John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRE
This week’s game for the St. Louis Rams is going to be one that presents a plethora of questions to the players, the coaching staffs, and the front offices on both sides. A Week 2 meeting with the Washington Redskins is almost karmic in many ways with the Rams dealing their second overall selection in April’s draft to the Skins so that they could draft their long, sought after starting quarterback in Robert Griffin III. The comparisons are inevitable between RG3 and Sam Bradford, but one game will not make or break either player.
While Bradford has had a difficult start to his career in St. Louis, the Rams haven’t exactly given him the right conditions to thrive in either. With this year marking his third in as many seasons to learn a new offense, Bradford has been stuck wading through the minutia of playbook verbiage and extravagant terminology rather than concentrating on quarterbacking. His preseason was solid and by all accounts, expectations are high for him in this third year in the league.
Clearly the Rams are sold on Bradford having dealt the opportunity to start over with Griffin III this offseason. There have been murmurs that after executing the deal and learning of the celebrations among the top brass in Washington, the Rams wondered if they received enough in return. Two first round picks and a second rounder seems like quite a haul on the surface to only move down two spots, but if the Redskins were so high on RG3, perhaps they would have parted with more.
It all may be water under the bridge at this point, but many still wonder ‘what if’ for the Rams franchise. What if the team had drafted Griffin III and traded Bradford or what if they had gotten an even larger haul in return for the pick?
The emotional evaluation of this just one game into the 2012 season is nonsensical at this point. There are 15 more regular season games to go this year and probably a decade’s worth of games more to come from both of these quarterbacks. It is literally impossible to make a true assessment of the deal at this point, but don’t think the question is going to go away any time soon.
