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Pros: Has very impressive accuracy, has a good quick release, has good arm strength, puts touch on passes when necessary, can make all the throws, was very productive when he was healthy, seems to recognize blitzes well, finds his hot read quickly and gets the ball out when pressure is on it’s way, has good mobility and athleticism to extend the play, throws on the run pretty well and can scramble for yardage if nothing is open. Does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield as he scrambles outside of the tackle box as well. Does not have an issue throwing passes to the sidelines, has ample arm strength for that.

Cons: Played almost exclusively out of the shotgun and when he was under center he almost always ran play action and rolled out, making it easier to read the defense. He will need to adjust to taking more snaps from under center, though he shouldn’t have an issue doing so given the fact that he has taken some snaps from under center at Oklahoma. Will need to work on his three, five and seven step drops because he rarely took a snap and executed a drop like that in Oklahoma’s spread offense. He has a good throwing motion even if it is a little bit of a ¾ delivery, but he needs to improve his footwork in the pocket. He could also stand to improve his ability to buy time in the pocket without scrambling. He either had all day to throw as a sophomore or he was regularly scrambling outside when it wasn’t always necessary. He has some serious injury and toughness concerns that will need to be addressed, and I personally am not sold on his football IQ and his leadership capability given his tendency to stare down receivers and his problems winning big games. Especially the ones against Texas and Florida.

Overall: While I may not be a big fan of Bradford, he sure does have a lot of talent. He has amazing accuracy, good arm strength and pretty good size even if does look skinny on film. He needs to toughen up and learn to take hits better if he is going to be a successful NFL QB, because his shoulder injury occurred on a pretty typical hit after he delivered the ball. It will be interesting to see if his leadership capability and football IQ check out, as I have heard conflicting reports about his football IQ. I have heard that he audibles at the line and decides which play to run at the line of scrimmage, and I have also heard that he gets all of the audibles and play-calls from the sideline, so I don’t know what to believe. Either way, I am not sold on him as a leader. He will need at least a year if not two years of development as he adjusts from the wide open spread offense he ran at Oklahoma to a pro-style offense that he will run in the NFL. He has a lot of talent and if he gets drafted by a team willing to be patient with him he could turn out to be a quality QB. However if he is rushed or goes to the wrong situation with a poor supporting cast I think he will bust. He is a boom/bust pick in my opinion, and it is up to the team who drafts him and their coaching staff to bring him along slowly to maximize his chance at success.

Projection: Top 10-15. He is too talented and has too much potential to slide any farther than this even with the injury, toughness and spread offense concerns.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

ARM STRENGTH: 3.5
ACCURACY: 4.5
MOBILITY: 3.0
DECISION MAKING: 3.0
MECHANICS: 3.0
POCKET AWARENESS: 3.5
INTANGIBLES: 3.0

Sam Bradford
6-4/220
Oklahoma Junior

PROS: Tall, poised passer that has a good arm capable of making all of the throws. Has very good accuracy, timing, and touch on most of his throws. Is stronger than he looks despite slight frame. Mobile, throws well on the run, and keeps his eyes downfield. Can pick up yards with his legs when the pass breaks down. Makes good decisions with the ball and takes advantage of what's given to him. Has polished mechanics and has a quick release.
CONS: Limited snaps from under center, and needs to improve his footwork when working as a dropback passser. Rarely is pressured and has lacking pocket presence to feel and avoid the rush. Locks onto receivers and takes too long to go through his progressions at times. Doesn't have experience reading defenses and in-play adjustments are made from the sideline in Oklahoma's offense. Has a three-quarters release which can have a bit of a low trajectory coming out. Coming off shoulder injury to throwing arm.
OVERVIEW: Bradford missed most of this season due to him injuring his shoulder in the season opener. He is a very polished passer that is smart and showed leadership and poise right from the start of his Oklahoma career. But playing in OU's spread attack will take some transition to the pro offense because he worked out of the shotgun mostly, rarely was pressured until this past season, and never really was asked to read the defense pre-snap because of their "check with me" scheme from the coaches on the sideline.
NFL FORECAST: Bradford is going to need some time to transition to the pro offense, but there's no reason to believe he won't be able to do it. But he is going to need some time and he probably isn't a good option to play right away. He's a player that should be given a few weeks at the beginning of the season to sit and watch before being asked to lead a team, because it's a significant transition he's going to have to make. But he does possess the intangibles to make the transition. And while he won't be a bad quarterback right off the bat, the fact that he's played very little in the past year means he's not likely to get off to a fast start as a rookie. With more reps, he'll be able to transition to a dropback passer. He won't be a threat to run at the next level, and it wouldn't hurt if he filled out his frame a bit more to absorb the NFL punishment. I think he'll be a solid passing QB once he starts to grasp an NFL offense. Bradford should be a much better quarterback two or three years down the road than he will be at the outset of his career. His learning curve is steep, but I believe once he gets over those first few hurdles, his progression will be very steep. His accuracy and timing are about as you'll expect to see from a college quarterback. He'll hit a hurdle with how much faster the NFL game is, which is why he should sit at the outset. And he'll have to prove that he can develop a feel for pressure. But if you ask me, I suspect that down the road Bradford will be a similar player to what Kurt Warner is now in his later years in Arizona. And Warner has never had the best pocket presence either.
ATL FORECAST: Obviously Bradford and Ryan don't quite mix. Bradford could work in Atlanta because he could sit and watch behind Ryan and then be dealt down the road for future picks.
VALUE: Bradford isn't quite NFL ready to merit being a Top 5 pick. But for a team in the Top 10 that has some other options to at least start the season, he would be a worthwhile choice. But ideally for a team that is looking for him to compete right away, he's probably better going in the No. 10-15 range.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

ARM STRENGTH: 4.0
ACCURACY: 4.5
MOBILITY: 3.0
DECISION MAKING: 4.5
MECHANICS: 4.0
POCKET AWARENESS: 2.5
INTANGIBLES: 4.0

Sam Bradford - QB - Oklahoma
Height: 6'4
Weight: 236
40 Time: 4.70
Projected: 1st Overall

Positives:

- 2 year starter, 3rd season got cut short due to injury
- Great size
- Good athlete
- Extremely productive
- Elite accuracy
- Has the necessary arm strength to make every throw
- Very mobile
- Can tuck the ball and run to pick up the first when needed
- Keeps his eyes downfield when scrambling
- Good footwork and follow through
- Tough and will take a hit to make a play
- Has potential to develop into one of the best QB's in the NFL
- Calm and composed
- Good leader

Negatives:

- Huge durability issues
- Doesn't have the best throwing motion
- Played mostly from shotgun in a spread offense
- Will have to learn drop backs from under center
- Doesn't do a good job of reading defenses and will struggle with this coming from under center
- Coaches called the plays and audibles for him
- Checks down too much
- Doesn't have a good internal clock
- Doesn't do a good job of stepping up in the pocket, instead rolls out when its not necessary
- Isn't good at anticipating when routes will come open
- Stats we're inflated by the system
- Despite having a talented team, struggles to win big games

Overview:

I am a bit baffled that Sam Bradford is almost the unanimous #1 QB in this years draft. The Rams are pretty much set on selecting him first overall. He is not as good as Jimmy Clausen to me. Bradford played in a spread offense that inflated his stats and ran a lot of 4 and 5 WR sets. This usually frees up guys over the middle or running short routes and that's where Bradford was successful. He got the ball out quickly to his wide open guys and they made plays. He doesn't do a good job of reading defenses and will struggle with this much, much more when he has to drop back from under center in the NFL. He doesn't do a good job of anticipating routes coming open because at Oklahoma, the system pretty much always had 1 guy running free. He is also to willing to check down instead of reading the defense and knowing where the open guy is. He rarely threaded the needle with passes in between defenders because he really didn't have to. I think he will have to work very hard in the NFL in order to be successful and he really has to spend a lot of time watching film. I see a very slim chance of him coming in right away and succeeding. And on top of all of that he still has a lot of question marks about his throwing shoulder.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

ARM STRENGTH: 3.5
ACCURACY: 4.5
MOBILITY: 3.5
DECISION MAKING: 2.5
MECHANICS: 3.5
POCKET AWARENESS: 2.5
INTANGIBLES: 3.0