Some Teams Would Prefer To Have Sam Bradford Over Marcus Mariota Or Jameis Winston

Jason Cole of the Bleacher Report has spoken to NFL executives that have said that there are teams at the top of the draft who prefer to have Rams QB Sam Bradford instead of Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston.

However, there are obvious concerns regarding Bradford’s health, seeing as he’s coming off of two ACL surgeries in the past year and half.

According to Cole, the belief with these teams is to take a chance with Bradford, in the event he’s available, and use their first-round pick to address a different position all together.

This is surprising to hear given that there are serious concerns regarding Bradford, and drafting one of the two quarterbacks would give a team a long-term prospect to develop, who is making a reasonable salary for the next four years.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch mentioned on Sunday that the Rams would like to restructure Bradford’s contract this offseason, and have him back for the 2015 season.

Bradford stands to make a $12.985 million base salary for the 2015 season. However, Thomas suggests the Rams could try to reduce that figure while offering him the ability to recoup the saving through incentives that could be added to his contract.

This remains one of the more interesting negotiations to watch in the coming weeks, as there is at least a small chance that the Rams could release him in the event that he’s unwilling to renegotiate his current salary.

For what it’s worth, the Rams would free up $12.985 million by releasing Bradford outright. This would also create $3.595 million in dead money, but the cap saving would easily be enough to justify such as move.

All indications from the Rams are that they would like to retain Bradford for another season and add a quarterback either in free agency or the draft.

Bradford, 27, has yet to live up to his draft status and is now coming off of back-to-back ACL tears, so there are some real concerns about him moving forward.

Bradford last appeared in an NFL game during the 2013 season. He finished the year throwing for 1,687 yards while completing 60.7 percent of his passes to go along with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions over the course of seven games.