Sam Bradford Looks Impressive: Tease or Preview of His Career?

Added on Aug 27, 2010 by Eric Galko in

NFL

I am a huge supporter of not taking much if anything away from the Pre-Season, as there have been numerous occasions where it means next to nothing. I usually look for three things in pre-season: Injuries, Position Battles, and Rookies.

In this case, I gave Sam Bradford a look against the Patriots. And against a team that I think could be playoff bound, he didn’t look bad at all.I will go on record that I liked and still like Jimmy Clausen more than Bradford as a prospect for the future. However, I felt that Bradford could still be a solid starter in the NFL. It could be a while until this future solid starter has a chance to have a solid season.

The offensive line is ugly at best and his receivers are only lackluster. His top weapon, Donnie Avery, was injuried in the game in question, and may be out for the year. Another major blow to Bradford’s comfort as a quarterback in St. Louis.

However, despite having a weak offensive line and few weapons, Bradford looked pretty good. Well, pretty damn good.

I won’t rattle of stats, because again I don’t believe they mean anything in pre-season, but his accuracy was as good as expected coming out of college if not better. His arm strength didn’t get tested all that much, but his touch and his overall feel for pressure and his receivers routes were very impressive.

It looks more and more likely that Bradford will be the opening day starter for the Rams, and while I think that’s a mistake for the Rams, as putting their 50 million dollar guaranteed investment out their this early is begging for a letdown, he is the best quarterback the Rams have as of now.

Now, you can’t expect this to be the Bradford for the 2010 season and beyond. This was pre-season against one of the lower defenses last year and against coaching that is worried more about testing things and players out than winning the game.

However, his play in training camp and now in this game gives me the confidence to say that he’s not going to be JaMarcus Russell. That’s about as far as I’ll go. Bradford looked solid, but we’ll have to see if his shoulder holds up, if his franchise can build around him, and if he can develop into a top flight quarterback.