Sam Bradford

Samuel Jacob Bradford (born November 8, 1987) is an American former football quarterback who played for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), most notably with the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings.

He was also a member of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals.

Bradford attended Putnam City North High School, where he starred in football, basketball and golf.

Having thrown 25 touchdowns through his first nine games, Bradford was on pace to break the NCAA freshman record of 29 touchdowns set by David Neill in 1998 and tied by Colt McCoy in 2006.

In 1999, when Bradford was 12, his travel team, the Junior Blazers, won a regional championship, beating a team from Houston.

He quit the sport that same year, and according to his former hockey coach Mike McEwen, who played on three Stanley Cup championship teams with the New York Islanders, Bradford had the talent to make it in the NHL.

McEwen also said that Bradford was one of the best players he ever coached.

As a senior quarterback in 2005, he threw for 2,029 yards and 17 touchdowns in 12 games.

Bradford was not highly recruited coming out of high school, but he received a scholarship offer from the University of Oklahoma, which he accepted.

In the spring of 2005, by the end of Bradford's junior season, he garnered interest from several Division I football programs, including Stanford, Michigan, Texas Tech, and nearby Oklahoma.

After a redshirt season in 2006, Bradford threw for 3,121 yards and 36 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman with the Oklahoma Sooners.

Following his senior season, Bradford was viewed as a two-to-three-star recruit (out of five) and was not that highly ranked among the high school class of 2006, with his highest ranking being No. 12 among only pro-style quarterbacks by recruiting source Rivals.com.

Bradford was ranked behind Pat Devlin, "Juice" Williams, and Josh Freeman, and was overshadowed by five-star recruits such as Mitch Mustain, Matthew Stafford, and Tim Tebow.

Bradford received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Oklahoma, where he played for coach Bob Stoops's Oklahoma Sooners football team.

He redshirted as a freshman in 2006.

The same year, Oklahoma's starting quarterback Rhett Bomar, then a sophomore, was dismissed from the team for violating NCAA rules.

Paul Thompson, a senior quarterback-turned-wide receiver, converted back to quarterback and led the 2006 Oklahoma Sooners football team to win the Big 12 Championship Game.

His departure left a void at the quarterback position at Oklahoma.

Six players on the roster tried out for the starting position during the following off-season, including three walk-on quarterbacks, true freshman Keith Nichol (a Rivals.com 4-star recruit and 6th-ranked dual-threat quarterback in the 2007 recruiting class, who later transferred to Michigan State University), junior Joey Halzle (the only one with game experience), and Bradford.

On August 21, 2007, Bradford won the starting quarterback role for the 2007 team.

In his first game for the Sooners, against the University of North Texas, Bradford completed 21 of 23 passing attempts for 363 yards and three touchdowns in a little over two quarters, breaking the school record for passing yards in a half, held by his quarterback coach Josh Heupel, with 350.

The very next game, Bradford broke Heisman Trophy winner Jason White's school record for most consecutive pass completions with 22 (18 came in the first half and 4 at the start of the second).

In the second week of the 2007 season, Bradford was named the college national offensive player of the week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation after tying the school record for most touchdown passes in a game with five.

In the November 17, 2007, game against Texas Tech, Bradford suffered a concussion.

In 2008, Bradford became only the second sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy as he led the highest-scoring offense in NCAA history, passing for 4,720 yards with 50 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.

He again led the nation in passing and also added five rushing touchdowns as the Sooners went 12–1 and advanced to the BCS national title game.

Bradford declared for the NFL draft following the 2009 season and was selected by the St. Louis Rams with the first overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft.

That year, Bradford set the record for most completions by a rookie in NFL history, which helped earn him the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Prior to the start of the 2015 season, the Rams traded Bradford along with a 2015 fifth round pick to the Eagles in exchange for quarterback Nick Foles, a 2015 fourth-round pick, and a 2016 second-round pick.

Following his 2015 campaign with the Eagles, in which he set career-highs in passing yards (3,725), completion percentage (65%) and yards per attempt (7.0), the Vikings acquired Bradford after their starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was lost to a season-ending knee injury before the start of the season.

Bradford signed with the Cardinals in 2018 and started three games, but was replaced by rookie Josh Rosen and eventually released.

Bradford was born to Kent and Martha Bradford in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

He attended Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City, where he starred in football, basketball, baseball, and golf for the Putnam City North Panthers.

Bradford played as a pitcher in baseball, but gave up baseball after his freshman year.

He earned All-City honors as a junior quarterback in football by The Oklahoman.

Following his senior season in which he threw for 2,029 yards and 17 touchdowns in 12 games, Bradford was named to the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State Team and was a Second-Team All-State pick by The Oklahoman.

Bradford was also a Division I-caliber basketball player.

As a senior, he averaged 18.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game and played on the same elite AAU team as fellow Oklahoma City native and NBA star Blake Griffin.

In golf, Bradford defeated future PGA touring pros Kevin Tway and Robert Streb during his high school career.

In addition to the aforementioned sports, Bradford also played ice hockey in his youth.