St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher revealed on Wednesday that quarterback Sam Bradford spent the first two months of the offseason rehabbing the high ankle sprain he suffered in October of last year, late in a game against the Green Bay Packers.
Bradford spent most of the last two months keeping off his feet, according to the Post-Dispatch. The good news is that he is now back to full health and working again, throwing the ball, doing dropbacks, etc. What is clear in hindsight, and was pretty clear as it happened, is that Bradford was rushed back from his injury, either by his own competitive nature, a desperate coaching staff or some combination of both.
Bradford returned the first time from that injury in Week 9, after missing two games in between his injury. His return was an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. UPDATE: he aggravated the injury again three weeks later in another game against the Cardinals. He played in three straight games after that; his status a weekly question that usually was not settled until Friday or Saturday.
Had Bradford been made to sit and rehab the injury longer the first time, you wonder if things might have been different. Doubtful. The biggest reason for his injuries was the porous offensive line assigned to protect him. He never really had a chance last year given that group's inconsistency as well as the poor receiver play.
There's a lesson here in pushing players back before they are ready. The Rams, hopefully, dodged a bullet with Bradford, but they now have to start almost from scratch.