For Sam Bradford, the defining moment came about two weeks before his March 29
pro day.
"We were down in Pensacola (Fla.) throwing, and it was just one of those
workouts where I was accurate," Bradford said. "My ball, it was coming out
quick. My arm strength felt good."
After he finished, he called a friend and said, "I think I'm back. The arm felt
great. It felt like a normal, normal shoulder."
For the Rams, there was no cathartic moment, no one day when the light came on
and they said: "Sam's a Ram."
Bradford said he got good vibes in terms of St. Louis' interest at the NFL
scouting combine at the end of February.
Bradford's pro day a month later showed the Rams — and everyone else — that he
was back and fully healthy from his shoulder surgery.
As for the intangibles, there were Bradford's personality, his temperament, a
picture developed piece by piece, meeting by meeting, in the weeks leading up
to Thursday. Coach Steve Spagnuolo liked the way Bradford interacted with the
coaches and his teammates at the pro day.
"I got to know just from sitting with him that he's a thinker, he's a listener,
he's got a calmness about him," Spagnuolo said. "I thought all those qualities
were pretty good in a quarterback.
"He listens first before he reacts. He does not appear to be a knee-jerk
reactor or off the cuff. And I think you need a little bit of that as a
quarterback. You've got to be a little bit poised. Or a lot poised. I see that
in him."
But unlike the selection of offensive tackle Jason Smith a year ago, or
defensive end Chris Long two years ago, this one wasn't decided for sure until
earlier this week.
"What really on the surface should have been an obvious pick — and maybe to a
lot of you it was that we were taking a quarterback — (wasn't obvious),"
general manager Billy Devaney said. "Those other two kids that we were thinking
about, (Ndamukong) Suh and (Gerald) McCoy, they made this whole process really
difficult, being the players and the type of people that they are.
"It really was a tough decision, and it shouldn't have been. We wrestled with
it. Just because we think those two kids are really going to be special
football players."
(Notice, no mention here of Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, purported to
be one of the Rams' four "finalists" for the No. 1 overall pick.)
But when Devaney went around the room Wednesday to gauge the opinion of his
scouts, the coaching staff and the rest of the personnel executives, it was
unanimous. Bradford. That consensus helped push it over the top. It should be
noted, too, that Rams ownership was very pro-Bradford, particularly after
seeing the team pass on quarterback Matt Ryan two years ago and Mark Sanchez
last year. (Apparently, Chip Rosenbloom hasn't abdicated the throne just yet.)
So Sam's a Ram — the Oklahoma Sooner becomes the first quarterback taken in the
first round by the Rams since Bill Munson in 1964, almost half a century ago.
"We don't see any negatives," Devaney said. "Rare size. Accuracy is off the
charts. Where I screwed up early on is he's a much better athlete. Especially
when you see him live. And the more tape you see, you see him escaping and
running away from people.
"He's a much better athlete than I'd given him credit for early on in this
process. Extremely intelligent. Character. I think he's a classy kid. All those
things. I happen to think he's the whole package."
In a conference call with St. Louis reporters a few minutes after his
selection, Bradford was just a step or two short of giddy in talking about
being selected by the Rams.
"You have no idea how excited I am, just to have the opportunity to come to St.
Louis and start my NFL career," he said. "It's just a blessing, and I can't
wait to get there and get to work."
Those rumors about Bradford not wanting to play with St. Louis? They were about
as accurate as the blather about Washington making a move to the No.1 spot
Thursday morning, or those rumors of Mike Holmgren and Cleveland offering
everything short of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to move up.
"There wasn't any offer on the table at any point," Devaney said. "We had
discussions. I'll be honest, Cleveland called probably about 15 minutes before
we were on the clock. And just kind of said, 'Anything change?'
"I said, 'No, not really.' "
So Cleveland never offered anything?
"Zero. Never got to that point," Devaney said.
Devaney even joked at the start of the Rams' post-pick news conference: "Mike
Holmgren's on the phone right now, working on the second pick."
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