St. Louis Rams’ Sam Bradford Out For Season
In what is likely to be devastating news for the St. Louis Rams, quarterback Sam Bradford is out for the season, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.
Bradford’s injury spells not only the end of his season, but likely the end of his career, and possibly even the end of the Rams franchise in St. Louis.
During a pre-season game in Cleveland on Saturday, Bradford injured his left knee — the same knee that has already been surgically repaired once — and limped off the field. MRI results released just a few hours ago revealed the worst possible news for the Rams and their fans: a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), which means Bradford’s season is over, if not his career.
But maybe the Rams shouldn’t be so quick to despair. In 1999, their season hopes were pinned on quarterback Trent Green, who suffered a season-ending injury (also a torn ACL) in the pre-season. They called up a third-string, Arena-League quarterback who a few weeks earlier was stocking shelves at a grocery store. His name was Kurt Warner. The Rams went on to win the Super Bowl that season, and Kurt Warner will likely be joining the Hall of Fame next year.
Backup quarterback Shaun Hill — who, according to Yahoo Sports, is one of the better backup quarterbacks in the NFL — is ready to take over Bradford’s old job as Rams starting QB. That leaves the Rams thin at the position of quarterback, and likely their front office will be in negotiations with other teams in the NFL to find a backup for the backup. There’s also the matter that a backup quarterback job in the NFL has opened up, and there’s a very famous NFL-caliber quarterback who is looking for a job, and his name is Tim Tebow (see this Inquisitr article).
The Rams were expected to have a fair-to-middling season with Bradford at the helm; as recently as August 6, Brian Riddle of The Bleacher Report predicted that the Rams would go 9-7. In his entire career as a starter, Shaun Hill has gone 13-13.
The future of NFL football in St. Louis is unclear. St. Louis’ franchise agreement with the NFL expires after this season, and Los Angeles has expressed interest in getting the Rams back, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A disappointing season, with disappointing attendance — St. Louis is, first and foremost, a baseball town, according to Bloomberg — does not bode well for the future of NFL football in The Lou.
Do you believe that Sam Bradford’s injury will end the Rams’ season before it even begins? Let us know below.
[Image courtesy of: ESPN Cleveland]
