After beginning his NFL career as the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year in an offense run by Pat Shurmur, St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford is having to learn a third offense in as many seasons. Gone is Josh McDaniels, replaced by former New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
Unlike 2011, when he was unable to work with McDaniels until training camp, Bradford has had the benefit of a full offseason of work with Schottenheimer. After two solid performances to open the preseason, Bradford backslid last week, completing just 6 of 17 attempts for 64 yards in a 20-19 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
With the season-opener against the Detroit Lions, just 11 days away, Rams first-year general manager Les Snead told Steve Wyche on NFL Network's "NFL AM" that he thinks Bradford will be comfortable in Schottenheimer's system by then.
"I definitely think so," Snead said Wednesday. "I think the more times we get on stage, and that'll occur tomorrow night against the Ravens in St. Louis, the more time he gets out there, plays and gets timing down with his receivers, he'll continue to develop in this offense."
As Wyche noted, the perception is the Rams have not had a great deal of weapons in the passing game for Bradford to work with. Snead addressed that position twice in the first 100 picks of the 2012 NFL Draft, using the No. 33 overall pick on Appalachian State wideout Brian Quick and the No. 96 pick on Chris Givens out of Wake Forest.
Those draft picks came just one year after former Rams general manager Billy Devaney selected Austin Pettis and Greg Salas in the third and fourth rounds of the 2011 NFL Draft. With Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson and free agent addition Steve Smith vying for a roster spot, Snead says teams have been calling to try to pry a receiver away from the Rams.
"What you do with a receiving corps, I think any offense has to go into the battle for that week against an opponent and give the weapons a role," Snead said. "And I think we have a complement of receivers, I think we have enough receivers that some teams have even called about a few of them that they think are on the bubble.
"But I think what we'll do is we'll give each one of those receivers a role. I think Jeff Fisher, his staff does an excellent job in knowing those player's strengths, weaknesses and they're going to put them in a position to succeed."
