25 most sought after NFL quarterback draft prospects of all time
By Zach Bigalke
It isn’t often that a player projected as a top pick decides to return to school, gets injured and actually improves his draft stock. That is pretty much what happened to Sam Bradford, the Oklahoma phenom who won the Heisman and guided the Sooners to the BCS Championship game as a redshirt sophomore in 2008.
After losing that title game to Florida, Bradford opted to forgo what looked like a definite first-round selection to return to Norman for another shot at the national championship.
Playing against BYU in the 2009 NCAA season opener, Bradford set the all-time Oklahoma career passing record — then suffered a shoulder strain on the next play.
After returning a few weeks later, Bradford re-injured the shoulder against Texas in the Red River Shootout. Though he played in only 31 college games, Bradford threw for 8,400 yards and 88 touchdowns against only 16 interceptions.
Despite already having a surgically repaired throwing shoulder, Bradford went No. 1 overall to the then-St. Louis Rams. The contract proved the largest for a rookie in NFL history, coming right before changes to the rookie wage scale that prevented future high draft picks from landing a Bradford-like deal. Signed to a six-year deal that provided $50 million in guaranteed money, the Sooner star became the immediate starter for the Rams.
In four years of playing time with the Rams, Bradford went 18-30-1 while throwing for 11,000 yards and 59 touchdowns. St. Louis finished with a losing record from 2010 through 2014, as Bradford struggled to find his way. After losing a season to a preseason ACL injury in 2014, Bradford was traded to Philadelphia with a pair of draft picks for Nick Foles and a fifth-round Eagles selection.
Since then, Bradford has bounced around the league from Philadelphia to Minnesota to Arizona. Bradford lost all three of his starts in 2018 for the Cardinals before a midseason release, and he is currently a free agent looking for a fifth NFL team to give him a chance.