Sam Bradford Shoulder Surgery Considered Success

Good news, Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Tennessee Titans/St. Louis Rams fans! Sam Bradford’s shoulder surgery was deemed a success and he’s ready to tackle the pro game:

Yahoo!‘s always-excellent Dr. Saturday has a post mulling over Bradford’s pro prospects and college legacy, and the verdict is extremely favorable.

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford’s collegiate career is over. On Sunday, he announced that he would undergo surgery. He intends to enter the next

draft this coming April. Sports supersurgeon Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery.From The Oklahoman:

Mel Kiper moved him down to five on his draft board, and suddenly everything changes overnight about Sam Bradford’s status in the draft. Kiper’s power knows few bounds, but what it cannot compete with are a few incontrovertible truths of draft history...which surprisingly back up a downgrade in Bradford’s status, injury or not.

I was happy to bid him adieu in the name of preserving breakable parts for future financial gain, but there’s a fair case to be made to the contrary, as well: if Bradford wants to be successful, there’s also considerable potential gain to be made by returning for his senior season, too. You’ve one this one, Kiper. /shakesfistangrily

More from Joe Schad, who is now reporting that Sam Bradford’s press conference has been postponed because the QB needs “more time.”

As the Oklahoman points out, this seems to indicate that he’s still uncertain about undergoing season-ending surgery.

Joe Schad tweets thusly as we await Sam Bradford’s press conference in a couple hours:

I’m going to assume that is based on some sort of insider info and not pure speculation, but we shall find out soon enough.

The twice-injured Heisman QB is expected to address the media in Norman Wednesday afternoon. What will he be discussing? Bob Stoops fills us in, via Tulsa World:

We’ll be back with an update later to let you know what Bradford had to say.

With Sam Bradford injuring his shoulder early in the game against Texas, Oklahoma is not going to further chance any injury with Bradford by holding him out against Kansas:

The safest thing for Bradford to do is to sit out the rest of the season. Rest the shoulder and heal for the combine and draft.

Still no word on what that means for Bradford playing again this season and head coach Bob Stoops said it is unlikely there will be any official announcement before Thursday.

One thing to remember, however: Bradford’s just a redshirt junior. There’s nothing that says he must leave Oklahoma this year, particularly if the skepticism continues to loom large after the season. Bradford, when he’s played, has been fantastic this year—if he sits out the rest of this season, rehab his injury, and come back next year, he could very well end up the number one overall pick in 2011. A footnote, for now, but worth keeping in mind as scouts panic.

The Sooners’ Sam Bradford briefly spoke with the media on Saturday following Oklahoma’s 16-13 loss to Texas.

“Frustrated” is a predictable emotion from the Heisman Trophy winner. He still has one year of college eligibility remaining, and it will be interesting to see whether he decides to stick around for another year in an effort to rebuild his draft value.

There’s still no early prognosis as to the extent of Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford’s injury, but SB Nation blog Mocking the Draft warns that if Bradford has to miss more time, he could fall down the draft chart:

In the quick interview running into the locker room before half time, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said that he thinks Bradford’s injury was the same one he suffered in Week 1 and that he doesn’t expect Bradford to return. Maybe Bradford will end the confusion and take off his pads at halftime.

All that we’re hearing out of Dallas is that Bradford has been “knocked out of the game.” We’ll assume that means he’s not coming back but with halftime a little over three minutes of football time away, we hope to know the full extent of the injury soon. Oddly enough, Bradford is still on the sidelines with all of his pads on.

The shoulder Bradford injured is his right one, which of course was also injured in Week 1 of this season. Details as to the extent of his injury are still not known. Adam Schefter tweets, though, that even if this is a serious injury, he’s still a first-round pick in the upcoming draft.

No one is really sure right now as to the extent of Bradford’s re-injured shoulder. He threw no more than five balls on the sideline to test the shoulder but during the last drive took his helmet off and looks to be in a considerable amount of pain. His replacement, Landry Jones, just led a field goal drive as Oklahoma leads Texas 6-0. Bradford’s line on the day right now is 2 of 6 for 77 yards.