New St. Louis quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke was once asked for a comparison to Andrew Luck coming out of college.
"And I said the closest I would see is Sam Bradford," he said this week in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
He goes on: "And I say that without knowing Sam. I'd never met Sam until this process. Looking at his physical skill set. And then obviously talking to people and understanding his mental capacity and his football IQ, and all those different things.
"Sam by far has had the best pro day out of any guy I've ever evaluated from a physical standpoint. And he was coming off an injury at that point in time. So when you look at a guy who's a pure passer of the football from a physical standpoint, he's as good as anybody I've ever evaluated."
We know what you're thinking. Woah, Chris. Take it easy.
But imagine for one second that he's right.
Bradford has only had two 16-game seasons. One was his rookie year and the other, in 2012, resulted in an increase in yardage, yards per attempt and touchdowns. His interceptions also decreased, though well within the margin of error.
Players' careers get derailed by injury constantly, and maybe Bradford is just another sad case of talent mixed with bad luck.
If Weinke is onto something, though, imagine what this offseason will look like in a vacuum 10 years later. At the moment, Bradford is caught up in several unsubstantiated trade rumors and, at the very least, was subject to a coy guessing game put on by general manager Les Snead.
Weinke's comments remind us that Bradford was not the No. 1 pick without reason. He's arguably in a better place with a rebuilt offensive line now and he has better weapons than he did back in his last full season: (Danny Amendola, Brandon Gibson and ... Chris Givens?)
Maybe it's the late February swoon, but is anyone else out there willing to be as optimistic about Bradford as Weinke is? Is there a chance he could play like a No. 1 overall quarterback sometime soon?
Or is it just the late February swoon, when hope springs eternal and we imagine Bradford wearing a Pro Bowl jersey yet again?
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