Thursday & Long: Of Rams, Redskins and Top-Pick QBs

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Rams want to take Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the No. 1 pick in the draft. The question is whether they actually will. There are concerns about Bradford's shoulder, but unless he shows up at his pro day next week throwing left-handed, the shoulder isn't likely to be as big a stumbling block as money is. Bradford will be looking for a contract greater than the one the Lions gave top pick Matthew Stafford last year (six years, $72 million with $41.7 million guaranteed), and since he has the same agents Stafford has, you know they can pull it off.

If the Rams pass, where does that leave Bradford? Detroit and Tampa Bay, who pick second and third, got their quarterbacks in last year's draft. So unless somebody trades up into one of those two spots, that would leave the Redskins at No. 4. They'd love to take Bradford. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said Wednesday that the only pre-draft workouts he plans to attend personally are those of the top available quarterbacks. Shanahan met with one of Bradford's agents at the NFL league meetings this week. And it's entirely possible that the Bradford camp would rather see him in Washington playing for Shanahan than in St. Louis.

But the Redskins aren't likely to get Bradford at a discount just because he drops to No. 4. The agents would accurately cite the 2008 draft, in which QB Matt Ryan was picked third but got more money and a bigger guarantee than the linemen that went before him. Sure, Dan Snyder has plenty of money. But anybody can come up with a reason not to spend $42 million. And if you're thinking about picking a quarterback at the top of the draft, it pays to be real, real sure you know what you're doing.

"You have to have a total commitment that this is your guy," said Giants coach Tom Coughlin, whose team took Eli Manning with the top pick in the 2004 draft (or, technically, had the Chargers take him for them and then acquired him via trade). "Ownership has to be into it -- your whole organization. You'd better have all the information that you can possibly have. You have to narrow it down to where there's not a lot that you don't know."

The risk is great, but so is the reward. If you pick a quarterback at the top of the draft and you get it right, you're setting up your franchise for the next decade. If you get it wrong, you're going to find yourself in the same spot (with a similarly high pick) not far into the future. For every Eli Manning or Peyton Manning there's a Ryan Leaf or a Heath Shuler. Because of the money involved, and the importance of the position, drafting a QB high can be nerve-wracking. So those who've been through it say the key is to make yourself as comfortable as possible.

"We felt very comfortable with it, and one of the reasons was we had consensus for the pick," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said of picking Stafford first overall in 2009. "It wasn't just, 'Whatever, the coaches wanted a quarterback.' We had consensus from the area scouts and the national scouts and the director of college scouting to the general manager to the offensive coordinator to the head coach to the position coach. When all was said and done, we felt strong about it. It's hard to draft somebody No. 1 that you don't feel strong about."

That's why the Rams are planning to learn as much as they can about Bradford before making any decisions. Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said he was very impressed with Bradford at the scouting combine last month, but the Rams plan to attend Bradford's pro day, and Spagnuolo plans to do some of his own recon there.

"He's in his own setting now, and I'm interested to see that," Spagnuolo said. "I'm going to try and get him by myself at some point, probably early in the morning before things get going, just him and me. See if I can pull a couple of things out of him, find out a little bit more."

After the pro day, the Rams have Bradford scheduled to visit them in St. Louis for more interviews, and Spagnuolo said they'd also likely hold another private workout for him, just to reinforce whatever they see next week.

"Let's assume he has this 'blow-away' workout (next week)," Spagnuolo said. "You still want to see a couple of weeks later, did the shoulder react properly, things like that. We might do that even if he has a great workout."

Spagnuolo said he also spent some time this week talking to other coaches -- he named Philadelphia's Andy Reid, Minnesota's Brad Childress and Denver's Josh McDaniels -- who have offensive backgrounds, since his own background is as a defensive coach.

"Guys I respect and who know quarterbacks," Spagnuolo said.

It's all the name of doing as much homework as possible. Because if you're going to take a quarterback at the top of the draft, you'd better have done your homework.