It's all Sam Bradford, all day today. In addition to the rave reviews of his workout, rumors that the quarterback will not sign prior to the draft (or that he won't play for the St. Louis Rams who seem likely to grab him with the top pick) are catching on among the chattering classes. There's a pretty powerful media market feeding that speculation with the Washington Redskins said to be very interested in Braford's services as well.
In Jason Reid's Redskins Insider column from the Washington Post today, he explores the possibility of the Redskins making a move for Bradford as well as the circumstances that could allow that to happen, i.e. if he refused to play for the Rams or willing to pull a move similar to what JaMarcus Russell did. From Reid:
We've been talking with sources around the league about the draft for several weeks and two things are clear: The Redskins are very high on Bradford, and they might have to get creative in order to get him.
He then discusses what might make such a trade possible.
But there are certainly scenarios in which the Rams would want to listen to offers. There are some who believe Bradford might prefer to play for Washington rather than St. Louis. With the Redskins, he'd be able to sit behind Jason Campbell for a year and learn the system, he'd play for Mike Shanahan, as respected an offensive mind as any today, and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who last season held the keys to the league's top-ranked passing attack. St. Louis might not hold as much long-term promise for a young quarterback.
There have been no intimations yet from Bradford's camp that he would be unwilling to play in St. Louis or even that he would prefer Washington. Of course, the way Dan Snyder spends money, who wouldn't at least want to hear what Washington has to offer. It's early enough that Bradford could still say no to the Rams, even though both sides have started very preliminary talks, but as I said last night, it flies in the face of the image being carefully cultivated by Bradford and his camp.
Regardless of the reality of the situation surrounding Bradford, the Rams and his status as a likely first overall pick, don't expect this kind of talk to go away any time soon.