Don’t Believe Sam Bradford’s Contract Is Ridiculous?….I’ll Show You
I understand that Sam Bradford is the #1 pick in the NFL draft. I understand that he deserves #1 draft money. I understand that the Rams feel the need to pay #1 draft pick money. What I don’t understand is why the Rams picked such a ridiculous amount of money to give to an unproven player. The St. Louis Rams and QB Sam Bradford came to terms on a deal where Bradford will get a potential $76 million with $50 million guaranteed over six years. That makes him the highest rookie ever. The Rams are getting a pretty good reputation of ruining good quarterbacks with their shaky offensive line. Marc Bulger didn’t get his shoulder injury by throwing 100 passes a game, the line couldn’t keep him upright.
So with a shaky offensive line and a quarterback that has already had a serious shoulder injury, the Rams have decided to make Sam Bradford ultra rich whether he pans out or not. #1 quarterbacks are a high risk/high reward, and lately the reward side hasn’t panned out for many of the teams.
Here is the last #1 drafted quarterbacks in the last 10 years:
| Team | Player | Year Drafted | Contract Amt(guaranteed) |
| St. Louis Rams | Sam Bradford | 2010 | 50 million |
| Oakland Raiders | JaMarcus Russell | 2007 | 32 million |
| San Francisco 49ers | Alex Smith | 2005 | 24 million |
| San Diego Chargers | Eli Manning | 2004 | 20 million |
| Cincinnati Bengals | Carson Palmer | 2003 | 16.4 million |
| Houston Texans | David Carr | 2002 | 14 million |
| Atlanta Falcons | Michael Vick | 2001 | 3 million |
Excluding Bradford, four of these picks were duds(Vick, Russell, Carr, Smith) and I will say Palmer is on the fence, but I’ll give him a pass. So out of the past ten years a #1 drafted quarterback, only one has a Superbowl ring, and only two have been to a Conference Championship game. In a perfect situation, the odds would be stacked against a rookie quarterback. Now St. Louis and Bradford have the added pressure of living up to this humongous contract.
I know there are some serious roadblocks between the Player’s Association and owners, but there is one thing that shouldn’t be a problem. There has to be a rookie salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement. This is something that has spiraled out of control, and without that salary cap cannot be reigned in.
Erikka is the newest member of the BSO staff and resident female voice. You can follow her on twitter here.
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Just one fact that’s not correct in this piece. Michael Vick played in a Conference Championship against the Eagles in 2004. They lost and the Eagles eventually lost the Patriots that year…
Just fact checking.
Thanks for pointing that out, I corrected it…a few people on twitter let me know as well….lol
You forgot about Matthew Stafford also.
There are a lot of outlets talking about this subject but Im not sure why it's such a big deal. We all know that the #1 pick in the league gets paid an extraordinary amount of money and we all know that the agents push for their client to be paid more money (both guaranteed and non) than the previous #1 pick, so we knew it was gonna be bigger than Staffords' $42 million dollars in guarantees last season. Fortunately there will be more than likely a rookie scale whenever the Union and the League agree to a new CBA, however there's been talk about that being an sticking point in negotiations seeing that the union wants that money that would go to rookies to go to vets instead where the league wants some of it to go to retired players and the rest to stay in their pockets.
Also, I wouldnt include Vick in the category of Russell, Smith, and Carr. As another reader pointed out, not only did Vick lead the Falcons to a NFC Championship game, he also was on the verge of changing the way we looked at quarterbacks, until his stupidity got him suspended. Mike Vick won games with his feet and despite his inaccurate arm. I agree with you though that putting Bradford behind that line with the surgically repaired shoulder is a high risk. I was of the opinion they should have taken Suh at #1, but hey…. Maybe the Rams'll re-sign Torry Holt when the Pats cut him.
I put Vick as a dud because of his stupidity…the Falcons had to cut him and got no return on investment while in prison…no trade, no draft picks, no cash…nothing……but i can see if someone doesn't see him as a dud
How does it go from $3M to $50M guaranteed in less than 10 years!!!!!??? How do you jump $11M in one year?!? Something isn't right, and they need to get this under control.