Sam Bradford Update: Can Josh McDaniels Elevate Bradford to MVP Candidate?

Josh McDaniels...just mention that name to a casual football fan, and you are probably going to get a strong reaction.  Young and arrogant, or brilliant and hard working?  Passionate and always pushing it to the limit, or breaking the rules?

Love him or hate him?  With McDaniels, sometimes it's either-or, and not a whole lot of in-between.

One thing that can't be debated, however, is McDaniels' impact on the quarterbacks he coaches.  That is good news for Rams fans, who have a great looking young quarterback in Sam Bradford.

Keep reading, and I'll show you why Sam Bradford is about to go from "talented young player" to "darkhorse MVP candidate."

Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady

Tom Brady is a first ballot Hall of Famer.  Guys who are that good have a way of making their coaches look smart.  Critics of Josh McDaniels could say that Brady launched McDaniels' career.  Those critics would be right.

That doesn't change the fact that Josh McDaniels got the best out of Tom Brady.

McDaniels was hired by the Patriots in 2001, and was relegated to doing the "grunt work" of coaching.  By 2004, he had been promoted to quarterbacks' coach.  After that season, the Patriots' third Super Bowl Championship, offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss took the head coaching job at The University of Notre Dame.  McDaniels was next in line to be offensive coordinator.

However, Patriots head football coach Bill Belichick did not name an offensive coordinator for the 2005 season.  McDaniels took on an expanded role with the offense, but he did not officially take over as offensive coordinator until the 2006 season.  McDaniels continued in that role with the Patriots from 2006-2008.

Take a look at Tom Brady's stats during McDaniels' time in New England.

Year	Comp-Att	Comp%	Yards	TD-INT	QBRat
2004	288-474	60.8%	3692	28-14	92.6
2005	334-530	63.1%	4110	26-14	92.3
2006	319-516	61.8%	3529	24-12	87.9
2007	398-578	68.9%	4806	50-8	117.2

Taking a look at the numbers, there is no denying that Brady's statistics improved with Josh McDaniels calling the plays.  In 2004, when Weiss was still calling the plays, Brady put up Pro Bowl caliber numbers.  But fans are quick to forget, at this point in his career, Brady was seen as a "clutch quarterback" who won the big games, but didn't neccessarily put up eye popping numbers.  In the eternal "Brady vs. Manning" argument, fans would debate "Manning's gaudy stats vs. Brady's playoff success."

Under Josh McDaniels, that all changed, and Tom Brady started breaking records.

Josh McDaniels and Matt Cassel

Okay, so what have we learned so far?  That Josh McDaniels was able to work with a great quarterback in Tom Brady, and he made Brady even better than he already was.  That is impressive, but maybe a lot of coaches could do that, right? 

Well fast forward to 2008.  Tom Brady goes down with a knee injury in the first game of the year, and Brady misses the entire season.  The Patriots call on seldom used backup quarterback Matt Cassell, a seventh round draft pick out of the University of Southern California. 

Matt Cassel didn't even start in college. 

Cassel stepped in for Brady and led the Pats to an 11-5 record that year.  Cassel played so well that he was traded to Kansas City that offseason for a high draft pick.  He has been the starting quarterback in Kansas City ever since.

Here is a look at Matt Cassel during his season in New England with McDaniels, and the following year without McDaniels in Kansas City.

Year	Comp-Att	Comp%	Yards	TD-INT	QBRat
2008	327-516	63.4%	3693	21-11	89.4
2009	271-493	55.0%	2924	16-16	69.9

 So looking at the numbers, Cassel was very good in 2008 with McDaniels.  In 2009 without Josh McD calling the shots...not so much.

Josh McDaniels and Kyle Orton

The Chicago Bears haven't had a good quarterback since...well, you'll have to find a really old Chicago Bears fan to tell me who that quarterback was.  So in 2005, as a rookie with the Chicago Bears, it is safe to assume not a lot was expected out of Kyle Orton.

And who could blame Bears fans for the lowered expectations?

The Bears had Rex Grossman, the Bears "quarterback of the future" already in place.  Except that Grossman kept getting hurt, and then there was also the fact that Grossman turned out to be...not so good after all.

So coming out of Purdue, where Orton had followed Drew Brees (and broke several of his records), the Bears thew Kyle Orton into the fire as a rookie after Grossman was injured during the preseason.  Orton started 15 games during his rookie season, and he helped the Bears win 10 games.

The following season, Grossman was healthy, and Orton didn't play at all.  The Bears lost in the Super Bowl, where Grossman played terribly.  So Orton and Grossman basically battled over the starting QB for the next two years.  Orton actually played decent in Chicago, but Bears management was never really sold on him.  Finally, he was traded to Denver prior to the start of the 2009 season for Jay Cutler.

So to recap, Kyle Orton was deemed a worse player than Rex Grossman and Jay Cutler.  Read that sentence again, and you just shake your head, because today a lot of smart football people think Orton is clearly better than Grossman, and probably better than Cutler.

The reason people think that is because Orton spent some time in Josh McDaniels' offense, and that once again, Josh McDaniels got the best out of his quarterback. 

Here are the numbers:

Year	Comp-Att	Comp%	Yards	TD-INT	QBRat
2008	272-465	58.5%	2972	18-12	79.6
2009	336-541	62.1%	3802	21-12	86.8

 So in 2008, Orton was an average quarterback with the Bears.  In 2009, his career took off playing for Josh McDaniels and the Denver Broncos.

So What Can McDaniels Do for Sam Bradford's Career?

So McDaniels took Brady from "great" to "all time great."  He took Cassel from "seventh rounder who didn't play in college" to "solid NFL starter."  And he elevated Orton from "kid with potential" to "Pro Bowl quarterback."

What does all this mean for Sam Bradford, the former number one overall pick in the draft?

If Bradford can show the across-the-board improvement that previous McDaniels' quarterbacks have shown, that will be a good thing for Rams' fans, and a bad thing for opposing defenses.

Here are Sam the Ram's numbers from his rookie year:

Year	Comp-Att	Comp%	Yards	TD-INT	QBRat
2010	354-590	60%	3512	18-15	76.5

Those are incredible stats for a rookie.  If Bradford takes that next step, and McDaniels can help Bradford realize his enormous potential, then Bradford will be an MVP candidate this year.  Because at the end of the day, getting the best out of his quarterback is how Josh McDaniels has made his money in the NFL.

And if he gets the best out of Bradford, NFL head coaches on the hot seat beware, McDaniels won't be the Rams offensive coordinator for long.