Why I think Sam Bradford will be a bust...

Don't believe the hype...

Sam Bradford by all accounts was a phenomenal college quarterback, winning a Heisman trophy and leaving multiple records shattered in his wake.  Let's not think about the fact that he didn't win a National Championship and won a rare few meaningful games in his career.

Sam Bradford has everything scouts look for in an NFL quarterback.  He has the size, the athleticism, the accuracy, (almost) the arm strength, and the "intangibles" that everyone loves to talk about but nobody describes (because they're intangible, duh).

However, despite what many say, I'm not buying what Bradford is selling. People will point to the fact that QB's like Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, and Matthew Stafford all came in and had success that was unheard of for rookies but I don't think that argument holds much water.  What is the common denominator for those QB's who had a lot of success?  They all ran pro style offenses in college.

Bradford is one of the only players to come out with this much hype coming from a true college spread offense.  QB's at Texas Tech put up numbers that blow away Bradfords every year, but they never amount to anything.  People will point to arm strength being the deciding factor for Tech QB's, but I point to Chad Pennington.  Let's look at other QB's who have come from spread system's and been drafted high, Alex Smith, David Carr, Vince Young, and Rex Grossman.  The jury is still out on Young, but the rest are busts (although I think Alex Smith can resurrect his career).



The reason for this is simple.  The spread offense is designed to be easy for the quarterback to make decisions, he makes a pre-snap read and sends the ball to where it needs to go.  The spread offense capitalizes on the fact that college athletes aren't fast enough to cover all the holes it creates (whereas they are fast enough in the NFL).  This makes it real easy to play an effective offense, put up impressive stats and never truly have to read defenses.

Even with less impressive stats (Matt Ryan and Matt Stafford peaked at barely above 60% completion percentage in college) the practice in reading defenses as they relate to a pro-style offense already puts you ahead of the competition.  Bradford has not had practice at this.  Further, Bradford has run almost exclusively out of the shotgun, now this is becoming less and less of an issue as most pro teams run a lot out of the shotgun, it still leaves a big question mark about his footwork.  From all accounts Bradford is athletic and has the ability to have good footwork so that won't be a huge issue, but it's still there.  Let's also not forget that Bradford had injury problems behind a decent o-line last year, how is he going to fare behind an o-line like the Rams?  Not gonna be pretty.

I am not claiming to be an expert but I am claiming that I think Bradford will be a bust.  I have been wrong before (see: Ryan, Matt) but I really don't see anything from Bradford that makes me think he will be Peyton Manning or even Aaron Rodgers.  But what do I know?