Sam Bradford, last year’s Heisman Trophy winning quarterback for Oklahoma University, passed on the National Football League and decided to come back and play college football for the Sooners. Bradford knew when he made his decision that a very compelling argument could have been made that he would have been the #1 pick in the NFL Draft, but he still decided to forgo the NFL (for at least a year) and return to Oklahoma to help his beloved school attempt to win a National Championship .
Things didn’t work out as Bradford had hoped. He hurt his throwing shoulder in the first game of the year. He attempted to let his shoulder heal on its own as he didn’t play football for 5 weeks. Bradford played pretty well in his first game back, but in his second game back, he hurt his shoulder again. Bradford has now announced that he needs to have surgery to repair his shoulder.
Oh… did I forget to mention by turning down the NFL, Sam Bradford passed up over $35 million in guaranteed money?
When I was Sam Bradford’s age I loved Florida State. I would have done whatever I could to help my school win a National Championship. If I were in Bradford’s position, I may have even looked at the $35 million and decided Florida State was worth risking my future. I would have been wrong.
$35 million is generational money. If Sam Bradford would have decided to go to the NFL and received that kind of money, his grandchildren, even his great-grand children, probably even his great-great-grandchildren would have experienced the financial blessings of his athletic prowess.
I pray that Bradford will recover from his surgery and go onto have a wildly successful NFL career both in achievement and finance. He still very well may have all of that, however I have a few questions:
Who counseled Sam Bradford to return to Oklahoma and risk his entire future and his family’s future? Who advised Sam Bradford to play football for free all the while someone was willing to pay him $35 million to play? Was Sam Bradford’s best interests at the heart of the people giving him advice, or was the Oklahoma Sooner football program at the heart of the people advising Bradford to turn down the NFL?
