Bradford making a strong case for Rookie of the Year

There is plenty of football left to play this season, more than half of the season in fact, and the St. Louis Rams rookie QB Sam Bradford has already given fans and the media something to be excited about...not the least of which is a big role in the Rams three wins, the same number of wins the team had in 2008 and 2009 combined. 

It won't surprise you then that Bradford is already getting plenty of talk as the early favorite for the 2010 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Don Banks makes the case at Sports Illustrated today, putting Bradford above RB Jahvid Best, and WR Mike Williams, who the Rams will see this week in Tampa Bay.

If Bradford were an established veteran, his stats through six games wouldn't jump off the page, though they are functional. He's a rookie. So, let's take a look at how he compares with some other rookie quarterbacks.

Let's take the last three QBs to win the offensive rookie of the year award, the only QB recipients since 1970.

Matt Ryan
93 for 161, 57.7 percent, 1164 yards, 5 TD, 3 INT

Vince Young
54 for 114, 47.3 percent, 599 yards, 4 TD, 4 INT

Ben Roethlisberger
96 for 137, 70 percent, 1133 yards, 9 TD, 4 INT

Sam Bradford
133 for 234, 56.8 percent, 1357 yards, 7 TD, 8 INT

First of all, I forgot how good Ben Roethlisberger was, lost in the shuffle I guess. Second, look at how well Bradford compares to all of these guys. Pretty impressive, especially given how often he's throwing the ball. Take away the 10 percent of his incomplete passes that were dropped balls, and he'd be closer to 60 percent in the completions department. You can make a similar case for some of his INTs, e.g. the hail Mary at the end of week 1.

Add to those counting stats the impact he's had on the Rams' record and it's tough to make the case against him for Rookie of the Year.