The high ankle sprain that ruined Rams quarterback Sam Bradford’s 2011 season hasn’t totally gone away.
Bradford isn’t showing any outward signs of the injury during practice, but he told reporters that he’s still bothered by it. Bradford said it was frustrating that the ankle wasn’t yet 100 percent, but that he’s managing as well as he can right now.
“It’s close,” Bradford said, via Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I think it’s as good as it’s going to feel. It’s something that we’re managing right now. I’ve been able to take every snap so far without any setbacks and I think that’s a positive sign.”
The Rams clearly need Bradford to be better than he was in his second season to get the team on track for success in the years to come. An injury, especially a lingering one that throws Bradford off for an entire season, would be the easiest way for that dream to go up in smoke.
So it would seem to be good news that Thomas writes that Bradford is moving “as good as ever” on the field at practice. Or it would if Bradford wasn’t saying that his ankle is still not quite right. Bradford certainly isn’t the first quarterback to make such an unprompted declaration about his health, although that doesn’t make it any easier to understand why he chose to be so forthcoming.