Jake Trotter, OU reporter
OU Insider: Season over for Sam Bradford
‘Disappointed’: QB will have surgery, plans to enter April’s NFL Draft
By Jake Trotter
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51
Published: October 26, 2009
NORMAN — The announcement finally came, not during an overblown press conference, but via the University of Oklahoma’s Twitter page Sunday afternoon.
OU quarterback Sam Bradford said Sunday he will have season-ending surgery and likely enter April’s NFL Draft. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN
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Sooner quarterback
Sam Bradford will undergo season-ending surgery on his separated throwing shoulder Wednesday, and enter April’s NFL Draft if all goes as planned.
"I’m very disappointed that it didn’t work out differently,” said Bradford, who will have the operation done by renowned surgeon
Dr. James Andrews in
Birmingham, Ala. "Under these circumstances, and after talking to several people, this is the right thing for me to do at this point.”
While the announcement was modest, discussion surrounding Bradford’s draft stock won’t be. In fact, it will be as big as any story line in the entire draft.
Will he be the top quarterback taken? Or will he fall out of the top 10?
Those answers will depend on several factors, notably how quickly Bradford can return and work out for scouts; how those scouts will view him after a sub-par junior season that ended with him reinjuring his separated shoulder; how many teams at the top of the draft will be looking to select a quarterback; and what other quarterbacks are available in this draft.
The recovery time for Bradford’s surgery is expected to take between four and six months. The
NFL Scouting Combine is in four months. The draft, in six. Which means Bradford probably won’t be able to work out for the Combine. So his chance at erasing some of the doubt that will surround his recovering shoulder will be during a pro day in either March or early April.
"I’ll be up to the challenge,” he said.
But Bradford would be wise not to hire an agent for a while, at least until he knows his shoulder can meet that timetable. If it can’t, leaving the door open to return to school would be a good safety net, because teams are unlikely to spend high-round money on a player they haven’t put through a workout.
Yet even with a banner showing at pro day, there’s nothing Bradford can do at this point to shake the stigma held by some heading into the draft that he’s injury-prone or that his 2008 success was largely a product of surrounding talent.
But every young quarterback has negatives and red flags. Just last year, several scouts felt
Mark Sanchez didn’t have enough starts in college to warrant a high selection. Yet that didn’t stop the
New York Jets from taking him with the fifth overall pick and making him their starter during the preseason. Like Sanchez, Bradford just has to show one team that his positives — arm strength, accuracy, intelligence, character — outweigh his negatives.
And that he’s worth taking over the other quarterbacks available, which is still fluid. Washington’s
Jake Locker and Notre Dame’s
Jimmy Clausen appear to be Bradford’s top competition in the draft, though both are juniors and still could return to school for another season.
But beyond that, Bradford seems unlikely to fall past any other quarterback. And while Locker and Clausen are both having outstanding seasons, neither seems to be the kind of can’t-miss prospect that
Matthew Stafford was last year, or that
Matt Ryan was in 2008.
Bradford seemed to be on his way to becoming that can’t-miss prospect, until his shoulder injury. Both
ESPN analysts
Mel Kiper and
Todd McShay had Bradford as the consensus No. 1 pick for the 2010 draft during the preseason. So even with what’s happened since, the quarterback situations of many of the NFL’s worst franchises — like the
Redskins,
Rams, and
Raiders — will force them to take a hard look at Bradford in the top 10.
Which is why Bradford will carry more intrigue into this draft than any other player.
Wrote Kiper, "He’ll definitely get drafted. He’s still high on my big board.
"But he’s also turned into a total wild card.”
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And Paul from Yukon...grow up! Connie didn't say Christians don't lie. Read it before writing moron!
People like you only try to hurt people by your words. That is what is "pathetic", to use your word. This article is about Sam--as I said in my earlier comment--NOT ABOUT FANS! Football is not the end all to everything--it's how a person lives their life.