Sam Bradford: A Sporting Tragic Hero

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Let us make no bones about it: Sam Bradford is a good quarterback. Yes, he is not an elite quarterback, and not even a great one, but he is good. Not Number One overall pick good, or $76 million good, but the Rams’ former Number 8 – a one-time Heismann winner- clearly possesses the natural abilities that would make him a serviceable starter in the NFL.

When healthy, you could probably place Bradford in the third quartile of the League’s 32 starting quarterbacks – again, nowhere close to living up to his status, but providing more stability that a number franchises currently enjoy.

‘When healthy…’ As Hamlet would say, ‘Ay, there’s the rub’. Bradford’s injury woes are well-documented. Since being automatically anointed the Rams’ starter after being drafted in 2010, Bradford has played 49 games out of a possible 80.

He had a relatively successful first season, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year – which was perhaps more a reflection on that year’s offensive rookie stock than on Bradford’s performance.

An injury-shortened sophomore season (a high ankle sprain saw Bradford end 2011 on Injured Reserve) featured a worrying statistical dip (Bradford threw only six touchdown passes in ten games, for example, with just one win), but he recovered to play all sixteen games in 2012, posting career-high numbers in many categories.

Hopes were high in 2013, with Bradford playing his best football until an ACL injury ended his season after only seven games. The same injury reared its ugly head in the 2014 pre-season. On the first day of 2015’s free agency period, Bradford was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Nick Foles, with various draft picks also involved. His game against Carolina in Week 7 of 2013 was his last as a St Louis Ram.

Bradford’s tale is an all-too-familiar one: a story of an athlete of immense potential who fails to deliver when the opportunity comes his way. Bradford was by no means a bust in the same bracket as Ryan Leaf or Jamarcus Russell, but he failed to do what he was drafted to do, which was to lead his franchise to victory. Each of Bradford’s 18 wins cost the team just under $3.5m each, an unbelievably poor return on such a sizeable investment.

But, and to return to the point I made at the beginning, Bradford could play. His numbers were steadily improving from year to year, and many felt that, with the right supporting cast (a stronger offensive line, better receivers, more stability at Offensive Co-ordinator), Bradford could have blossomed into a more efficient quarterback, pushing, at least, well into the second quartile. Perhaps what he needed was time. Unfortunately, his injury problems, and the understandable reactions of the front office and the fanbase, meant that he simply run out of it.

So, that’s that: Bradford is gone. There was no denying him being a good person, or a hard worker, or an individual perfectly prepared to take on the burden of being a starting quarterback in the NFL. And, yes, he was dreadfully unlucky. But we do not live in a world where good things happen to good people, and Bradford is just another victim of the unpredictable, often unjust, journey that is life.

This leaves Rams Nation with Nick Foles at the helm of a franchise desperate for some success. He had a good year…once. Just like Derek Anderson did. And only time will tell what the future has in store for our new quarterback, our team, and a much-heralded saviour who simply failed to deliver and whose departure marks the end of a disappointing era…and, quite possibly, the start of an optimistic one.

Next: Sam Bradford: Remembering the St. Louis Rams Quarterback

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