When Sam Bradford and Ndamukong Suh face each other on Sunday, it won't be the first time the two have met since going with the first two selections in the 2010 NFL Draft. Twice during their respective careers with the St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions, Bradford and Suh faced each other, but in Week 10, the third duel will feature much different circumstances.
New teams, same pressure for Sam Bradford, Ndamukong Suh
The current state of the Rams and Lions was largely shaped by the selections of Sam Bradford and Ndamukong Suh five years ago, but now the Eagles and Dolphins are relying on players who headlined the 2010 NFL Draft.
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Bradford, 28, was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason, while Suh signed a blockbuster contract with the Miami Dolphins in free agency. Both are the highest-paid players on their new teams, but as the last beneficiaries of a broken system that spiked rookie contracts through the roof, the pressures of a big contract is nothing new for either player.
In fact, the $13 million that Bradford is making in 2015 is the final year of the astronomical six-year, $78 million deal that he received after he was taken with the No. 1 pick. The six-year, $114.4 million deal signed by Suh is a step up from his rookie contract, but even he got a five-year, $68 million deal from the Lions after he was taken No. 2 overall.
| Year | Pick | Team | Player | Years | Total | Pick | Team | Player | Years | Total |
| 2010 | 1 | St. Louis Rams | Sam Bradford | 6 | $78M | 2 | Detroit Lions | Ndamukong Suh | 5 | $68M |
| 2011 | 1 | Carolina Panthers | Cam Newton | 4 | $22M | 2 | Denver Broncos | Von Miller | 4 | $21M |
| 2015 | 1 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Jameis Winston | 4 | $25.35M | 2 | Tennessee Titans | Marcus Mariota | 4 | $24.2M |
Pressure on top picks doesn't disappear when the money isn't there. A player like Jadeveon Clowney of the Houston Texans is still facing the pressure of expectations after he was taken with the top pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, but that is elevated even more when a player becomes the highest-paid player of a team he has never played a down for.
Five years later, it’s easy to forget how promising the rookie season of Bradford was. He took leadership of a roster that finished 1-15 a year prior, and racked up 3,512 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions to lead the Rams to a 7-9 record.
It was enough to earn him AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, while 10 sacks for Suh earned him the title of AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. But Suh kept his production going with 36 sacks and four trips to the Pro Bowl in five seasons with the Lions.
Bradford’s statistics actually improved with his passer rating, going from 76.5 as a rookie to 82.6 in 2012 and 90.9 in 2013, but injuries stacked up and wins never came for the Rams. An ACL tear ended his 2014 season before it began and proved to be the end of his time with the team.
Much of the Rams’ lack of success came from the inability to build an offense around Bradford. The team selected receivers Mardy Gilyard, Austin Pettis, Greg Salas, Brian Quick, Chris Givens, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey in the three drafts after the selection of Bradford, but not a single one turned into a top threat. Now with Nick Foles under center, the Rams are No. 32 in passing and the only shining light for the offense is rookie running back, Todd Gurley.
Building around Suh was a much more successful venture in Detroit. First-round picks like Nick Fairley and Ezekiel Ansah developed into productive players around him as the Lions climbed from the NFL’s worst defense prior to Suh’s arrival, to the No. 2 defense in 2014, his final season with the team. Now, no team has allowed more points than the Lions, and for all the criticisms of his play, it’s hard to argue that Suh wasn’t an integral part of what made the Detroit defense tick.
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Just five years since the 2010 NFL Draft, 13 players are on different teams, 16 are on the same team that drafted them and three are out of the league altogether. But for as much as that draft affected the NFL today, none of the top eight picks were made by teams that currently have a winning record in 2015.
It was St. Louis, Detroit, Tampa Bay and Washington looking to find their way in 2010, and while some have found bits of success, it hasn’t been sustained. For the Rams and Lions, the selections of Bradford and Suh shaped the future of both franchises, but the departures of both players left the teams in a position not much different than the one the Rams and Lions were in prior to adding the pair of picks in the first place.
Now, it’s the Eagles and Dolphins resting their 2015 hopes on the production of the two stars of the NFL Draft from five years ago.
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