Sam to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated

For the second time, Sam Bradford will be Sports Illustrated’s cover boy.

Bradford is the focus of the magazine’s preview of the NFL Draft, which will begin with the first round Thursday night.

The headline is “Call To Arms: Franchise QBs are there for the taking — and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford tops the list.”

SI senior writer Damon Hack talked with the former Sooners star about surgery on his highly scrutinized throwing shoulder, the ensuing three-month layoff and his drive to prove that he has what it takes to carry an NFL franchise.

Even as he got stronger and tightened his footwork, Bradford was thinking about his shoulder. He’d exchanged text messages and phone calls with the Saints’ Drew Brees and the 49ers’ Alex Smith—two quarterbacks who’d undergone similar procedures with (Dr. James) Andrews—but he couldn’t know if he’d heal with the same success. As he put on weight (about 13 pounds of muscle), he still wondered what the 10- and 12-hour days would lead to. ‘The whole time you’re doing rehab, you’re just thinking, I hope this pays off,’ Bradford, 22, says.