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Strauss: Bradford's injury is a turning point for franchise
• Joe Strauss
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_0db41247-b12b-58bc-9524-4c2eaa4b8cd9.html
The loss of Rams quarterback Sam Bradford to a second season-ending injury to his left anterior cruciate ligament gives rise to competing narratives:
The first demands cancellation of all Happy Talk at Rams Park. The 2014 season is officially stillborn. Abandon ye all hope of a winning record or, guffaw, a run to the playoffs. Coach Jeff Fisher and the front office are to be drawn and quartered for ignoring the position during premium rounds of this spring’s draft.
The second pivots from the great expectations that surrounded Bradford’s return from last season’s rupture to back-up Shaun Hill’s fitness to manage the Rams’ ground-and-pound offensive scheme.
Those who rate player value for
handicapping purposes projected Bradford’s worth at about one point per game above replacement. Regarding Hill, Fisher said Sunday, “There’s not a throw he can’t make.”
Short term, it’s challenging. Long term, it’s pitch black.
For now the Rams hand the ball to a quarterback who has attempted 16 passes the last three regular seasons.
Hill is backed by Austin Davis and SMU rookie Garrett Gilbert, who have little in common except they play the same position and have never thrown a pass in an NFL game that’s counted. The question isn’t whether the Rams will add quarterback depth in the next week or two, but who he will be.
Perhaps Hill can maintain his .500 record (13-13) as an NFL starter. He seemingly throws a nice ball from a three-quarters angle. He’s 34 and probably better suited for the situation than if the Rams had thrown in with Johnny Goofball or one of several other SEC quarterbacks available when they took Auburn rusher Tre Mason with their third-round pick.
Apologies for not buying into the knee-jerk Kurt Warner comparisons. Warner was a comet that comes around every three decades, not a lightning strike that hits the same spot every 15 years.
Folks who compare Hill favorably to Kellen Clemens may be entitled to their optimism. But that’s within the context of a possible break-even season.
The ramifications of Bradford’s relapse more dramatically impact the team’s long-term future. It is fair to say next season’s starter is probably not on campus. This is tough medicine for a franchise entering the third season of a three-year blueprint. Saturday night in Cleveland necessitates a paradigm shift.
Spending an early pick on a quarterback wouldn’t have softened the loss of Bradford for this season, but it may have offered direction down the road. Worse, Bradford goes down a second time after draft leverage gained via the RG III trade has evaporated. Fisher had no problem telling the world Bradford was his quarterback days before this year’s draft. Now the position is a long-term void.
No matter how clinical, how objective one wants to remain on the topic, it’s difficult not to wince at Bradford’s personal challenge.
Sure, the game has made Bradford obscenely wealthy, a fact numerous anonymous on-line critics cite when alleging organizational myopia or some sort of “toughness” deficiency on the quarterback’s part. Argue away whether the Rams reached when taking Bradford with the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. The belief here remains that Bradford never represented a transcendent talent. But he did become the league’s offensive rookie of the year. He did elevate his play before the left knee crumbled in last season’s seventh game. It was entirely believable his career arc would ascend along with the talent level around him.
Bradford rarely left St. Louis during his rehab. Pushing to get ready for Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, he became a daily 12-hour presence at Rams Park. Hostage to a seven-month rehab, he slumped in a chair June 19 mere moments after the Rams’ final optional training activity.
Bradford confessed he needed to gain additional stamina in the leg but also was pleased that the mentally exhausting daily routine was behind him. He could again travel, play some golf, have a life.
Now, without having taken a single regular-season snap, Bradford knows exactly the torture that awaits him. Fisher described the 26-year-old as “devastated.” Recalling the guy sitting in that chair two months ago, it’s possible to think Fisher’s term an understatement.
The Rams stand convicted of growing personally attached to a player within the most bottom-line of sports. Bradford has long been reluctant to let media close. He is far more engaging one-on-one than standing before a media mosh pit. Those with more regular, relaxed access describe a sincere, engaging guy who exhibits no trappings of the ego that typically accompanies the most important position in team sport. Bradford has done Vegas. (And why not?)
But reflecting on Johnny Manziel’s recent single-finger salute of the Washington Redskins’ bench, an Earth City type noted how liberating it was not having to obsess about this quarterback being attached to such goofball, distracting behavior.
But now Bradford’s anterior cruciate ligament is badly bowed. A reality encroaches that the Rams can never again trust him as starting quarterback, at least not under terms of a contract that would pay him more than $16 million next season.
Saturday night in Cleveland ended an era in which the Rams could proceed on what they wanted to happen. Today they must tacitly acknowledge what needs to happen.
In the next eight months the Rams must decide whether to pursue a free agent such as Alex Smith, to trade for someone else’s talent (Kirk Cousins) or to move all-in to gain an early first-round selection to be exercised on Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota or some other luminary within a quarterback-rich draft.
One hopes this season still viable. The current regime has done solid work exhuming the franchise by granting time to younger players rather than trying to fool folks with blanket retreads.
Fisher showed himself able to manage a tough situation last season. Unfortunately, it will be riveting to watch how this organization does the same going forward.
• Joe Strauss
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_0db41247-b12b-58bc-9524-4c2eaa4b8cd9.html
The loss of Rams quarterback Sam Bradford to a second season-ending injury to his left anterior cruciate ligament gives rise to competing narratives:
The first demands cancellation of all Happy Talk at Rams Park. The 2014 season is officially stillborn. Abandon ye all hope of a winning record or, guffaw, a run to the playoffs. Coach Jeff Fisher and the front office are to be drawn and quartered for ignoring the position during premium rounds of this spring’s draft.
The second pivots from the great expectations that surrounded Bradford’s return from last season’s rupture to back-up Shaun Hill’s fitness to manage the Rams’ ground-and-pound offensive scheme.
Those who rate player value for
handicapping purposes projected Bradford’s worth at about one point per game above replacement. Regarding Hill, Fisher said Sunday, “There’s not a throw he can’t make.”
Short term, it’s challenging. Long term, it’s pitch black.
For now the Rams hand the ball to a quarterback who has attempted 16 passes the last three regular seasons.
Hill is backed by Austin Davis and SMU rookie Garrett Gilbert, who have little in common except they play the same position and have never thrown a pass in an NFL game that’s counted. The question isn’t whether the Rams will add quarterback depth in the next week or two, but who he will be.
Perhaps Hill can maintain his .500 record (13-13) as an NFL starter. He seemingly throws a nice ball from a three-quarters angle. He’s 34 and probably better suited for the situation than if the Rams had thrown in with Johnny Goofball or one of several other SEC quarterbacks available when they took Auburn rusher Tre Mason with their third-round pick.
Apologies for not buying into the knee-jerk Kurt Warner comparisons. Warner was a comet that comes around every three decades, not a lightning strike that hits the same spot every 15 years.
Folks who compare Hill favorably to Kellen Clemens may be entitled to their optimism. But that’s within the context of a possible break-even season.
The ramifications of Bradford’s relapse more dramatically impact the team’s long-term future. It is fair to say next season’s starter is probably not on campus. This is tough medicine for a franchise entering the third season of a three-year blueprint. Saturday night in Cleveland necessitates a paradigm shift.
Spending an early pick on a quarterback wouldn’t have softened the loss of Bradford for this season, but it may have offered direction down the road. Worse, Bradford goes down a second time after draft leverage gained via the RG III trade has evaporated. Fisher had no problem telling the world Bradford was his quarterback days before this year’s draft. Now the position is a long-term void.
No matter how clinical, how objective one wants to remain on the topic, it’s difficult not to wince at Bradford’s personal challenge.
Sure, the game has made Bradford obscenely wealthy, a fact numerous anonymous on-line critics cite when alleging organizational myopia or some sort of “toughness” deficiency on the quarterback’s part. Argue away whether the Rams reached when taking Bradford with the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. The belief here remains that Bradford never represented a transcendent talent. But he did become the league’s offensive rookie of the year. He did elevate his play before the left knee crumbled in last season’s seventh game. It was entirely believable his career arc would ascend along with the talent level around him.
Bradford rarely left St. Louis during his rehab. Pushing to get ready for Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, he became a daily 12-hour presence at Rams Park. Hostage to a seven-month rehab, he slumped in a chair June 19 mere moments after the Rams’ final optional training activity.
Bradford confessed he needed to gain additional stamina in the leg but also was pleased that the mentally exhausting daily routine was behind him. He could again travel, play some golf, have a life.
Now, without having taken a single regular-season snap, Bradford knows exactly the torture that awaits him. Fisher described the 26-year-old as “devastated.” Recalling the guy sitting in that chair two months ago, it’s possible to think Fisher’s term an understatement.
The Rams stand convicted of growing personally attached to a player within the most bottom-line of sports. Bradford has long been reluctant to let media close. He is far more engaging one-on-one than standing before a media mosh pit. Those with more regular, relaxed access describe a sincere, engaging guy who exhibits no trappings of the ego that typically accompanies the most important position in team sport. Bradford has done Vegas. (And why not?)
But reflecting on Johnny Manziel’s recent single-finger salute of the Washington Redskins’ bench, an Earth City type noted how liberating it was not having to obsess about this quarterback being attached to such goofball, distracting behavior.
But now Bradford’s anterior cruciate ligament is badly bowed. A reality encroaches that the Rams can never again trust him as starting quarterback, at least not under terms of a contract that would pay him more than $16 million next season.
Saturday night in Cleveland ended an era in which the Rams could proceed on what they wanted to happen. Today they must tacitly acknowledge what needs to happen.
In the next eight months the Rams must decide whether to pursue a free agent such as Alex Smith, to trade for someone else’s talent (Kirk Cousins) or to move all-in to gain an early first-round selection to be exercised on Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota or some other luminary within a quarterback-rich draft.
One hopes this season still viable. The current regime has done solid work exhuming the franchise by granting time to younger players rather than trying to fool folks with blanket retreads.
Fisher showed himself able to manage a tough situation last season. Unfortunately, it will be riveting to watch how this organization does the same going forward.
