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Lede:
The Buffalo Bills are pursuing a trade for St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, multiple league sources told Yahoo Sports.
That comes on the heels of recent rumors that the Cleveland Browns were interested in pursuing the #1 overall pick from the 2010 NFL Draft, even if he is "not going to accept a trade at this point." Fisher, of course, responded to those rumors on Friday during his presser at the combine essentially shutting down the possibility of a trade.
That doesn't stop any other team from offering one or discussing the opportunity, of course.
The question is what would be fair value for a QB who has yet to reach his day one expectations and is now coming off of a doubly-injured ACL having missed a year and a half of football (save for a nightmare of a 2014 preseason snippet) who, nonetheless, may be the most attractive potential QB available/semi-available/not really available but worth covering in the offseason.
Also factoring in? The idea that the Browns, Bills or any other Fill In The Blank Team Name Here Suitor would be trading for a QB who is going into the last year on his initial contract.Picture this hypothetical playing out where the Bills get Sam Bradford, he has a decent to plus season and then hits the market to a QB-starved league leaving the Bills back where they were but without whatever draft capital it would take to procure Bradford's services.
Likelihood: 1 to 3 out of 10
The Rams are just stuck right now. They don't have another QB on the roster (let alone a capable one when you argue that either Shaun Hill or Austin Davis will be retained), and they're not in position to take an immediate rookie plug.
The only reason I fudge some room up to 3 out of 10? If the Browns want to unload a bucket of future picks on the Rams. The Rams may be desperate to keep Sam Bradford, but even then he's no superstar. There is a threshold at which you take the draft picks, empty out the QB drawer and let GM Jesus (Les Snead) take the wheel.
As it stands though, this is Buffalo just signaling intent and not the Rams signaling any reciprocity (to say nothing of Sam's agent...).
(UPDATED at 2:52pm ET)
And then there's this from Buffalo beat writer Vic Carucci...
Hearing the #Bills are not pursuing #Rams QB Sam Bradford, as being reported, from a source in the know.
— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) February 24, 2015
LET THE SMOKESCREENS BEGIN!