Is Sam Bradford Lying?

[tanderson1812]

I think it's interesting that Oklahoma drops to 3-2 and all of a sudden Sam Bradford is considering season ending surgery. I have a few theories about why he may be doing this. I think he likely doesn't have the arm strength he used to have, and the race for the Alamo Bowl just doesn't seem as important as a high draft pick. Or maybe Bob Stoops decided the difference between Laundry Jones and Sam was negligible when their O-line sucks as much as it does. Bottom line, everyone knows that the Sooners' season isn't salvageable and that Bradford should have entered the draft last year.

 

[HuskerBCS]

Great Topic! Im not sure but can't Bradford take a medical redshirt if he sits out the rest of the season and has surgery?

 

[hastingshusker]

Well he has a massive insurance policy that will dictate a lot of what he does, which is why he paid a visit to Dr. James Andrews. I doubt he is lying about anything, insurance companies won't let that happen.

 

[billdozer15]

Wouldnt shock me if Bradford doesnt come back this year. As i said when he first got hurt, he has the type of injury that will linger for an entire season if not given proper rest. He could potentially cost himself millions if he isnt right, by the time the draft comes around. I would bet after taking two losses he decided to cut his losses in the pocket book, get right and be ready for the draft.

I can totally see Bradford and Gresham going down in history as the example of why you dont throw away a winning lottery ticket. Twenty years from now some kid will want to come back for his senior year and the media will say "remember those two from OU?" Might as well throw Tebow in the mix too.

 

[Husker Runner]

"I knew from Day One that coming back and playing another year, there was a possibility of getting hurt," he said. "But I felt like the benefits of coming back and going through another year of college ... outweighed the risk of coming back and getting hurt.

"I still feel I made the right decision. I can't change that decision. So there’s really no reason to look back and second-guess myself now. I mean, money's not everything. Some people, they think it is. But to me, there are a lot more things. I dreamed about coming to Oklahoma and playing football. We didn't have a pro team in Oklahoma, so this was like my pro team.

"My experience here has been unbelievable. I felt like coming back and adding to my experience would be a great thing for me."

Bradford's decision to return also was based partly on making another run at a national championship. But he said shelving this season has not entered his mind despite the Sooners’ two losses.

"You say the national championship's out of the picture, but what happens if we win nine straight games and we win the Big 12?" he posed. "You know, there's still a possibility to win another Big 12 championship and become the first team to win four straight Big 12 titles.

"I mean, I still think there's a lot in front of this team. It would be extremely selfish for me to say, 'Oh, the possibility of a national championship is slim now, so why come back?’

"I've spent so many hours with these guys, and for me to say or even think about something like that is just extremely selfish."

Bradford said the uncertainty about his return has been "one of the most frustrating things about it" and that his NFL future is "a concern."

LINK

HIGHLY doubt he would even consider a medical redshirt. He goes into the draft whether he comes back this year or not.

 

[huzkerbob]

I think it's interesting that Oklahoma drops to 3-2 and all of a sudden Sam Bradford is considering season ending surgery. I have a few theories about why he may be doing this. I think he likely doesn't have the arm strength he used to have, and the race for the Alamo Bowl just doesn't seem as important as a high draft pick. Or maybe Bob Stoops decided the difference between Laundry Jones and Sam was negligible when their O-line sucks as much as it does. Bottom line, everyone knows that the Sooners' season isn't salvageable and that Bradford should have entered the draft last year.

I think it is more likely that shoulder injuries like his are a hit or miss situation. You can't always tell the extent or severity of it until given the chance to throw with it again. I myself had a pretty significant shoulder injury that still nags me to this day. Sometimes you just can't tell how these things are going to work out until you give it some time to heal, and then once you get back into active drills you should know whether the shoulder is coming together properly. Or if the damage to the ligaments are going to linger.

I know from my experience with a similar injury that I have never regained the velocity or accuracy when throwing. Granted I never had a team of professionals working on my rehab. And I didn't exactly take it easy on it in the months following it. But to say that he is faking the severity to gain some sort of psychological edge is more than a stretch, and by all accounts completely unfounded.

I'm not trying to be an a$$ here, I just think you shouldn't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes.

 

[HuskerExpat]

Wouldnt shock me if Bradford doesnt come back this year. As i said when he first got hurt, he has the type of injury that will linger for an entire season if not given proper rest. He could potentially cost himself millions if he isnt right, by the time the draft comes around. I would bet after taking two losses he decided to cut his losses in the pocket book, get right and be ready for the draft.

I can totally see Bradford and Gresham going down in history as the example of why you dont throw away a winning lottery ticket. Twenty years from now some kid will want to come back for his senior year and the media will say "remember those two from OU?" Might as well throw Tebow in the mix too.

He has insurance, so he hasn't thrown away a winning lottery ticket whatever happens. Either way, he gets paid!

 

[tanderson1812]

I think it's interesting that Oklahoma drops to 3-2 and all of a sudden Sam Bradford is considering season ending surgery. I have a few theories about why he may be doing this. I think he likely doesn't have the arm strength he used to have, and the race for the Alamo Bowl just doesn't seem as important as a high draft pick. Or maybe Bob Stoops decided the difference between Laundry Jones and Sam was negligible when their O-line sucks as much as it does. Bottom line, everyone knows that the Sooners' season isn't salvageable and that Bradford should have entered the draft last year.

I think it is more likely that shoulder injuries like his are a hit or miss situation. You can't always tell the extent or severity of it until given the chance to throw with it again. I myself had a pretty significant shoulder injury that still nags me to this day. Sometimes you just can't tell how these things are going to work out until you give it some time to heal, and then once you get back into active drills you should know whether the shoulder is coming together properly. Or if the damage to the ligaments are going to linger.

I know from my experience with a similar injury that I have never regained the velocity or accuracy when throwing. Granted I never had a team of professionals working on my rehab. And I didn't exactly take it easy on it in the months following it. But to say that he is faking the severity to gain some sort of psychological edge is more than a stretch, and by all accounts completely unfounded.

I'm not trying to be an a$$ here, I just think you shouldn't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes.

I'm not saying he's faking. I'm saying things changed after the Miami game. Look at the facts: They have lost to both ranked teams they've played, and all of a sudden season-ending surgery is on the table. Let's remember that until about Thursday of last week he was still thinking about playing in the Miami game!!! He can SAY that he still cares about the Sooners' season, that they still have goals, but let's be clear about one thing, Sam Bradford did not come back for the 4-5 losses they're looking at this year. What do you expect him to say? Talk is cheap. Also, of course it's unfounded. This is just speculation and conversation, so enjoy.

 

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

The surgery thing is nothing new. In fact he flew to Alabama about a week or two ago to talk to a doctor about having surgery on his shoulder. Their loss to Miami probably has nothing to do with whether or not he has surgery.

FYI..this should probably be moved to the Big 12 forum.

 

[craigsker]

Wouldnt shock me if Bradford doesnt come back this year. As i said when he first got hurt, he has the type of injury that will linger for an entire season if not given proper rest. He could potentially cost himself millions if he isnt right, by the time the draft comes around. I would bet after taking two losses he decided to cut his losses in the pocket book, get right and be ready for the draft.

I can totally see Bradford and Gresham going down in history as the example of why you dont throw away a winning lottery ticket. Twenty years from now some kid will want to come back for his senior year and the media will say "remember those two from OU?" Might as well throw Tebow in the mix too.

One guy that got away with coming back his senior year and it turned out well was Peyton Manning. I think Bradford and Tebow should've gone pro.

 

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Wouldnt shock me if Bradford doesnt come back this year. As i said when he first got hurt, he has the type of injury that will linger for an entire season if not given proper rest. He could potentially cost himself millions if he isnt right, by the time the draft comes around. I would bet after taking two losses he decided to cut his losses in the pocket book, get right and be ready for the draft.

I can totally see Bradford and Gresham going down in history as the example of why you dont throw away a winning lottery ticket. Twenty years from now some kid will want to come back for his senior year and the media will say "remember those two from OU?" Might as well throw Tebow in the mix too.

One guy that got away with coming back his senior year and it turned out well was Peyton Manning. I think Bradford and Tebow should've gone pro.

Tebow needed to come back to get more practice at being a drop back quarterback. I read something last year that said something to the effect that 99% of the snaps Tebow takes is out of the shotgun and that wasn't going to help his chances in the NFL.

 

[REDSTEEL]

Wouldnt shock me if Bradford doesnt come back this year. As i said when he first got hurt, he has the type of injury that will linger for an entire season if not given proper rest. He could potentially cost himself millions if he isnt right, by the time the draft comes around. I would bet after taking two losses he decided to cut his losses in the pocket book, get right and be ready for the draft.

I can totally see Bradford and Gresham going down in history as the example of why you dont throw away a winning lottery ticket. Twenty years from now some kid will want to come back for his senior year and the media will say "remember those two from OU?" Might as well throw Tebow in the mix too.

He has insurance, so he hasn't thrown away a winning lottery ticket whatever happens. Either way, he gets paid!

Think it has to be a career ending injury in order to collect the insurance not a drop in draft status.

 

[Enhance]

I can totally see Bradford and Gresham going down in history as the example of why you dont throw away a winning lottery ticket. Twenty years from now some kid will want to come back for his senior year and the media will say "remember those two from OU?" Might as well throw Tebow in the mix too.

Good point..

But, there is always the reverse side to this. I mean look at Suh. If he stays healthy and continues on this same pace he has been, here will be the statistics by the end of the regular season:

Total Tackles: 78

Tackles for Loss: 18

Sacks: 6

Pass Break Ups: 18

Quarterback Hurries: 6

These numbers were computed by taking what he has already done through 4 games and multiplying it by 3.

For an interior defensive lineman, his stats are amazing right now. If he keeps this up, his season ending totals will be phenomenal considering the position he plays.

 

[Blackshirt316]

FWIW Bradford is only a Junior and therefore wouldn't have to recieve a medical redshirt if he wanted to come back again. He could have surgery, sit out a year and come back but he could also play out the year, see where his draft stock is and if he's lower than he wants he could still come back if he wanted to.

No matter what he does right now changes his options for whether he goes pro or plays at OU next year, all he's deciding is if he #1 can play without surgery and #2 if it's better for his draft stock to play now or just sit out and try to have a good combine.

 

[junior4949]

A couple of things. His insurance policy is 3 million. More than likely, his signing bonus alone would have been this much money. Like someone else already posted, he doesn't get any of this money from the insurance policy unless he has a career ending injury. It's always nice to say he should have went pro considering he's now injured. However, how many players leave early and have poor pro careers due to simply not being ready? He's almost painted himself into a corner now. If he leaves this year, NFL teams are going to question his readiness to play in the NFL next year after basically missing his entire final college football season. However, if he comes back next year and doesn't have very good stats that will drop his draft status even more.