Bradford apparently going pro as well

[harold_bush]

Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford will reportedly enter the 2009 NFL Draft barring a knee injury in Thursday night's BCS title game against Florida.

By letting this get out, Bradford is putting even more pressure on himself heading into Thursday. Bradford (6'4/218) is only a third-year sophomore and other than Ben Roethlisberger -- a fourth-year junior early entrant -- there is no recent history of success among underclassmen quarterbacks. It's a big risk, but Bradford already won the Heisman and if he can put on a show tomorrow night he'll be the favorite to go No. 1 in April.
Source: National Football Post

[kbsooner21]

I question the source. I've been wrong before, but I don't think Bradford would make that announcement until after the game.

[harold_bush]

I question the source. I've been wrong before, but I don't think Bradford would make that announcement until after the game.

Yeah, seems pretty stupid to me too that he would announce it beforehand, but it could just be someone from his inner circle getting loose lips.

That said, is there any reason to think he will be back? Every projection I've seen have him and Stafford as the top two QBs, both going in the top 10 picks. He has a Heisman, could have a national championship, what is there to come back for?

[kbsooner21]

Yeah, seems pretty stupid to me too that he would announce it beforehand, but it could just be someone from his inner circle getting loose lips.

That said, is there any reason to think he will be back? Every projection I've seen have him and Stafford as the top two QBs, both going in the top 10 picks. He has a Heisman, could have a national championship, what is there to come back for?

Muscle mass

He needs to get bigger and stronger imo, but I imagine he could do that next year while holding a clipboard

[vols fan]

Muscle mass

He needs to get bigger and stronger imo, but I imagine he could do that next year while holding a clipboard

He won't be holding a clipboard at Detroit. They will treat him like Matt Ryan and throw him out there and see what happens.I agree with you,he needs to get bigger and a little more experienced.

[harold_bush]

I'm sure both Stafford and Bradford want to have the #1 overall tag for money and pride, but both are probably thinking holy shit in the back of their mind, maybe being the #2 QB ain't so bad, depending of course on which teams that is second in line for drafting a QB. I guess the good news in Detroit is that he has Calvin Johnson to throw the ball to.

[wayne1218]

Neither will be going to Detroit if they trade for Matt Cassell.

[kbsooner21]

Neither will be going to Detroit if they trade for Matt Cassell.

They may be going to NE with Brady gone for another year!

[wayne1218]

Brady will be ready for the '09 season and you can put that in the bank!

[kbsooner21]

Brady will be ready for the '09 season and you can put that in the bank!

But will he be the same?

[wayne1218]

But will he be the same?

Why not? He was never a scrambling QB and the injury was not to his arm or shoulder.

[harold_bush]

Why not? He was never a scrambling QB and the injury was not to his arm or shoulder.

Uhh.........legs are still pretty important to the process of throwing a football. Realistically not one person in here has any real clue what is going on with Brady. He could be 100% next year and ready to go, or he could miss the entire season. My guess is that he will be somwhere in between, but that's all any of us have, a guess.

[wayne1218]

Uhh.........legs are still pretty important to the process of throwing a football. Realistically not one person in here has any real clue what is going on with Brady. He could be 100% next year and ready to go, or he could miss the entire season. My guess is that he will be somwhere in between, but that's all any of us have, a guess.

I'll save you the guess work. Brady will be ready. He hurt the same leg Carson Palmer did and the good thing is, it's not the back plant leg meaning he should recover 100%. Palmer went on to have 2 healthy years after his surgery and throw for nearly 4000 yards in each. Trust me, i'm not worried and nobody else should be either.

[harold_bush]

Just saying some people have different opinions on it. What happened to Palmer really has very little to do with what happens to Brady. No two procedures are exactly the same, no two bodies recover exactly the same, and I don't recall Palmer having the same type of setback Brady had w/ the infection.

By Tom E. Curran
NBCSports.com
updated 10:43 a.m. ET, Sun., Dec. 28, 2008


Tom E. Curran

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• E-mail


When the New England Patriots' 2008 season ends, quarterback Matt Cassel will be set to become a free agent.

But before Cassel hits the free-agent market, the Patriots will look long and hard at the medical reports of star quarterback Tom Brady. And, according to a league source, those reports will give New England pause.

Brady, who had the ACL and MCL in his left knee ripped in the first quarter of the season’s first game, is well behind schedule in coming back from the surgery performed in early October, the source said.

The problem began with the infection that set in soon after the Oct. 6 surgery performed by Los Angeles-based doctor Neil ElAttrache.

After the infection was detected, Brady went through six weeks of antibiotics and surgical irrigation of the infected area. The infection finally cleared but as it currently stands, both the ACL and MCL remain “loose,” the league source said. Meanwhile, scar tissue that built up in the knee as Brady’s body battled the infection is still present and might need to be surgically removed.

Additionally, because of the scar tissue, Brady’s knee doesn’t have close to full mobility, the league source said. That means the process of regaining strength in his quadriceps — the most important muscle to build up after a knee injury — hasn’t begun in earnest.

Even if Brady gets the scar tissue removed, regains greater mobility in the knee and is able to get the strength back in his quad, the looseness in the ligaments won’t go away without a second surgery, the source said. At this point, deciding to have that second surgery would cost him the 2009 season because a second surgery wouldn’t be recommended this soon after the first, especially with the current condition of the area.

If he doesn’t have a second surgery, he’ll almost certainly have to wear a brace on the knee when he returns and the area will be susceptible to another blowout, the source said.

If that occurs, what then for the Patriots?

That’s where Cassel’s situation becomes interesting. After three full seasons working as a backup to Brady, Cassel has played brilliantly this season, especially relative to the expectations of how much he could deliver.

He’s thrown for 3,615 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 picks and completed more than 63 percent of his passes. And the Patriots, entering Sunday, are 10-5 with a chance to win the AFC East. This after spending his entire college career at USC without starting a single game.

On the free agent market, the 26-year-old Cassel would certainly be as appetizing an option as any quarterback coming out in April’s draft. By way of financial comparison, Matt Ryan, the third overall pick last April, got a six-year, $72 million deal from the Falcons, which included more than $34 million in guaranteed money.

But if the condition of Brady — the NFL’s MVP in 2007, a three-time Super Bowl winner and a two-time Super Bowl MVP — is still tenuous, the Patriots might use the franchise tag on Cassel. That would mean Cassel would be paid the average of the top five quarterback salaries in the league. That probably would come in around $12 million.

Brady’s 2009 salary is $5 million and he’s also due a $3 million roster bonus. Relative to the league’s other successful quarterbacks, he’s a bargain. But if the Patriots opt to franchise Cassel as insurance, that means the team will have close to $20 million in salary to be paid out to their two quarterbacks. Additionally, $6.6 million of Brady’s pro-rated signing bonus will count against their 2009 cap. That would mean the Patriots would be spending close to $26 million of the projected $123 million salary cap on these two quarterbacks.

[wayne1218]

I hear it all buddy. I listen to WEEI out of Boston all day. That is old news and i've heard it disected 1000 times. I could post 10 stories that disagree with that one too but i'm not going to bother. I'll stick by my statements!