Do/Should the Rams Cut Bradford?

Mackeyser wrote:

What are the Cap ramifications of cutting Bradford?

With this injury, it has to be a concern, what’s the cap cost? It may be necessary going forward if the Rams need to make a move…

They would save 10 M this year.

But I don’t know what they would do with the money, exactly, and that would be such a cold thing. I can’t see a Fisher-led team doing that to someone they stood behind like they did with him.

I wouldn’t want them trading for anyone…they need the picks. So they don’t need space for a trade.

zn wrote:

They would save 10 M this year.

But I don’t know what they would do with the money, exactly, and that would be such a cold thing. I can’t see a Fisher-led team doing that to someone they stood behind like they did with him.

I wouldn’t want them trading for anyone…they need the picks. So they don’t need space for a trade.

When Bradford got hurt his salary for this year just got guaranteed. So the Rams would not save anything by cutting him (if they can.) Could they trade him? Yes. But who would trade for him. My guess his trade value is pretty close to zero. Even if he recovers and passes all medical tests before the draft I doubt he would have much of a trade value given his salary for next year.

They are not gonna cut him.
Not happnin.

And i am pretty sure
he’ll be ready to compete again
next year. Who knows,
maybe he plays all sixteen games
next year and leads them to a ring.
Comeback player of the year.
Who knows.

They’ll draft a QB though,
thats for sure. Maybe more
than one. Probably look
at some Vets too.

Can you imagine how Bradford
must feel right now?

w
v

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by wv.

wv wrote:

They are not gonna cut him.
Not happnin.

And i am pretty sure
he’ll be ready to compete again
next year. Who knows,
maybe he plays all sixteen games
next year and leads them to a ring.
Comeback player of the year.
Who knows.

They’ll draft a QB though,
thats for sure. Maybe more
than one. Probably look
at some Vets too.

Can you imagine how Bradford
must feel right now?

w
v

I agree. I just can’t see it.

I was just thinking of Sam. His whole career is one big question mark now. You heart has to go out to him.

it does sound cold. from what tackledummy says it sounds like he can’t be cut this year. but i wasn’t thinking about this year anyway. i think they owe him this year.

i’m wondering about next year. would they save any cap space cutting him for 2015? cuz he’s not coming back for awhile.

if they do care about his career. he takes more than a year to come back. look at what happened to danario. and i understand that it’s a different position and different stresses are put on the joints. but that’s two tears in less than a year.

cut him for 2015. i’d even bring him back as a backup qb if he was willing. he might not be. but it’s in his best interests to start out as a backup. if i’m his family, i’m telling him to take a job as a backup qb with an eye toward maybe getting a starting gig in the future.

it only seems fair that they pay him this year. the rehabilitation costs alone have to be through the roof. astronomical i would think. and he got injured on the job. so he should be compensated for that. next year though. i don’t know how that all works.

tough tough break. i was so sure he was gonna have a good year this year.

I don’t see that they necessarily walk away from Bradford even next year. Think how much football they have invested in him. Really, it would be his 4th year in the system and if he CAN play eventually then they gain and don’t lose anything. So let’s say it does take a year to rehab. Then he’s on the roster as a 3rd qb until he proves he can or cannot go. And then they do a couple of the following things: re-sign Hill, sign a free agent, make a trade, or draft someone high or in round 2.

If Bradford makes it through that season as your back-up, then you stand back and re-evaluate. Or maybe he ends up taking the field halfway through the season, for example replacing HIll while a rookie sits.

We honestly don’t know if he can come back from this because we don’t know what updated rehab techniques can do.

In a situation like that they lose nothing, really.

Cap space? Ask him to renegotiate. My bet is he would get that, and is past worrying abut money, he would want a “prove I’m back” year rather than money.

InvaderRam wrote:

it only seems fair that they pay him this year. the rehabilitation costs alone have to be through the roof. astronomical i would think. and he got injured on the job. so he should be compensated for that. next year though. i don’t know how that all works.

Bradford will get paid for the 2014 season. He will also be able to use the Rams trainers for his rehab. All of his medical bills for this injury will be paid for by the Rams. As for 2015 he is still under contract with the Rams. He gets no further benefits as a result of the injury. I.E. the Rams could treat him any way they wish. They could play him under that contract, they could extend his contract, or they could cut him.

Herzog wrote:

He’s the quarterback version of Amendola. You gotta move on….he can’t stay on the field.

Well, Amendola kept getting different injuries. How does the same injury getting re-injured mean Bradford is Amendola?

People are going to be taking different views on this. One view will be, 2 knees means he’s not durable. Another view will be, re-injuring the same knee does not signal that. Unlike Saffold, who injures something different each time, or Amendola, who was reckless with a body that could not handle reckless.

I am of the “wait and find out” school. I honestly do not see the issue with him coming back and finding out if he can play. Though each time I say that, I add they’re going to also get another qb, and it’s responded to with, but they have to get another qb. (?) Of course they’re going to get another qb (though drafting high in round 1 is not the only way to do that.) I think some people around the net think they’re debating against an “attachment to Sam” position. That’s not it. It’s being smart about the qb spot. If Bradford can play after all this is said and done, then, keeping him isn’t sentimental, nor is this “you have to move on” idea all that sound. Why? If it turns out after all is said and done he is competitive as a qb option, why do you have to “move on”? It’s not a break-up, it’s a personnel issue.

I agree with this post, anyway. ===>

=========

SunTzu_vs_Camus

I think Bradford is a very good QB that just started to have an offense around him. 2 ACLs back-to-back is a nasty bit of luck. Just so sad.Sam looked great to me and he’ll be completely healthy for OTAs and his ACL will have many more extra months of healing. Either way, the Rams should draft a QB high and have them fight for the starting job.

I just don’t want to watch another Warner situation happen to this team at the most important position…cuz they were not patient. But I understand that it all may just be too much for the organization. We’ll see how they play it.

The Rams will draft a young gun/QB in the 1st or 2nd and let them both duke it out over the Summer…if Sam beats out the young QB and plays great..winner stays and so does the loser cuz the rookie will be cheap for 4 years.
and we’ll have our bases covered. We have 2 good QBs for next year + Shaun Hill.

If Sam loses and the kid is a big flash…then maybe we cut Sam….but we CAN afford to keep BOTH Sam and a 1st round pick for 2015. Hedge our bets.
But Sam is a talent…a good man who’s had BAD luck.

I do NOT want another situation(like Warner) where we cast Sam aside after a few bad years of injuries….and Sam rises for another team. I think many folks forget how HARD it is to find a good NFL QB…and I think we had one…who was ready to rise this year. Even just drafting ones in the 1st round…it’s still a real challenge to get them ready.

Let’s keep Sam for his last year and draft a kid for cheap. I’ll bet Sam may even renegotiate for cheap too after this season and put much into incentives…or maybe not. LOl

I want Sam…still do especially after watching him throw downfield to WRs that caught the ball. We were ready for a helluva fireworks show this year. It felt like it was all coming together on offense. imo It’s a team game….and Sam is still a part of this team. We can still be successful.

I just really liked Sam finally throwing downfield like a freakin monster…
and Quick & Britt…out fighting the ball for the catch!!! THAT was what we’ve been waiting for…and Sam has finally got some real NFL WRs who fight for the ball judging by last night.

Anyway, keep Sam and draft a stud QB in the 1st or 2nd and let them fight it out. We CAN afford both and protect our team. We are building something special here and I think all the players know it. We just a hit little road bump.

I don’t foresee them cutting SB next year.
He knows the system, he’s got great talent,
he’ll beat out any young QB they draft.

So, i imagine they’ll be patient with him,
and not ‘count’ on him, and bring back
Hill if he does well, and they’ll draft
a QB in the first or second round,
and they’ll sort it all out.

Its tricky though. Balancing the money/cap-hit
versus the starting-over-with-a-Rookie thing.

w
v

Herzog wrote:

Well, Amendola kept getting different injuries. How does the same injury getting re-injured mean Bradford is Amendola?

B/c he can’t stay on the field AND he HAS injured other things in his career hasn’t he????

No, I view it this way. Bradford had a freak moment and a re-tear. I don;t view that as the same.

In 2011 he injured the ankle, but then that year was so rough that every single Rams qb got injured. They picked Clemens up on waivers and he was playing a game 11 days later. And then…got injured. So to me 2011 was the situation.

Amendola has shown that every single year he goes out on the field, it will be something else. That was true of 2011, 2012 (with 2 injuries) and 2013.

No, I view it this way. Bradford had a freak moment and a re-tear. I don;t view that as the same.

In 2011 he injured the ankle, but then that year was so rough that every single Rams qb got injured. They picked Clemens up on waivers and he was playing a game 11 days later. And then…got injured. So to me 2011 was the situation.

Amendola has shown that every single year he goes out on the field, it will be something else. That was true of 2011, 2012 (with 2 injuries) and 2013.

In 2009 Bradford injured his shoulder in the first game of the season at Oklahoma. He missed three weeks then came back. He then reinjured his shoulder his second game back ending his season.

In 2011 he was injured much of the season even when he played. And he played only 10 games and was not 100% for many of the rest.

In 2013 he tore his ACL in game #7 ending his season.

In 2014 he re-tore his ACL in the third preseason game ending his season.

In the last six seasons Bradford has finished the season only twice finishing the others on IR (or OU’s equivalent)

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by TackleDummy.

TackleDummy wrote:

No, I view it this way. Bradford had a freak moment and a re-tear. I don;t view that as the same.

In 2011 he injured the ankle, but then that year was so rough that every single Rams qb got injured. They picked Clemens up on waivers and he was playing a game 11 days later. And then…got injured. So to me 2011 was the situation.

Amendola has shown that every single year he goes out on the field, it will be something else. That was true of 2011, 2012 (with 2 injuries) and 2013.

In 2009 Bradford injured his shoulder in the first game of the season at Oklahoma. He missed three weeks then came back. He then reinjured his shoulder his second game back ending his season.

In 2011 he was injured much of the season even when he played. And he played only 10 games and was not 100% for many of the rest.

In 2013 he tore his ACL in game #7 ending his season.

In 2014 he re-tore his ACL in the third preseason game ending his season.

In the last six seasons Bradford has finished the season only twice finishing the others on IR (or OU’s equivalent)

Thanks TD, but with all due respect, we all know all that. But some of us are interpreting it differently.

The shoulder came back stronger. The ankle went away, and was a direct result of circumstances where every qb they had got injured that year. The ACL got re-torn, which to me is a freak thing.

I don’t regard that as being like Amendola, who simply cannot play football without injuring something else. Amendola’s body and his style of play combined make him a constant injury risk.

Really, this gets down to different ways we all view it. No one lacks the info. We just regard it in different ways. To me, if Bradford can come back from the 2nd ACL (which remains to be seen), I don’t regard him as a special risk for another, different injury the way I do Amendola.

Besides, in terms of the “move on” thing, it’s one thing to move on from Amendola, who ultimately is much more easily replaced. But the investment in a qb who has those skills AND that level of knowledge of the receivers and the offense is not something to be taken lightly. (In fact my bet is they set it up for him to come back, even with adding another qb through free agency and/or the draft…in fact if they can’t re-sign Hill, maybe both.) He would end up, depending on the circumstances, being a 3rd qb for a while, but if he can go he can go…they’ll determine that.

This is what they are likely to not want to just throw away IF he shows he can still play—>

MICHAEL BROCKERS: he was looking awesome in terms of being so in control of the offense this year. It’s almost like he was a little bit of Tom Brady-ish, checking off routes, knowing what the defense was in and where guys were going to be before they even knew it. He was looking a lot better and smoother this year. We felt like we were going to be so good, and we were going to be contenders

If they can determine that he can go again or not, and do it in such a way that there is no risk, then why not?

And in fact regardless what we think, the TEAM apparently think this is a freak thing. (The re-tear.) Fisher directly said so–his words were something like “a 1 in a 100 thing.”

The worst thing for me would be to walk away from him, have him go through the time he needs, re-emerge with another team, and come back playing well.

And again if they have him in-house next year and figure he CAN’T go, what have they lost?

INVADER: i just see what happened to danario. i don’t want to see the same happen to sam. whether he’s with the rams or not.

Danario had I think FIVE knee operations and a completely reconstructed knee, not an ACL tear followed by a re-tear.

Bradford is to Danario as a housefire is to Hiroshima.