BREAKING NEWS: Rams, Bradford agree on six-year $78 million deal w/$50 mil guaranteed

[tomahawk247]

I'm glad he's in camp, but really....did we have to pay the guy 50 mil guranteed??? Yes he reminds you physcially of Peyton, but we could have given him between 42-45 mil (since Matthew got 41 and some change last year guaranteed). Oh well, time to get to work and see if he can wrestle the #1 job away from A.J. Feely.

Whats more important? Getting Bradford in camp right away so he can learn, take over the starting job and lead this team, or arguing over a few million, having Bradford sit out of camp sessions, fall behind and having AJ Feeley start for the Rams until Bradford is ready?

And what makes you think we could have given him 42-45 mil? Where is the evidence that supports that?

You can't just speculate and say he would have accepted less when their is no evidence to suggest that is the case

[Ramblin` Ram]

good to see.
now,next hurdle..injury free pre-season and then win some games in the regular season.

[berg8309]

And Bradford plummets in the draft if we don't take him, which means that he stood to lose a decent amount of coin if he took a hard line.

I doubt he would make it past 3, seriously doubt it, which isn't plummeting. And Matt Ryan proved that you don't need to be drafted #1 overall to get the biggest contract if you are a QB. (#1 Jake Long $57.5mil, #2 Chris Long $56.5mil, #3 Matt Ryan $72mil...Ryan also received the most guaranteed).

I'm not saying Bradford wouldn't have lost some money - he would have. However he still would have the largest contract in the draft, and probably close enough to what he would get at #1 overall that Condon wouldn't feel like he was losing leverage.

[Nick]

And negotiating with Bradford before the draft would not have made a difference.

You can't just speculate and say he would have accepted less when their is no evidence to suggest that is the case

You speculated that pre-draft negotiations wouldn't have made a difference, why can't someone else speculate and say they would have? I don't know that they would or wouldn't have, but I think either side should be able to make their case.

It's kind of a moot point, because what's done is done. The Rams, for whatever reason, did not sign Bradford to a pre-draft deal. Contract negotiations began in mid-July, and finished last night after three rookie practices but before the first full-squad practice. The Rams will say that was the goal, regardless of whether it was or not, and will move on to getting Sam ready for the season.

Bradford is now making Top 5 money, or Top 8 money assuming Peyton, Brady, and Brees use Sam's contract to leverage their own extensions. When you're making Top 5-8 money, the expectation is that you are a Top 5-8 player. Can Bradford become that player? Only time will tell. He has a lot working in his favor, but I think the two biggest hurdles for him will be (1) durability and (2) surrounding talent. No one hopes he does it more than me, because not only would I love to see this team find a franchise QB of that caliber, but the financial and organizational repercussions for missing on this pick/contract will be astronomical.

[mikhal5569]

This is great news, I look forward to seeing the era of the "Franchise!" But, seriously, it's not my money, but these sports contracts are out of control.

[RamsFanSam]

Let's hope the O-line can remember how to play Red Rover or something. I don't want Bradford going down for ANY reason. Well, at least 50 million reasons...

[01d 0rd3r]

Somehow I doubt Suh approaches Bradford's numbers in the contract demands, due to the above stated reasons. And Bradford plummets in the draft if we don't take him, which means that he stood to lose a decent amount of coin if he took a hard line. Instead, leverage did a 180 post draft.

Your right, Suh wouldnt have gotten as much even if he was a number 1 pick. But Suh is not a QB and we all know that QB's are held at a premium. The lowest Bradford falls if we dont pick him, would be 6th to the Seahawks. I wouldnt call a 5 pick drop plummeting.

Also how do you know we did not try to get him in contract negotations before the draft? Everyone knows that this team had been under heavy criticism to grab a QB. You dont think that condon could use this to his advantage? It was not a surprise when bradford was the number 1 pick. Condon could have easily refused any contract before the draft gambling that Bradford would be the number 1 pick regardless, therefore earning him that extra couple of million. Even though I seriously doubt it cost us 5-6 million. I would say the advantage was easily with condon and Bradford throughout the whole process.

[PeoriaRam]

2011 you never know what could happen with the QB class you never know who could get hurt and all those guys you are talking about are underclassmen except for locker. Also who says your in position to take one of those guys. Way to many what ifs when you had a Franchise QB you liked right in front of you. The Fans are the ones buying your product. They are not the determining factor behind every decision, but they definitely have to be considered especially when you have been fielding such a bad product lately.

Would he have plummeted? At most he falls to 7 and who says someone doesn't trade up to get there franchise QB. he probably isn't making 86 mill but he probably is making money somewhere in the 70 mil range.

$50 millions or $60 millions. The tiered slotting system tends to drop off fast.

We're paying $86 million to a guy who busted up his shoulder last year. Twice. The "this QB might get hurt" argument is officially null and void for us when we are considering 2011. Unless, you are suggesting that a different front office wouldn't take an injured QB. At which point we have multiple unfortunate implications about Team Devaney.

And you're never going to get fan attention out of St. Louis anyway this side of a 12 win season and a trip to the Conference Championship, which isn't in the cards for us for a couple of years anyway. Therefore, it is a mistake to use fan opinion as justification to support your decisions.

It is going to be bitterly ironic in the likely event we find ourselves in a position to land one of the big QBs in 2011. A point that I'm sure would come up in Devaney's exit/termination interview with Kroenke.

[PeoriaRam]

Whats more important? Getting Bradford in camp right away so he can learn, take over the starting job and lead this team, or arguing over a few million, having Bradford sit out of camp sessions, fall behind and having AJ Feeley start for the Rams until Bradford is ready?

And what makes you think we could have given him 42-45 mil? Where is the evidence that supports that?

You can't just speculate and say he would have accepted less when their is no evidence to suggest that is the case

Feeley's going to start anyway (at least for the first part of the season). Bradford's contract says that he only needs to take 35% of snaps in his rookie season vs. the 45% of snaps in any other season to qualify for the bonus money.

[Nick]

Not trying to jump in the middle of this, but thought I'd point out...

Your right, Suh wouldnt have gotten as much even if he was a number 1 pick. But Suh is not a QB and we all know that QB's are held at a premium. The lowest Bradford falls if we dont pick him, would be 6th to the Seahawks. I wouldnt call a 5 pick drop plummeting.

It is from a guaranteed money standpoint, because the sixth overall pick will get nearly $20 million less in guaranteed money than Bradford's $50 million sum.

[Bralidore(RAMMODE)]

Depends on your idea of plummeting. I recall both the Redskins and the Cleveland Browns were definietely hoping we took Suh with Holmgren and the Browns putting up a package of picks even in a similiar rebuilding year.

If Bradford slipped to Washington then he's likely gone, if they somehow passed on him than i'd bet my pants Holmgren is throwing up packages to Washington or whoever is next in line. He would not have plummeted.

Let's not pretend like we were the only one who wanted Bradford because everyone who needed a QB wanted Bradford...

What if taking a hard line with Bradford and trying to pay him less than 50 mill is what had him miss the first three practices? If Demoff had Bradford miss more days to save a few million then the Peoria crowd would have got in Demoff's arse yet again with everyone in the sport's community. You don't get a 50 page contract signed in a short amount of time.

I agree that contract talks should have began long ago but who knows why they did not?

@ Peoria- You don't draft with the expectations of taking some player in the future that may or may not do what he did last season, may or may not get injured, may or may not even be the player you thought he was. Bradford is considered by just about everyone to be better than those guys coming out next year and I easily agree.

Drafting based off of what you think will be in the draft next year is how you get fired, not taking one of the best players at a position of need.

We're also paying 86 million for a guy who won the heisman his sophmore year and is considered one of the best passers to come out of the draft since Eli Manning in 2004. That goes both ways..

I find it baffling how half of your fans plans for future Ram success always seem to bank on us basically tanking this season so we can draft some other rookie we may or may not be even in a position to draft IF he's even worth a first round pick by the time the 2011 season gets to him. Ridiculous..

[01d 0rd3r]

Not trying to jump in the middle of this, but thought I'd point out...



It is from a guaranteed money standpoint, because the sixth overall pick will get nearly $20 million less in guaranteed money than Bradford's $50 million sum.

Fair point, but wouldnt you agree that it was fairly obvious we were going to draft Bradford. I mean it wasnt like a 50-50 chance between bradford and suh, it was more 90-10 in bradfords favor. It's fairly reasonable that Condon didnt want to negotiate before the draft gambling that he would grab a couple million extra after was had drafted bradford.

[RockinRam]

It is going to be bitterly ironic in the likely event we find ourselves in a position to land one of the big QBs in 2011. A point that I'm sure would come up in Devaney's exit/termination interview with Kroenke.

The big Qb's eh? How about one of the big WR's? Why are you so obsessed with the 2011 QBs?



Grabbing A.J Green or Julio Jones or Jonathan Baldwin next year would basically supercharge our passing game...



And as I said before in my last post to you, the 2011 QBs may not be held in that high of a regard as you might think next year.

[theodus69]

Gentlemen, i think we all just witnessed the Rams signing what will be one of the great QB's in the history of the game. And he is a Ram. Aside from the blessing of a bagger at a local Super market........... Stocker actually, We haven't had a premiere QB since what? ...........Jim Everet? Now we Draft WR's and a back up for the future for Jackson and stedily keep the line in tact via FA. Spag's will work his D magic.

[PeoriaRam]

I find it baffling how half of your fans plans for future Ram success always seem to bank on us basically tanking this season so we can draft some other rookie we may or may not be even in a position to draft IF he's even worth a first round pick by the time the 2011 season gets to him. Ridiculous..

You mean we aren't tanking with the mass of low rent "talent" on the roster?

And to Rockin', firing Shurmur would also supercharge our passing game. And I'm pretty sure the front office and coaching staff are confident the existing wideouts will be great. I wouldn't be too sure that they'd go for a wideout at the top of the draft.