Comparing Sam Bradford with the top QB prospects (1 Viewer)

[Smeagol]

Hyperbole topic of the day

I think the consensus now emerging is that Sam Bradford is not only the best QB prospect in this years draft, but probably one of the best QB prospects in the past decade (01-10).

I wanted to see where he fits in with the top QB draft picks from each year from the past ten years.

I think Eli, Palmer and Bradford are probably the top three for me. Vick had the most potential, but he was very raw at the time.

It would also be nice to see how everyone comes to their conclusion. For me, best QB prospect means the best combination of raw talent, college performance and intangibles.

 

[Nagle2998]

Hyperbole topic of the dayI think the consensus now emerging is that Sam Bradford is not only the best QB prospect in this years draft, but probably one of the best QB prospects in the past decade (01-10). I wanted to see where he fits in with the top QB draft picks from each year from the past ten years. I think Eli, Palmer and Bradford are probably the top three for me. Vick had the most potential, but he was very raw at the time. It would also be nice to see how everyone comes to their conclusion. For me, best QB prospect means the best combination of raw talent, college performance and intangibles.

Maybe it's because he flopped or maybe I just remember it wrong because I drafted him but I thought Carr was by far the best and I'm not sure Harrington wasn't a better prospect them most on this list. I think most agree Alex Smith was only taken first because the 49ers needed a Qb and he was the best prospect at the time but almost everyone said he shouldn't have been the top pick. As for Bradford I think he has as much skills as anyone on this list if not more and the only minor worry I have with him is injuries but then again I did take Carr so take it for what it's worth.

 

[Honda]

Here's how I would rank them according to how much NFL QB talent they have in them:

Carson Palmer

Matt Ryan

Sam Bradford

Matthew Stafford

Eli Manning

Vince Young

Michael Vick

David Carr

Alex Smith

Jamarcus Russell

 

[Cookiemonster]

I think I remember Palmer being the most sure thing. Eli had the good family name and did pretty well with a mediocre (at best) team. Alex Smith was never a top 5 pick IMO and Russell/Young shot up boards after their post-season performances but were fringe top 10-15 picks before that. I wasn't really high on Stafford or Ryan either. You couldn't help but let your imagination run wild thinking about Vick, but he wasn't as rock solid as Palmer or Carr.

 

[bulger2holt]

Bradford will be as good as the Rams o-line and wr's let him. The sky is the limit. He has all the tools to be great. The Rams o-line is coming along nicely. They also have 3- #2 type WR's. If they can aquire a legit #1 WR and a legit pass catching TE ( Gresham in rd 2 ), Bradford could be a pro bowler by year 3 imo.

 

[Nagle2998]

Bradford will be as good as the Rams o-line and wr's let him. The sky is the limit. He has all the tools to be great. The Rams o-line is coming along nicely. They also have 3- #2 type WR's. If they can aquire a legit #1 WR and a legit pass catching TE ( Gresham in rd 2 ), Bradford could be a pro bowler by year 3 imo.

I don't know a ton about the Rams Oline but I do know they have below average Wr and no TE so you have to worry a little about Bradford. To many good Qb's go to teams that can't protect them and it kills the young Qb for the rest of his career. Again I don't know the Rams line but with the weapons they have they better be able to protect Bradford for more then a few second or he could be another Qb victim or atleast sit him and let Feeley take the beating.

 

[SSOG]

I gotta say, looking at that list, I think Bradford might be the best prospect on it. Vick and Carr were before I really started paying attention to the draft and the college game, so I can't really compare them, but my impressions of Bradford right now are more positive than my impressions of any of the others. Which isn't to say that I think that Bradford is the best QB prospect of the past decade- there were other QB prospects this decade that I liked as much as Bradford, they just weren't the ones listed.

My big problem with all of the names on the list is that they were almost all one-year-wonders. Stafford and Eli weren't, but I didn't like either because I never felt as if their teams were as good as they should have been if Stafford and Eli were really as good as all the hype suggested. Bradford has a leg up on most of these names simply because he has a multi-year track record.

 

[encaitar]

Carson Palmer is far and away the best prospect of the last 10 years. He was coming off a Heisman trophy campaign and had no questions concerning his talent, injury, or character and work ethic. He was ideal size, had a great throwing motion, good accuracy, and a cannon arm. He also came out of a pro style offense with highly respected Norm Chow as his Offensive Coordinator.

I really have little doubt that the knee injury stopped him from reaching the Manning, Brady, Brees category of QBs in this league. He just wasn't the same QB after coming back, yet still is a top 10 QB in the league.

After him, I would go with Bradford. He would be up there with Palmer if he had a stronger arm and no injuries. He would've been #1 last year over Stafford if he came out. Carr, Manning, and Vick are right behind him. All great talents with a few question marks. Carr's throwing motion, Eli's inconsistency, and Vick's rawness being the foremost talked about.

After that, it's a bit jumbled, but the bottom rung is definitely between Alex Smith, Jamarcus, and Vince. Smith was taken because SF needed a QB and he was the "best" available. Never should've been a high pick. Russell and Young were both propelled by their post season and off season performances and neither should've been a top 10 pick.

 

[FUBAR]

Carson Palmer is far and away the best prospect of the last 10 years. He was coming off a Heisman trophy campaign and had no questions concerning his talent, injury, or character and work ethic. He was ideal size, had a great throwing motion, good accuracy, and a cannon arm. He also came out of a pro style offense with highly respected Norm Chow as his Offensive Coordinator.

I really have little doubt that the knee injury stopped him from reaching the Manning, Brady, Brees category of QBs in this league. He just wasn't the same QB after coming back, yet still is a top 10 QB in the league.

After him, I would go with Bradford. He would be up there with Palmer if he had a stronger arm and no injuries. He would've been #1 last year over Stafford if he came out. Carr, Manning, and Vick are right behind him. All great talents with a few question marks. Carr's throwing motion, Eli's inconsistency, and Vick's rawness being the foremost talked about.

After that, it's a bit jumbled, but the bottom rung is definitely between Alex Smith, Jamarcus, and Vince. Smith was taken because SF needed a QB and he was the "best" available. Never should've been a high pick. Russell and Young were both propelled by their post season and off season performances and neither should've been a top 10 pick.

I'm not so sure on the bottom. Sure, VY's Rose Bowl helped him but he was seen as a player with great potential, although with some question marks, before that game. Russell I'll agree with.As I recall, Eli had the most hype, but a lot of that was simply the family name. Although he was called a better prospect than Peyton by some. I don't remember too many questions about him by the majority of fans - those who questioned his ability were seen as being naysayers or just not liking the Mannings, there were some questions about his mental make-up IIRC. Eli and Carson were the top 2 IMO. Bradford isn't quite there but he could have been without injury.

I see Alex as having the least talent at the time, Russell had the talent he just didn't put it together.

 

[jurb26]

I'd rank them as such:

Palmer

Stafford

These guys are in a class of their own among this group and were the only guys I thought were real franchise QB prospects.

Manning

Ryan

Vick

Bradford

Good solid prospects but just not franchise material IMO.

Carr

Young

Smith

Russell

Far more questions about them coming out than the other guys on this list.

 

[Sabertooth]

The fact that Aaron Rodgers is better than any of these prospects make me smile. "Not athletic enough"

 

[FUBAR]

The fact that Aaron Rodgers is better than any of these prospects make me smile. "Not athletic enough"

Depending on your list, the top 10 QBs last year were drafted:1st round (1st overall)1st round (2nd overall)1st round (4th overall) (TRADED)1st round (24th overall) 2nd round (32nd overall) (TRADED)2nd round (33rd overall) (TRADED)3rd round (90th overall) (TRADED)6th round (199th overall)UDFA (FREE AGENT)UDFAdecent spread which shows us while you're more likely to get a stud QB in the 1st than anywhere else, there's many ways to get one.

 

[bulger2holt]

Bradford will be as good as the Rams o-line and wr's let him. The sky is the limit. He has all the tools to be great. The Rams o-line is coming along nicely. They also have 3- #2 type WR's. If they can aquire a legit #1 WR and a legit pass catching TE ( Gresham in rd 2 ), Bradford could be a pro bowler by year 3 imo.

I don't know a ton about the Rams Oline but I do know they have below average Wr and no TE so you have to worry a little about Bradford. To many good Qb's go to teams that can't protect them and it kills the young Qb for the rest of his career. Again I don't know the Rams line but with the weapons they have they better be able to protect Bradford for more then a few second or he could be another Qb victim or atleast sit him and let Feeley take the beating.

I wouldn't call Avery, Robinson and Gibson below average WR's. They are all probably #2's on a good team. If the Rams add a true #1, then suddenly their WR's corps become legit. Throw in a pass catching TE ( Gresham ) too. The Rams will probably blow again in 2010, so a top 5 pick will likely happen. I hear there are a couple elite WR's coming out too.

 

[IDrinkyourMilkshake]

What's the state of STL oline? How is Jason Smith been playing?

 

[Chase Stuart]

After that, it's a bit jumbled, but the bottom rung is definitely between Alex Smith, Jamarcus, and Vince. Smith was taken because SF needed a QB and he was the "best" available. Never should've been a high pick. Russell and Young were both propelled by their post season and off season performances and neither should've been a top 10 pick.

Can you explain this a little bit? Are you saying Young's post-season performance wasn't that good and was overvalued? Or that evaluators should ignore how players play in bowl games? Or that a great performance in a bowl game shouldn't count for much?

 

[Cookiemonster]

After that, it's a bit jumbled, but the bottom rung is definitely between Alex Smith, Jamarcus, and Vince. Smith was taken because SF needed a QB and he was the "best" available. Never should've been a high pick. Russell and Young were both propelled by their post season and off season performances and neither should've been a top 10 pick.

Can you explain this a little bit? Are you saying Young's post-season performance wasn't that good and was overvalued? Or that evaluators should ignore how players play in bowl games? Or that a great performance in a bowl game shouldn't count for much?

I think what he's saying is that a great performance on a national stage carries too much weight. Running a good 40 in your underwear for example. It's on the NFLN, on all the sports websites and dripping off of the internet. All of a sudden, two (or more) years worth of game tape is devalued because ONE event is gathering so much interest and conversation. Not that is should be discounted, but one bowl game is probably worth 1/8 of game tape (since the one bowl game is vs a quality team and 1/4 of the game tape is vs inferior opponents). You can see guys who were projected to be middle-1st to early-2nd round picks become locks for the top 10 based on a sub-4.4 or a good game in a National Championship.

 

[Mahikoa]

The fact that Aaron Rodgers is better than any of these prospects make me smile. "Not athletic enough"

Depending on your list, the top 10 QBs last year were drafted:1st round (1st overall)1st round (2nd overall)1st round (4th overall) (TRADED)1st round (24th overall) 2nd round (32nd overall) (TRADED)2nd round (33rd overall) (TRADED)3rd round (90th overall) (TRADED)6th round (199th overall)UDFA (FREE AGENT)UDFAdecent spread which shows us while you're more likely to get a stud QB in the 1st than anywhere else, there's many ways to get one.

Is that in order? I don't want to bother going and looking it up (sue me), but if the 1st round picks are mostly in the top 5, while the UDFA snuck in the bottom, that tells a different story.

 

[SSOG]

The fact that Aaron Rodgers is better than any of these prospects make me smile. "Not athletic enough"

Depending on your list, the top 10 QBs last year were drafted:1st round (1st overall)1st round (2nd overall)1st round (4th overall) (TRADED)1st round (24th overall) 2nd round (32nd overall) (TRADED)2nd round (33rd overall) (TRADED)3rd round (90th overall) (TRADED)6th round (199th overall)UDFA (FREE AGENT)UDFAdecent spread which shows us while you're more likely to get a stud QB in the 1st than anywhere else, there's many ways to get one.

Is that in order? I don't want to bother going and looking it up (sue me), but if the 1st round picks are mostly in the top 5, while the UDFA snuck in the bottom, that tells a different story.

It's sorted by draft position.

 

[SSOG]

Carson Palmer is far and away the best prospect of the last 10 years. He was coming off a Heisman trophy campaign and had no questions concerning his talent, injury, or character and work ethic. He was ideal size, had a great throwing motion, good accuracy, and a cannon arm. He also came out of a pro style offense with highly respected Norm Chow as his Offensive Coordinator. I really have little doubt that the knee injury stopped him from reaching the Manning, Brady, Brees category of QBs in this league. He just wasn't the same QB after coming back, yet still is a top 10 QB in the league.After him, I would go with Bradford. He would be up there with Palmer if he had a stronger arm and no injuries. He would've been #1 last year over Stafford if he came out. Carr, Manning, and Vick are right behind him. All great talents with a few question marks. Carr's throwing motion, Eli's inconsistency, and Vick's rawness being the foremost talked about.After that, it's a bit jumbled, but the bottom rung is definitely between Alex Smith, Jamarcus, and Vince. Smith was taken because SF needed a QB and he was the "best" available. Never should've been a high pick. Russell and Young were both propelled by their post season and off season performances and neither should've been a top 10 pick.

I think there were a lot of questions concerning Carson Palmer. Personally, I questioned why, if he was so great, he was so mediocre for his first two and a half years as a starter. He had a negative TD:INT ratio through two seasons as a starter, and while I can't find his game-by-game performances, I remember that his first 5 games of 2002 were far from awe-inspiring (the Trojans lost two of those 5 games, too). When the talking heads were debating the Heisman, they kept referring to Carson Palmer as a guy who just got really, really hot over the last seven games of the season. That's the same kind of "what have you done for me lately" mentality that got scouts in trouble with Jamarcus, although in Carson's case it wound up working out.Now, granted, I was all very new to this whole "draft" thing back in 2002 (that was the first year I actually paid attention), but I do distinctly remember that Carson Palmer was a guy with 2 and a half average years followed by 7 spectacular games.

 

[az_prof]

I don't think this poll is very meaningful to be honest. The problem is that we KNOW how most of these players turned out and that taints the poll. People naturally rank someone's initial value as a prospect lower knowing NOW that he ultimately failed (Carr or Russell or Smith). It's telling to me that the results show the players who have succeeded the most or who have yet to be fully judged (Stafford, eg) near the top, and players who ultimately failed are near the bottom. It's too hard for people to remember back to how they actually felt about someone like Carr 8 years ago.

 

[GregR_2]

Using the Scouts Inc grades still available on the web through ESPN, here are how they had the 1st round QBs graded as far back as I could find, with this year's in bold.

99 Rodgers

98 Russell

98 Ryan

98 Leinart

98 A. Smith

97 Quinn

97 Young

96 Stafford

96 Cutler

96 Bradford

95 Sanchez

89 Flacco

88 Clausen

86 Campbell

85 Freeman

79 McCoy

76 Pike

75 Tebow

 

[phthalatemagic]

Using the Scouts Inc grades still available on the web through ESPN, here are how they had the 1st round QBs graded as far back as I could find, with this year's in bold.

99 Rodgers

98 Russell

98 Ryan

98 Leinart

98 A. Smith

97 Quinn

97 Young

96 Stafford

96 Cutler

96 Bradford

95 Sanchez

89 Flacco

88 Clausen

86 Campbell

85 Freeman

79 McCoy

76 Pike

75 Tebow

Wow, their grading system is awful.

 

[phthalatemagic]

I don't think this poll is very meaningful to be honest. The problem is that we KNOW how most of these players turned out and that taints the poll. People naturally rank someone's initial value as a prospect lower knowing NOW that he ultimately failed (Carr or Russell or Smith). It's telling to me that the results show the players who have succeeded the most or who have yet to be fully judged (Stafford, eg) near the top, and players who ultimately failed are near the bottom. It's too hard for people to remember back to how they actually felt about someone like Carr 8 years ago.

This is incorrect.

 

[FUBAR]

The fact that Aaron Rodgers is better than any of these prospects make me smile. "Not athletic enough"

Depending on your list, the top 10 QBs last year were drafted:1st round (1st overall)

1st round (2nd overall)

1st round (4th overall) (TRADED)

1st round (24th overall)

2nd round (32nd overall) (TRADED)

2nd round (33rd overall) (TRADED)

3rd round (90th overall) (TRADED)

6th round (199th overall)

UDFA (FREE AGENT)

UDFA

decent spread which shows us while you're more likely to get a stud QB in the 1st than anywhere else, there's many ways to get one.

Is that in order? I don't want to bother going and looking it up (sue me), but if the 1st round picks are mostly in the top 5, while the UDFA snuck in the bottom, that tells a different story.

It's sorted by draft position.

although the 1.01 would be my top dog by talent or current status.
2nd round (32nd overall) (TRADED) - Drew Brees

2nd round (33rd overall) (TRADED) - Brett Favre

1st round (24th overall) - Aaron Rodgers

UDFA (FREE AGENT) - Kurt Warner

1st round (4th overall) (TRADED) - Phillip Rivers

6th round (199th overall) - Tom Brady

UDFA - Tony Romo

3rd round (90th overall) (TRADED) - Matt Schaub

1st round (2nd overall) - Donovan McNabb

an argument could be made to remove McNabb but I'll take him over the rest. Arguments can be made all around, but they'd be a tangent to the thread.



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[Steelfan7]

Carson Palmer is far and away the best prospect of the last 10 years. He was coming off a Heisman trophy campaign and had no questions concerning his talent, injury, or character and work ethic. He was ideal size, had a great throwing motion, good accuracy, and a cannon arm. He also came out of a pro style offense with highly respected Norm Chow as his Offensive Coordinator. I really have little doubt that the knee injury stopped him from reaching the Manning, Brady, Brees category of QBs in this league. He just wasn't the same QB after coming back, yet still is a top 10 QB in the league.After him, I would go with Bradford. He would be up there with Palmer if he had a stronger arm and no injuries. He would've been #1 last year over Stafford if he came out. Carr, Manning, and Vick are right behind him. All great talents with a few question marks. Carr's throwing motion, Eli's inconsistency, and Vick's rawness being the foremost talked about.After that, it's a bit jumbled, but the bottom rung is definitely between Alex Smith, Jamarcus, and Vince. Smith was taken because SF needed a QB and he was the "best" available. Never should've been a high pick. Russell and Young were both propelled by their post season and off season performances and neither should've been a top 10 pick.

I think there were a lot of questions concerning Carson Palmer. Personally, I questioned why, if he was so great, he was so mediocre for his first two and a half years as a starter. He had a negative TD:INT ratio through two seasons as a starter, and while I can't find his game-by-game performances, I remember that his first 5 games of 2002 were far from awe-inspiring (the Trojans lost two of those 5 games, too). When the talking heads were debating the Heisman, they kept referring to Carson Palmer as a guy who just got really, really hot over the last seven games of the season. That's the same kind of "what have you done for me lately" mentality that got scouts in trouble with Jamarcus, although in Carson's case it wound up working out.Now, granted, I was all very new to this whole "draft" thing back in 2002 (that was the first year I actually paid attention), but I do distinctly remember that Carson Palmer was a guy with 2 and a half average years followed by 7 spectacular games.

Palmer was not a sure thing. There were questions why he was so mediocre for his college career and then caught fire for the last half season.

 

[Hendo]

After him, I would go with Bradford. He would be up there with Palmer if he had a stronger arm and no injuries. He would've been #1 last year over Stafford if he came out.

in your world sure but in the real world and the eyes of scouts no. Stafford graded higher then Bradford last year, and he did play in a pro style offense.