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Rams failed by not hedging bets with Sam Bradford
Vinnie Iyer @vinnieiyer
Is it fair to offically call Sam Bradford a total draft bust in the wake of his latest knee injury, another torn left ACL that will cause him to miss the entire 2014 season? Not exactly.
The Rams, on the other hand, keep getting busted for continuing to trust him as their only choice as their franchise quarterback. They continue to pay the price for it in the unforgiving NFC West, and it doesn’t have much to do with the $14-plus million he’ll still make.
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Bradford was the last of first overall drafted quarterbacks to get the megabucks before playing an NFL down. As the 2010 No. 1 pick, he got $50 million of his six-year, $78 million rookie deal guaranteed. Although he had a promising rookie season to suggest he was worth it, it’s all gone wrong since.
The Rams are again in the predicament of starting a journeyman backup (enter Shaun Hill, exit Kellen Clemens) with their little chance at winning the NFL’s toughest division down to zero.
Where they failed in relation to the three, all still better NFC West teams — San Francisco, Seattle and Arizona — was not having a different kind of backup plan in place: A Plan B for another starter. There’s an excellent chance they’ll be forced to head that way in 2015. The decision to consider real possbilities would just be coming three offseasons too late.
Two underrated elements for a team to know early if it’s bound to see a return on investing in a highly-drafted quarterback: Durability and steady growth. Arm, athleticisn, accuracy, decision-making and all that other great stuff don’t mean much when you can’t stay and play on the field and improve with each year that you do.
For Bradford, both have been difficult. Following his success with his first NFL offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur in 2010, Bradford both missed six games with ankle injury and regressed under his second coordinator, Josh McDaniels in 2011.
That should have been the first sign to at the very least explore alternatives in 2012 offseason, in terms of a viable veteran or an intriguing rookie, just in case.
No QBs were drafted, and Clemens was still the No. 2 as the holdover from ’11. That’s despite the fact new coach Jeff Fisher was breaking in a third offense in three years for Bradford, with current coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. Bradford was so-so with Schottenheimer in 2012, but again, it was just Bradford and Clemens going into 2013.
Sam Bradford (AP Photo)Then think about what the Seahawks, 49ers and Cardinals have done in the past three years.
In ’11, even with Alex Smith turning into a pretty good starter, the Niners stashed Colin Kaepernick with a second-round pick. Even when the Seahawks spent on former Packers backup Matt Flynn with intention of him being their new No. 1 in ’12, they still used a third-round pick on Russell Wilson. The Cardinals, who had the worst QB play in the league two years ago, went 10-6 just by adding a passable Carson Palmer in ’13.
All those teams haven’t held back from that mentality of always evaluating quarterbacks this year, either. The Niners were right to cheaply kick the tires on Blaine Gabbert to see if something was still there. The Seahawks think they can help Terrelle Pryor do something better in their offense. The Cardinals think they might have Palmer’s successor as a longer-term QB in rookie Logan Thomas.
In a passing league where so much is dependent on the quarterback, teams can’t afford to ever sit idle with their most important position. Changes and injuries happen to derail even those quarterbacks who looked like safe bets early, a la Bradford.
If one thinks the Rams were a bit trapped with Bradford because of the small fortune they had to pay him early, that would be true to only some degree early. But if they wanted, the rookie wage scale that kicked in a year after he was drafted made it more favorable and critical to not totally rule out a quarterback in the first round.
Last season, Bradford finally looked the part, but then missed nine games with the first torn ACL. At least they did a little something at quarterback this offseason, upgrading Clemens with HIll and using a sixth-round draft pick on developmental project Garrett Gilbert. Still, when you think what could or might have been if they hadn’t just gone all in on Bradford for three years running, it could have been a lot different story.
In retrospect, they had good reason to trade away the No. 2 overall pick in ’12 because of — wait for it — Fisher’s concerns with Robert Griffin III’s fragility. How about the fact that both Wilson and Nick Foles could have been had in the third round? More realistic, they could have just used a second-rounder on Brock Osweiler instead of Isaiah Pead, now a fourth-string running back who’s out for the season. The Broncos had just gotten this future Hall of Famer named Peyton Manning, but even they saw a reason that offseason with — wait for it — Maninng’s potential fragility — to get insurance that high in Osweiler.
In 2013, even in not the greatest QB class, Geno Smith at No. 30 or Mike Glennon at No. 71 would have been worth it given Bradford’s unsolid status. With a second chance at No. 2 overall this offseason, they had their clear shot at Blake Bortles, and passed for the safer Greg Robinson pick. Then they had shots again at either Johnny Manziel or Teddy Bridgewater, at No. 13, and passed.
Sure, they further fortified their ferocious front four with Aaron Donald there, but a pass rush even that good doesn’t mean too much when offset by major passing-game questions. They had plenty of those before even Bradford went down, because they’ve been overdue in providing alternate answers.
In the NFL, there’s a clear separation between the QB haves and the QB have-nots. If you are in their latter category, you just don’t have the luxury of banking on just one resolution, until you have that “have” guy for sure. “Have” should have never been the perception of Bradford — not yet.
The Seahawks and 49ers are easy haves; the Cardinals know they’re not quite there yet, but at least they got a makeshift. The Rams are stuck with neither, further buried among the have-nots.
The lack of putting options in place before Bradford went down — this year, the last, the year before that — is why the Rams don’t have any option but to miss the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season.
===========================CoachO
How easy it is to sit there, and use hindsight to point out all the things they “could have” done, but didn’t. He glosses over the decision to pass on RGIII, as if they lucked out because he has been so frail. He doesn’t even address the huge haul they made, and how htey have been able to address MANY of the roster issues they inherited.
I wonder if this guy, predicted, AT THE TIME, how “passing” on a 3rd round, 5’10 baseball player turned QB was such a mistake.
I also, would like to ask him, even given all the moves Seattle, SF and Arizona have made to continually address the QB position, who is in the best shape to handle what the Rams are handling right now? If a season ending injury were to befall, Kaepernick, Wilson or Palmer, how do you think those teams would feel about having Gabbert, Pryor or Thomas to come in and save their season? I bet every one of them would rather have Shaun Hill.
This organization made their decision based on first hand knowledge of where Bradford was in his rehab. When teams start making decisions out of fear, they tend to panic, and make even bigger mistakes. I don’t care what team you are talking about. How does Green Bay feel about their situation if they lose Rodgers? New Orleans? Denver? Detroit? Atlanta? Baltimore? Can anyone even name the backup to Eli?
Again, it’s so easy to write a piece after the fact. I wonder what that article would have looked like had Bradford stayed on the field, and lead this team to the Playoffs? Or what will look like if Shaun Hill proves to be the guy they brought him here to be and this team somehow takes them where they haven’t been since 2004?
—————————————Laram
…It is not about drafting a replacement. Nobody that I have seen was advocating Fisher do that.
Its about drafting Bradford’s “successor” a young qb with potential that could be developed.
A young qb that could step in for a number of reasons. Salary dispute on Bradford’s next contract, injury, poor play, etc.
There are a plethora of reasons why you might want to have Bradford’s successor developing in the wings.
Bradford’s career has been marred with injury and inconsistent play.
If you’ve paid attention this is a flaw with Jeff Fisher. One that I have pointed out many times.
He has fielded teams with some pretty bad starting qb’s, and had no viable options in the wings.
Look around, the smart franchises have contingency plans.
Loyalty is fine, but you have 53 players to consider….not one!!
=====================================Everybody has points, but you have to factor in a couple more things. Fisher appears to build his teams to be QB proof, like SF and Seattle do. imo Fisher is not going to have a QB controversy. Whether that is the best thing to do or if I agree with it doesn’t change the fact that it is probably an OK strategy.
AgamemnonAgamemnon wrote:
Everybody has points, but you have to factor in a couple more things. Fisher appears to build his teams to be QB proof, like SF and Seattle do. imo Fisher is not going to have a QB controversy. Whether that is the best thing to do or if I agree with it doesn’t change the fact that it is probably an OK strategy.Well…it’s tough for a head coach to look good
when his starting QB gets his knee blown out
two years in a row. Thats all i got.I am glad they did not draft Johnny the Idiot
and his entourage, btw.This will be an inter esting year
to say the least.
Britt, Quick, Stedman, Tavon,
Kendricks, Cook, Harkey, Stacy…this offense
can still be ornery if Boudreau
can keep the Oline functioning.w
vIt is like good rolls or bad rolls. It is all there in the picture when you first make the decision.
Agamemnon
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