The Rams new head coach had some very strong positive words about his franchise quarterback. Jeff Fisher said this week that Sam Bradford could be the best quarterback in the league, given a little time, but Bradford needs more than a little time – he needs some complementary players on the offensive side of the ball.
“There’s no doubt,” Fisher said on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning. “There’s a number of friends of mine in the league that know the league, and I had one of them tell me during the process that they thought Sam may be one of the better quarterbacks — or the best quarterback — in the league, he just hasn’t had a chance to prove it yet. That weighed very heavily in my opinion. Very, very impressive player. I think he has a tremendous upside.”
That’s a very strong endorsement from his coach – is it just backing his quarterback, or is there an argument to be made for Bradford? It’s way too early to hang the “elite” label on Bradford, but he has lots of potential. Ultimately, the onus is largely on Fisher to put other pieces around Bradford if he is going to be successful.
Bradford certainly has potential, there’s no doubt about that. He has two seasons under his belt now, and although he didn’t put up Cam Newton-esque numbers, he has had two solid seasons. In his rookie year, he completed 60 percent of his passes for over 3,500 yards with 18 TDs and 15 INTs. This past season, his second, he battled a high ankle sprain for much of the year. He ended up playing in 10 games, and his statistics regressed a bit (53.5 percent completion, 2,164 yards, 6 TDs and 6 INTs) but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and blame the injury.
If Bradford stays healthy, he should be able to improve on his rookie numbers, which would certainly put him in the top half of the league. The question is – what pieces does he have around him? No quarterback is going to put up big numbers, or lead his team to wins, without some weapons.
In 2012, the Rams had the second worst offense in the league in terms of yardage, ahead of only Jacksonville. They had the third worst passing attack in the league, averaging only 179.4 yards per game (ahead of only Jacksonville and Denver). But since Bradford averaged 216 yards per start (middle-of-the-pack numbers), the team suffered greatly when he wasn’t on the field.
Steven Jackson was solid running the ball, with 1145 yards and averaging 4.4 yards per carry, but as a team, they had the 23rd best rushing attack in the league. They need some depth behind Jackson to improve their running game, and they need to find Bradford some targets in the passing game.
The Rams did top one offensive statistical category – they gave up the most sacks in the league last year with 55. So add some offensive line help to the list, along with running back and wide receiver.
Brandon Lloyd, their top receiver last year, is gone to the Patriots in free agency. Lloyd was the only receiver who had more than 450 yards receiving last year. Torry Holt, wide receiver from the Rams’ glory days with Kurt Warner, recently signed a one day contract to retire as a Ram, but looking at their roster, maybe he should have stuck around.
The Rams picked up a slew of draft picks in the trade with the Redskins, and they had better use those on adding some weapons to the Rams offense. There’s a reasonably good chance that the top wide receiver on the board could slip to the Rams in the number six slot, so adding Justin Blackmon is a great start. The Rams also have two picks in the top seven slots in the second round, giving them three of the top 40 players.
For Bradford to really move into the top tier, he needs a lot of additional pieces around him, including a couple of receivers, a backup running back, and a much improved offensive line. With all those additional pieces, Bradford could become an elite quarterback some day. Unfortunately, that’s a very extensive shopping list. The additional draft picks from the Redskins trade will help a lot, but this is too many pieces to try to fill in one year. Look for the Rams to being the rebuilding process this season, but it will require at least two years before Fisher can delivery on his lofty words.
