Sam Bradford’s missteps with Vikings in 2016 masked by overpraised NFL record

In his first season with the Minnesota Vikings, the quarterback set an NFL passing record that de-emphasized the struggles he also experienced.

It is one of the few points people make when attempting to prove why Sam Bradford can lead the Minnesota Vikings back to the playoffs in 2017. “He was the most accurate passer in NFL history last year,” they say.

Yes, that is true and it is an accomplishment by Bradford that he can be proud of since his name is now atop a category in the league’s record books. However, there is something that unfortunately prevents the quarterback’s record from being anything of significance.

So yes, Bradford did lead the NFL in 2016 by completing 71.6 percent of his passes. However, his yards thrown per pass completion (9.8) was at the very bottom of the league last year as well according to Football Perspective.

"“Bradford is the fifth quarterback in the Super Bowl era to rank 1st in completion percentage and last in yards per completion, joining David Carr (HOU 2006), Eric Hipple (DET 1986), Joe Montana (SFO 1980) in his first year as a starter, and Sonny Jurgensen (WAS 1969).Carr posted a 6-10 record in 2006, while Hipple went 3-7, and Montana went 2-5.  Bradford went 7-8 last season, meaning only Jurgensen (7-5-2) posted a winning record of that bunch (and Washington had a negative points differential and faced a very easy schedule that year).”"

To better understand Bradford’s “accuracy” in 2016, just think about the types of players that are always among the NBA’s best each year in field goal percentage. Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan has led the league in this category for the past five seasons and it has a lot to do with the fact that his shots are taken extremely close to the basket.

Shaquille O’Neal led the NBA in field goal percentage 10 times during his career and he was never known to be one who could make it rain from outside the paint.

To present it rather bluntly, Bradford’s accuracy prowess in 2016 does not mean a whole lot when the majority of his throws are the length of an average screen pass. The four quarterbacks that ranked right behind Bradford in passing accuracy last year (Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Dak Prescott, and Tom Brady) all averaged at least 11.1 yards per completion.

People may want to turn around and bring up the fact that the Vikings’ quarterback has averaged over 10.5 yards per completion in four of his six NFL seasons. This is true, but Bradford also managed to only complete 60.2 percent of his passes during this time span as well.

Minnesota Vikings

Interestingly enough, during the quarterback’s first four starts with Minnesota in 2016, he completed 70.4 percent of his passes and averaged 11.3 yards per completion (the Vikings won all four of these games). However, in his final 11 starts, Minnesota went 3-8 and Bradford’s average yards per completion thrown dropped to just 9.4.

Did some of his short completions have to do with the Vikings’ offensive line guiding opposing pass rushers to their quarterback. Yes, of course.

But then how does one explain the fact that the five quarterbacks who were all sacked more than Bradford in 2016 (Tyrod Taylor, Andy Dalton, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer) all finished with a yards per completion average of 11.2 or higher?

Minnesota’s quarterback definitely has the arm strength to throw passes farther downfield. But for whatever reason, Bradford has always seemed to take the easy way out when it comes to finding the best receiving option after he drops back to pass.

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If the Vikings can get the quarterback to play in 2017 like he did in his first four games last year, then that would be wonderful for the team’s chance at success. But a combination of Bradford’s performance in the first and second halves of last season is something that seems like a more realistic outcome this year based on the quarterback’s consistently unimpressive history.