Buffalo Bills Sam Bradford Trade Options
By Dennis Amo
It was announced yesterday that Sam Bradford has been given the option to look elsewhere and try to find a trade option, if he feels he will not be given a fair shake in St. Louis. Sam Bradford is the one guy I like out their right now that is obtainable and could be a good fit for Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills.
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It has been mentioned that the trade price could be high, but what is high? Is it a first round pick? At this point, with Bradford only playing in 2 full seasons out of his 5 and the injuries that do come with his past, I don’t think that a first round is a viable deal for anyone at this point. Plus the Buffalo Bills don’t have one.
Buffalo does have a second and third round pick this year, so the possibility of offering a third for Sam Bradford seems like it would be a fair trade. Yes, Bradford was drafted 1st overall in the 2010 draft, but at this point, he is not worth that and if he was, St. Louis would not be allowing him to seek out compensation for a trade.
Sam Bradford does have injury issues stemming all the way back to college with his shoulders and most recently with his left ACL twice. In 2013, he was able to play in 7 games and then tore his left ACL and after having reconstructive surgery, he then tore the same ACL in last years preseason and missed the entire season. One could say that he is well rested at this point.
Sam Bradford does have the numbers that could be somewhat enticing as well. Over his 5 seasons in the NFL, he has just over 11,000 yards passing and almost a 2-1 ratio for touchdowns to interceptions; 59-38, a + 21 at this point. He is right around a 60% completion rating, and watching him throw the ball he is quite accurate consistently, something we don’t have in EJ Manuel currently.
In 2012, Sam Bradford attempted 551 passes. Out of those, 328 were completed for 3702 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 picks. Bradford didn’t show success in the passing game within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, but what wa promising is that he did show promise between the 10-19 yard range across the field as well as 20+ yards down the field over the middle. In 2012 Bradford attempted 93 passes between 10-19 yards and completed 54 of them for a total of 838 yards. He had 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
Beyond 20 yards, He attempted 72 passes and only completed 26 of them for 862 yards with 8 touchdowns and 6 picks.
Within 10 yards, Bradford 276 attempts with 196 completions for 1610 yards with 8 touchdowns and 4 picks.
In 2013, Sam Bradford had similar numbers but only spanning over the course of 7 games. He had 262 passes with 159 completions for 1689 yards with 14 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. His downfield numbers are pretty much the same from the previous years numbers but again for only 7 games.
Bradford has shown that he is an above average quarterback when he is on the field, and that is the major and only real concern with him. He is able to thrown the ball and be accurate and keep it away from the other team. I think that if Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills are able to commit to their ground and pound philosophy, then Sam Bradford is a viable choice for them at quarterback.
A third round pick in the 2016 draft with a conditional 2nd round pick in the same draft if the Buffalo Bills make the playoffs this coming year. I don’t think that teams will be paying much more than that for Bradford with the injury risk that is a possibility, but limiting his drop backs and setting the pace for when he does throw the ball, will be the best way to keep him on the field for the long term.
All stats were provided through Pro Football Focus
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