Bradford is done

Too bad Sam didn’t tell Stoops to kiss his ass and make the sensible decision 6 weeks ago. He probably cost himself millions of dollars listening to the cynical advice of his coach.

F Bob Stoops.

Hook ’em!!!

I wonder if he will still be a first-rounder. I’m not sure I’d feel god about taking him that early. Shoulder injuries are weird — see Chad Pennington’s career.

yeah, coming back this year in the first place was at best questionable, but the coming back too early… that’s just almost criminally stupid.

The injury against BYU was just one of those things – could have happened to anybody (although it’s certainly a lot more likely to happen to immobile QBs with really bad OLs…). But the re-injury, on a very normal tackle, the kind that all quarterbacks get numerous times a game… that’s got to raise red flags to the number-driven, risk-averse drafters of the NFL. Naturally the news from his camp post-surgery is going to be all sunshine and lollipops, with everybody toeing the “completely healed with zero chance of recurrence” line. But to give this much time to people who specialize in talking themselves out of good players every year… that could have been a very expensive decision.

Good for Sam. I hope he’s able to put the injury behind him and do well in the league.

That said, I second the motion to “F Bob Stoops.”

This espisode should be repeated early and often with prospective recruits considering OU.

Should the conspiracy theorist in me point out that Bradford cancelled a mid-week press conference to tell us this same info, while Bob Stoops openly claimed that OU could still win the Big XII South?

However, fast forward to this afternoon, and now suddenly Bradford has all the information he needs to annouce the same decision. What changed since the cancelled press conference on Wednesday? What new information did Bradford obtain?

Here’s a guess: Texas whips Mizzou (and OU whips Kansas), thereby effectively eliminating OU from the Big XII South for all practical purposes…why? Because Texas now needs to lose TWO games for OU to win the Big XII South, because even if we lose to OSU, OU has virtually no chance to be the highest ranked in a three-way tie with Texas and OSU. By beating Mizzou, while OU got a good look at how mediocre Kansas really is, Stoops realizes the cause is lost, and Texas ain’t losing more than one game, at most.

Suddenly, Bradford and Stoops agree that there’s nothing left for Bradford to play for this season, so time to announce what we already knew. Damn magnanimous that Bob Stoops!!

Nevermind, I won’t point this out.

I’m still waiting on the argument that a redshirt sophomore coming off of his second year as a starter is ready for an NFL career that doesn’t end with him being the next Alex Smith.

Gresham and Bradford were a co-dependent duo. One staying only made sense if the other stayed. Once Gresham went down, Bradford’s decision went from understandable and possibly reasonably to patently insane.

Nate,
It depends on how you measure the decision.

Have you checked Alex Smith’s bank account lately? It’s likely bigger than Bradford’s ever will be at this point, unless Bradford becomes a top shelf NFL QB and gets to a big second contract.

Had Bradford come out last year, he would have a larger bank account than Alex Smith, by an order of magnitude.

If you measure the decision in dollars, than it’s hard to argue that Alex Smith wasn’t much smarter than Sam Bradford.

If you measure the decision in terms of likely future NFL success, an UNINJURED Bradford would’ve made a smarter decision than Alex Smith, but now that Bradford is injured, we’ll have to wait and see.

“I’m still waiting on the argument that a redshirt sophomore coming off of his second year as a starter is ready for an NFL career that doesn’t end with him being the next Alex Smith. "

quit making this stupid argument. Bradford, like Alex Smith, was guaranteed $30-40 million if he left last year. One more year in college would not have helped Alex Smith avoid being a bust in the NFL, just like it wouldn’t Bradford. Idiot sooners keep making the argument that the $30+ million would be worthless if he ended up not being a star QB in the NFL. With that OL and the loss of the WR corps, there was nowhere to go but down for Bradford, both individually and from a team perspective. It was stupid stupid decision. And please don’t say that it was no different than Colt’s decision, who had much more upside from an individual and team perspective in college and in the NFL draft with the team he was coming back to.

Man, who cares about an NFL career? Most of these guys, even top of the draft quarterbacks, don’t pan out. But if you go top of the top you get big-time guaranteed money. Matt Stafford got approximately $41.7 million. That’s alot more than I’ll make in my entire life. That is plenty enough to where, even if you don’t perform and have a long NFL career you should never have to worry about money.

A third-rounder only got an average of $700K guaranteed. Second rounders got more like $1.9 million. Think on those numbers and tell me it ever makes sense for a top of the draft guy to come back for college. An nijury that drops you from the first round could literally cost you over $25 million bucks.

The fact that Stoops was able to get Gresham into college and keep him eligible for as long as he did proves he is the dirtiest coach in college football.

“The fact that Stoops was able to get Gresham into college and keep him eligible for as long as he did proves he is the dirtiest coach in college football.”

Dez Bryant and Jerrell Powe beg to differ. (Or they would, anyway, if they could spell “beg”.)

I behg two difer

I wonder if Landry Jones got him to come back early. His best bet for the draft after hurting his shoulder was to sit out until it was completely healed and come back next season – as a senior with no question marks.

But Landry Jones has looked good in spots and might not have wanted to give up the starting job. Bradford probably didn’t want a SImms/Applewhite situation, so he came back risking furthe injury to keep his job.

I don’t believe for a minute that OU was any better with him in that with Jones.

I keep hearing this concept that Landry Jones has looked good. Uh, ok. He did destroy a Tulsa team that is worse than expected. He also did ok against KU. He’s just a RS Freshman, I get that, but he just looks like a guy. He’s a decent college QB in the making. I don’t see anything more than that.

Sugarpants said:

October 25th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

I wonder if Landry Jones got him to come back early. His best bet for the draft after hurting his shoulder was to sit out until it was completely healed and come back next season – as a senior with no question marks.

But Landry Jones has looked good in spots and might not have wanted to give up the starting job. Bradford probably didn’t want a SImms/Applewhite situation, so he came back risking furthe injury to keep his job.

I don’t believe for a minute that OU was any better with him in that with Jones.

Seriously? Bradford wins a Heisman but is scared of a guy whose best win is Tulsa????

“"We want Sam to pursue the best option for his recovery and future," Stoops said. "We obviously feel this is best for his long-range future."

So now that Booby’s wrung everything that he can out of the kid, suddenly he’s interested in Sam’s future.

I’m no Doctor, but if there is one on this blog, why would you need surgery for a sprain? The article says that’s what he suffered against BYU. Don’t sprains just take time and not surgery to heal, or is a shoulder sprain different? If the surgery is required because it’s now worse than a sprain, well…I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’…

“I’m still waiting on the argument that a redshirt sophomore coming off of his second year as a starter is ready for an NFL career that doesn’t end with him being the next Alex Smith.”

sam now has to play significantly better than smith ever has and garner a second contract for him to see money anywhere near what he would have. throw in other facts like what was left on the team that he was coming back to and it makes his decision even more “idoitic”.

Its real simple, which is greater, make 20 million this year or $0? With no room to move up in the draft (since you were basically a lock to be the #1 pick over Stafford) there is no viable reason to come back to school, unless you were guilt-tripped into it. Nice business school you guys got up there. How far does an abacus count anyway?

"I’m still waiting on the argument that a redshirt sophomore coming off of his second year as a starter is ready for an NFL career that doesn’t end with him being the next Alex Smith."

Michael Vick made the Pro Bowl in what would have been his Senior year had he not left after his redshirt sophomore season.

A “redshirt sophomore” means he redshirted his freshman year, had three years of college and now would be a Senior if he hadn’t redshirted. A boat load of college football players skip their senior seasons for the draft every year. This whole “he needed added maturity” excuse from the Sooner camp is more of Stoop’s weak sauce. He had enough damned maturity to win the Heisman and play for a NC didn’t he?

If he needs surgery now, and no further damage was done to the shoulder after Aaron Williams’ hit, then doesn’t it stand to reason that he needed surgery prior to the Texas game? I wonder who’s lying.

Coooooogs and CTJ

I did say Landry Jones looked good in spots. He’s looked bad in spots too. Maybe he was looking good in practice. Maybe Bradford was worried that with another 6 starts under his belt the difference between him and Jones gets lost in the wash.

Maybe Sam got a little paranoid that his starting job would be lost or as I said, he would be labeled a “system quarterback” – that is not a stretch at all. In fact I think it’s pretty reasonable given the NFL success of other OU QBs. In fact, their only NFL QB right now is a guy who wasn’t that good at OU (Bomar).

Weird things go through your head when your fate is not in your own hands.

I think its safe to say that weird things go through the heads of Sooner fans in their attempts to rationalize the behavior of their coach.

@Trips right:

This is the question I was trying to get at in a different manner in my earlier post. The article says he suffered a shoulder sprain against BYU. Again, I’m no M.D., but do sprains ordinarily require surgery? If not, then either it wasn’t intitially a sprain, or he got hurt worse by playing against us. If so, I withdraw the question…with prejudice of course.

Is there a Docotor in the House…preferraby an orthorpedic surgeon?

Courtesy of the wondrous MMD:

TxTower, I am not sure if you’re trying to insinuate that I am a Sooner fan but that is an offense punishable by a deuce in one’s coffee where I am concerned.

Regardless of what Stoops did or didn’t say to Bradford a right-thinking kid probably would not have come back this season.

Bradford played two 14 game seasons on teams that threw a ton. He has more experience than most QB who get drafted before this season began

The clip of Bradford’s press conference indicates that, after the first injury, it was HIS intent to return this season all along. Vilify Stoops or stick to facts, your choice.

Yeah, and Austin Wood really wanted to stay in the game.

Doesn’t absolve the coach.

C and D:

http://www.scoi.com/acjoint.htm

“In severe cases, the shoulder may not heal without surgery.”

@Bob in Houston…Thanks for the link. Excerpted from it:

How long does it take for a shoulder separation to heal?

Depending on how severe the injury is, it may heal adequately in two to three weeks. In severe cases, the shoulder may not heal without surgery.

When and why is surgery necessary for AC Joint separations?

Usually surgery is reserved for those cases where there is residual pain or unacceptable deformity in the joint after several months of conservative treatment. The pain can occur with direct pressure on the joint, such as with straps from underwear or work clothing. Sometimes there will be catching, clicking, or pain with overhead activities, such as lifting, throwing, or reaching. Finally, in some people with very thin skin and very little muscular and soft tissue padding above their shoulders, the prominent clavicle after the separation may be considered unattractive, since the shoulder can appear to be unbalanced.

I think the first paragraph tells the story here. Surgery may be required only in severe cases which this distinguishes from those cases which require two to three weeks, which is what OU was telling everyone (albeit two to four weeks) right after the injury. Sam came back and played against Baylor 35 days and was throwing in practice before the Miami game.
 
The first sentence of the second paragraph is even more telling. “After several months of conservative treatment”. Looks like either this was a more sever injury than previously advertised (no way James Andrews misdiagnosed it) or, if it was initially of the two to three (or even five) week recovery variety, he hurt it worse by coming back.

What a fucking shame!

But hold the fuck on, Bob Stoops told us in no uncertain terms that the NFL gives you a grade of first round or second round. They don’t differentiate between top 5, top 10, or top 30.

The only two things I gather from this video is that Todd McShay is no Bob Stoops, and Sam Bradford will never answer the door for a dude that rode up on a bicycle wearing short sleeves and a tie.

“Sam, the NFL can’t guarantee you’ll go top 10. Why Jimmy Wilkerson…what? Who’s he? Damn, kids today. Wilkerson was a DE we had seven years ago…I thought you were a Sooners fan! Anyway, let me finish. The scouts told him he would go in the 2nd round, and he dropped to the 7th. Cost him $500k! They could be doing the same thing to you. Except it will cost you $2 million if you drop from 10 to 20 in the draft! You can’t trust those scouts. Me. You can trust me.”