Josh McDaniels is Perfect for the Development of Sam Bradford

Since the signing of Josh McDaniels as the new offensive co-ordinator after the departure of Pat Shurmur, I have had people tell me that he is not a good fit for Sam Bradford, and will in fact hurt the development of the young quarterback. However, I believe that McDaniels will help develop Bradford much quicker than if Shurmur was still with the team. If you were to look at past quarterbacks that have worked under McDaniels, it would be easy to understand why Bradford will succeed greatly under this pass heavy system. Back when McDaniels was with New England, he became the offensive co-ordinator in 2006, and just by looking at the stats of Tom Brady and Matt Cassel, you can see how effective his offensive scheme can be for any quarterback. Tom Brady’s stats under Mcdaniels go like this:

2006-2007: 3529 Yards, 24 Touchdowns, 12 Interceptions, 61.8 Pass Percentage.
2007-2008: 4806 Yards, 50 TD, 8 Interceptions, 68.9 Pass Percentage.

It is evident through these stats that although Brady had Randy Moss in the 2007 season, that Brady’s stats boosted heavily under McDaniels’ system, and it is also important to know that the Patriots are not a team that will go out of its way to pick up explosive receivers for Brady to throw to…other than Moss, who was double covered most of the time anyway. However, you can argue that Brady is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, but, when he was injured and Cassel – who had never started a game in the NFL prior to the injury – had to fill the spot, the offence still succeeded. Under McDaniels, Cassels’ stats are:

2008-2009: 3802 Yards, 21 Touchdowns, 12 Interceptions, 62.1 Percentage

It is also important to know that when McDaniels was the head coach of the Denver Broncos, although his time with the team was unsuccessful and short-lived, Kyle Orton flourished as one of the top quarterbacks in the league, with his stats boosting heavily once working under McDaniels.

The point I am trying to make is that Bradford, even without many explosive receivers, will flourish under McDaniels’ pass heavy system. If Mcdaniels can take Cassel, a quarterback who had never taken a single snap in the NFL prior to Brady’s injury and turn him into a star, you can just imagine of what the heavily talented Bradford can do under McDaniels’ offensive scheme. Especially with the weapons the Rams drafted in the 2011 draft (Lance Kendricks, Austin Pettis, Greg Salas), I believe that we will see a St. Louis Rams offense similar to that of the 2007 New England Patriots. One could also argue that Bradford will have to learn an entirely new offensive language and playbook, but he didn’t seem to have much trouble learning Shurmur’s scheme in his first year of the league. Therefore, I will go with a bold statement and say that Bradford will throw for over 4000 yards in the 2011-2012 season (assuming we have the full season), and you can call me crazy, but I have a lot of confidence in that claim just by seeing how well Cassel did in his 2008-2009 season.

Vince Cianciolo
Ramblin Fan