer error right now, but give Donnie a bit more time. Remember, he can't throw the football to himself. Our QB play has been pretty terrible, and Donnie is all by his lonesome right now.
If we had more than 2 good offensive linemen and a single #2 receiver, we could have been in a position to select Bradford and do well with him. Unfortunately, such is not the case. We have only 2 offensive linemen, 1 potentially solid tight end in Daniel Fells, and a single #2 receiver in Donnie Avery.
Of course there is Steven Jackson. He is a powerback galore with speed and good hands. But I am not so sanguine about the ability of running backs to easy a rookie QB's transition into the NFL. It is the quarterback's job to pass, not hand off. One running back doesn't substitute for 3 missing offensive linemen, and two missing receivers. Let's remember that Jackson is not thrilled about the present situation either.
Does Bradford really need tools like this too succeed? Does a fish need water? Does a plant need sunshine? Do you need food on a daily basis? Of course the answer is yes! No man is an Island. No quarterback does it by himself. It takes 40 good men to win a Super Bowl... and some luck... and at least 1 bad call.
Sam Bradford's Resume
In college, Sam Bradford cut a stick figure, he was over 6'4" and weighed right around 200 pounds in 2006. Oklahoma Redshirted him in his Freshman year because they felt he needed physical development. When he got into the lineup in 2007, you could tell he was super talented right away. Coaches and scouts warned him that there would be questions about his durability in the NFL at such a low playing weight. He worked on it bit, and the Sooners claimed he reached something around 219-222 pounds.
I have a hard time believing that statement. If you look at some of the game film from the BYU and Baylor game in 2009, he didn't look that robust at that point. A 10% increase in muscle mass is substantial. You would be amazed at the transformation that can make.
Then the injuries struck. In the first game of the 2009 season against BYU Bradford suffered a 3rd degree AC sprain in his right shoulder, which just happens to be connected to his passing arm as the story works out. Bradford was supposed to miss 6 weeks. He rushed back into the lineup just 3 weeks later to play against Baylor. He looked good, throwing for 389 yards. Bradford suffered another injury to his passing shoulder in the Red-River Rivalry game against Texas, on 10/17/2009. It was an non-remarkable hit. You can see the game film right here:
This hit occurred with a sensational Left Tackle prospect named Trent Williams guarding Sam's butt. [Mark my words, Trent Williams is going to be the best offensive lineman to come out of this draft.] Texas had to blitz a corner to get Sam. There was no Orakpo playing for Texas at that time either. This second hit effectively ended Sam's college career. All the NFL scouts were heard saying "We told you need to put on solid muscle weight to enhance your durability. Why didn't you listen, Sam?"
Sam went to famed Orthopedic surgeon Dr. James R. Andrews for a repair job. Dr. Andrews is the famed doctor who repaired Drew Brees's right shoulder. Dr. Andrews performed a 35 minute surgery that went "just as expected". Details of the injury and the repair job were kept medically confidential. The injury is simply described as a 3rd degree sprain of the AC Joint. What does that mean? The following information can be found on the Merck.com website:
Tears may occur in ligaments (sprains), in muscles (strains), or in tendons. Tears may be graded as minimal (1st degree), moderate to severe (2nd degree), or complete (3rd degree). Third-degree sprains may result in joint instability and are differentiated from 2nd-degree sprains by stress testing. Third-degree tendon tears disrupt muscle function. Treatment of all tears includes analgesics, immobilization, and, for some 3rd-degree sprains and tendon tears, surgical repair.
If Bradford was diagnosed with a 3d degree sprain, this means expert doctors stress tested his arm, and found a complete tear in his ligament. This will disrupt muscle function and cause instability in the joint. Not good for precision passing. The AC joint is the acromioclavicular joint. It allows you to raise your arm above your head, and functions as a pivot point or strut that permits range of motion. It is stabilized by 3 ligaments. We do not know which or how many ligaments Sam Bradford tore. That medical information appears to be confidential. I can tell you this. If he was on the table for just 35 minutes, it had to have been a simple arthroscopic procedure.
Dr. Bachner worked on my left knee for more than an hour last time I went in for surgery. He has a reputation for being fast also. It took him just 17 minutes to remove and clean up the torn cartilage in my right knee.
It would appear that Sam took his advisor's warnings to heart. When next we saw him appear, Sam had yoked up quite considerably. You could tell his physique had changed quite a bit. The difference was obvious. Sam Bradford 2.0 weighed in at 236 the combine. According to draft expert Charles Davis of the NFL Network, he is a brick solid 236. His new weight is lean, strong muscle tissue.
Gil Brandt, a former scout for the Rams in the 1950s, and VP of player personnel in Dallas under Tex Schramm, interviewed Sam Bradford at the Combine and blogged about it on the NFL.com website here. The substance of the report is that Sam had been medically examined by a number of team doctors. When asked how it turned out, Sam said he "passed with flying colors." Remember, the source of the report is Sam himself. As great a kid as he is, he may be just a bit biased.
How do you put on 14 pounds of lean hard mass and recover from shoulder surgery between 10/28/2009 and 2/28/20010? Only 4 month of calendar time elapsed between these dates. Well, we all know how this is done. However, it is politically incorrect to speak about "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" in an NFL context. This, despite the fact that is a cornerstone of the league, and has been for 40 years.
It should be noted that we still haven't seen Sam Bradford throw since the 2nd series of the Red River Rivalry game in 2009. We have heard nice reports, but we have not seen any film.
In summary
Sam is now a readshirt Junior entering the NFL Draft. This means he spent 4 years in college, and is 22 years old. He will not turn 23 until 11/8/2010. I heard he was on pace to graduate at the end of last semester with a degree in finance. Other reports hold that he needs to finish one more course this Spring semester. He is a smart kid, who finished high school with a 4.28 GPA, due to academic extra credits. During his Heisman year of 2008, he was rumored to be packing a whopping 3.95 GPA. Of course, we know he nailed the Wonderlic with a 36. This puts him in respectable company.
His class status and draft position puts Sam in uncertain statistical territory. Like Mark Sanchez, he is a graduate, and he is old enough to be a senior. He is not a true junior, but a redshirt junior. Under the Tuna formula, he is almost draftable.
He has never had any scandals or incidents. He's never seen the inside of jail. There are no questions about his character or makeup. He has two great parents at home. For those Ram fans who believe only another dedicated Christian like Kurt Warner can lead us back to the promised land: Sam Bradford is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at OU, and he is close buddies with Colt McCoy for this and other reasons.
It is frequently said that many scouts had him rated higher than Matt Stafford last year. I don't doubt that. As Mike Mayock says, Stafford will make one throw that will take your breath away, then he will make another throw that will make you bang your head against the wall. As good Stafford is, Stafford is a gunslinger, and he resembles Brett Favre in both the good and the bad ways. Bradford is not a gunslinger. He is a smart, disciplined, high precision passer who always seems under control, and who always seems to know what he is doing. For this reason I can understand choosing Bradford over Stafford.
There is a hell of a lot to love about this kid. If it weren't for the shoulder, he would be a dream come true. If we had offensive line, I would take the risk in spite of the shoulder, but when you put the two together it looks awfully damn bad.
On the subject of the shoulder, comparisons to Drew Brees are unwarranted. Brees had a much more severe injury to his shoulder. He had a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff as well. Brees's surgery was no simple arthroscopic affair. Dr. Andrews assembled a team of experts to perform a challenging reconstruction job on Brees. This was no 35 minute affair.
So here I sit, grimacing over how dreadfully prepared we are to draft one hell of a good QB prospect; one of the better looking ones in the past several years. Our dreadful state of preparation means we will have to sit our rookie QB and develop him whilst we develop an offensive line. Financially speaking, this more or less nixes selecting Bradford.
You can't not play a #1 overall draft pick. Every team says they will sit their rookie #1 QB, none of them ever do it. Every rookie #1 overall plays. That's what happens. I am still horrified by the thought of throwing this kid in the Shark-Tank with our offensive line in front of him.
