Draft Preview: Sam Bradford’s Pro Day

Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford took his team to a BCS Championship, but the former University of Oklahoma quarterback threw his most important passes this week in front of just a handful of people.

On Monday, NFL scouts got their first look at Sam Bradford during his Pro Day. And with less than a month until the 2010 NFL Draft, teams were wanting to know one thing: Was his shoulder healthy?

Bradford is coming off major shoulder surgery to reconstruct his AC joint last October and has only been throwing for the last 4 weeks. There seems to be very few signs of the injured shoulder to worry about, however.

NFL scouts were on hand to watch Sam Bradford toss around 70 passes during his workout and the overall feeling is that Bradford looked very strong and healthy. Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll tweeted that Bradford “lit it up” and Gil Brandt, who was Vice President of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1988, stated in his NFL.com blog:

“… I think everyone here was in awe of Bradford’s performance. In fact, he put on the best quarterback workout by a draft prospect that I’ve seen since I watched a private workout Troy Aikman put on for us with the Cowboys in California.”

Now those are some very strong words of praise.

At 6 ft 5 in and 236 lbs., Bradford is the prototypical quarterback NFL Draft scouts love. One key issued addressed is that Bradford has added about 12 lbs. to his frame to strengthen up. Many scouts believed he was too skinny or fragile to survive the rigors of an NFL season.

By showcasing that his healthy shoulder Bradford is not an issue it looks like the biggest decision about Bradford is whether the Rams will use their #1 pick on him or not. The Rams passed on Matt Ryan two years ago and Mark Sanchez last year and will have to address their QB situation very soon which makes the Bradford pick a seemingly logical choice.