The Rams aren’t wavering in their support of Sam Bradford as their franchise quarterback.
Rams General Manager Les Snead made it clear that the team is committed to Bradford, ESPN reports.
That’s not a surprise: Although Bradford’s season was cut short by a torn ACL in the Rams’ seventh game, he was having his best season before he got hurt. Bradford had career highs in completion percentage and passer rating and a career low in interceptions in 2013.
So although this year’s draft looks like a good one for teams seeking a quarterback in the first round, the Rams likely won’t select Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles or Derek Carr with either of their first-round picks (No. 2 and No. 13).
Instead, assuming the Texans take a quarterback first overall, the Rams can either select the best non-quarterback in the draft at No. 2, or trade the No. 2 pick to a quarterback-needy team and parlay that into more picks, just as they did when they shipped the second overall pick in 2012 to Washington -- which is why St. Louis now has Washington’s first-round pick.
If the Rams are right that Bradford is the man to lead their franchise, they have a lot of ammunition in the draft to make the team better around him.