Sam Bradford Samuel Jacob " Sam " Bradford ( born November 8 , 1987 ) is a quarterback for the St . Louis Rams of the National Football League ( NFL ) . He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft , after playing college football for the University of Oklahoma . In 2008 , as a redshirt sophomore , Bradford became the second sophomore to win a Heisman Trophy . He also holds the NCAA record for most touchdown passes by a freshman quarterback , with 36 . In his first season in the NFL , Bradford set the record for most completions by a rookie in NFL history , which helped earn him the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award . Early years . Bradford was born in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma . He attended Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City , and starred in football , basketball and golf for the Putnam City Panthers . As a senior quarterback for his high school football team in 2005 , he threw for 2 , 029 yards and 17 touchdowns in 12 games . His senior year in basketball , he averaged a double - double . Bradford was a three - star recruit not that highly ranked among the high school class of 2006 , with his highest ranking being No . 12 among only pro - style quarterbacks by recruiting source " Rivals . com " , behind Pat Devlin , Juice Williams , Josh Freeman , and being overshadowed by the likes of five - star recruits Mitch Mustain , Matthew Stafford and Tim Tebow . College career . Bradford received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Oklahoma , where he played for coach Bob Stoops ' Oklahoma Sooners football team from 2007 to 2009 . Freshman season . In 2006 , Oklahoma ' s starting quarterback Rhett Bomar , then a sophomore , was dismissed from the team for violating NCAA rules . Paul Thompson , a senior quarterback - turned - wide receiver , converted back to quarterback and led the 2006 Oklahoma Sooners football team to win the Big 12 Championship Game . His departure left a void at the quarterback position at Oklahoma . Six players on the roster tried out for the starting position during the following off - season , including three walk - on quarterbacks , true freshman Keith Nichol ( a Rivals . com 4 - star recruit and 6th - ranked dual - threat quarterback in the 2007 recruiting class , who later transferred to Michigan State University ) , junior Joey Halzle ( the only one with game experience ) , and Bradford , a redshirt freshman . On August 21 , 2007 , Bradford won the starting quarterback role for the 2007 team . In his first game for the Sooners , against the University of North Texas , Bradford completed 21 of 23 attempts for 363 yards and three touchdowns in a little over two quarters , breaking the school record for passing yards in a half , held by his quarterback coach Josh Heupel , with 350 . The very next game , Bradford broke Heisman Trophy winner Jason White ' s school record for most consecutive pass completions with 22 ( 18 came in the first half and four at the start of the second ) . In the second week of the 2007 season , Bradford was named the national offensive player of the week by the Walter Camp Foundation after tying the school record for most touchdown passes in a game with five . Having thrown 25 touchdowns through his first nine games , Bradford was on pace to break the NCAA freshman record of 29 touchdowns set by David Neill in 1998 and tied by Colt McCoy in 2006 . In the November 17 , 2007 game against Texas Tech , Bradford suffered a concussion of unknown severity . He was removed from the game and replaced by back - up quarterback Joey Halzle . The Sooners lost the game , 27 – 34 . Bradford was able to play in the Bedlam game against Oklahoma State on November 24 . During the November 24 , 2007 game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys , Bradford broke the NCAA freshman record of 29 touchdowns by passing his 30th touchdown to Joe Jon Finley during the second quarter . At the Missouri Tigers game , Bradford threw for 209 yards and 0 interceptions . He was 18 – 26 and threw for two touchdowns . The Sooners won the Big 12 Championship after defeating Missouri for the second time in a season . The Sooners played the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2 , 2008 and lost 48 – 28 . It was Bradford ' s first BCS bowl game as a starter . Sophomore season . In week 8 of the following season against Kansas , Bradford surpassed quarterback coach Josh Heupel ' s school record for passing yards in a single game with 468 yards . Bradford led the Sooners to their third straight Big 12 Championship and defeated Missouri 62 – 21 . In the process , the Sooners broke Hawaii ' s 2006 record for the most points in a single season with 702 points . Also , the Sooners were the first team in NCAA history who had scored 60 or more points in five straight games . Oklahoma finished the 2008 regular season with a 12 – 1 record , ranking # 2 in the AP Poll and # 1 in the BCS Standings . The Sooners earned a trip to play Florida at the 2009 BCS National Championship Game . After the regular season , Bradford captured the Davey O ' Brien Award and the Heisman Trophy . He is the second sophomore , after 2007 winner Tim Tebow of the University of Florida , to receive the Heisman ; he also became the fifth University of Oklahoma player , as well as the first person of Native American descent to capture the trophy . Bradford received 1 , 726 total points while the other finalists , Colt McCoy , of the University of Texas , and Tim Tebow , received 1 , 604 and 1 , 575 , respectively . Tebow , however , collected more first - place votes , 309 , while Bradford got 300 . Bradford got the most points thanks to the help of his 315 second - place votes . A total of 926 voters participated in the balloting . When combined with Blake Griffin ' s Naismith Award , Oklahoma became the first school to have a winner in both top basketball and football individual awards in the same year . Bradford was also voted the Associated Press College Football Player of the Year . Bradford received 27 votes , again beating McCoy ( 17 votes ) and Tim Tebow ( 16 votes ) . Bradford is the third Oklahoma Sooner to win the award , joining Josh Heupel ( 2000 ) and Jason White ( 2003 ) . Heupel and White were also quarterbacks , with Heupel being the current quarterbacks coach for Oklahoma . Bradford faced Florida , led by Tebow , in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game . He threw 26 - of - 41 passes for 256 yards , two touchdowns , and two interceptions . Florida ended up beating Oklahoma 24 – 14 . Junior season . Bradford announced that he would forgo the 2009 NFL Draft to return to Oklahoma for his junior season . In the Sooners ' first game of the season ( against Brigham Young ) , Bradford suffered a 3rd degree AC joint sprain one play after becoming Oklahoma ' s all - time passing leader . Playing without Bradford for the second half of the game , Oklahoma went on to lose 13 – 16 . Bradford was originally scheduled to return in about three to six weeks , but head coach Bob Stoops initially refused to either confirm or deny that timetable . After missing three weeks , Bradford returned to the field during the Baylor game , and completed 27 - of - 49 passes for 389 yards and one touchdown , leading the Sooners to a 33 – 7 victory . Bradford re - injured his right shoulder on October 17 , 2009 in the Red River Rivalry against Texas on the second drive of the game . It was later announced that he would undergo season - ending shoulder surgery and enter the 2010 NFL Draft . Statistics . Source : Professional career . 2010 NFL Draft . Although he likely would have been one of the first quarterbacks taken in the 2009 NFL Draft , Bradford decided to return to Oklahoma for his junior season in January 2009 . Shortly after the 2009 draft , he was projected as the No . 1 prospect for the 2010 NFL Draft . On October 25 , 2009 , Bradford announced he would forgo his final year at Oklahoma and enter the draft . Commonly considered one of the top prospects available , Bradford was projected as high as the No . 1 overall pick for most of the preseason and the early part of the regular season . Due to his shoulder injury , Bradford did not throw at the 2010 NFL Combine , however he was measured and participated in interviews and medical examinations . He was measured at 6 – 4¼ and 236 pounds , about 15 pounds above his college playing weight . Bradford scored 36 out of 50 on the Wonderlic test , well above the average of 28 . 5 for the 30 NFL quarterbacks slated to start in 2010 . On March 19 , Bradford met with St . Louis Rams general manager Billy Devaney and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur in Pensacola , Florida , where he has been training and rehabbing since undergoing surgery on his throwing shoulder . On April 22 , 2010 Sam Bradford was selected as the No . 1 pick in the NFL Draft by the St . Louis Rams . St . Louis Rams . 2010 : Rookie Success . In early Spring , Bradford met with Thom Goudy , a professional development coach in St . Louis , MO . Goudy helped Bradford with his pocket technique . Bradford spent three weeks in his training camp before starting the summer conditioning camp . On April 22 , 2010 , Bradford was selected by the St . Louis Rams as the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft . It was the first time the Rams selected a quarterback in the first round of a draft since the selection of Bill Munson in the 1964 NFL Draft . Bradford is the first No . 1 pick out of Oklahoma since Billy Sims was selected top overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1980 NFL Draft . Bradford chose the # 8 in honor to Troy Aikman who also attended OU before transferring to UCLA . On July 30 , 2010 , Bradford signed a six - year , $ 78 million deal , which has $ 50 million of guarantees and has a maximum value of $ 86 million making it the largest contract ever for an NFL rookie . In the preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings on August 14 , Bradford went 6 - of - 13 for 57 yards and was also sacked 3 times in a Rams loss . After another unimpressive showing against the Browns in his second game , Bradford bounced back in a big way against the Patriots in the third game of the preseason . He got his first start in place of the injured A . J . Feeley , throwing two first half touchdowns and helping lead the Rams to a 36 – 35 victory . He competed for the starting quarterback position with Feeley and on September 4 , Bradford was named the starting quarterback for the 2010 season opener . On September 12 , 2010 , in his first regular season game as the starting quarterback for the Rams , Bradford completed 32 / 55 passes for 253 yards , 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions . The Arizona Cardinals won 17 – 13 . His first NFL touchdown came on a 1 - yard pass to Laurent Robinson . Two weeks later , he then achieved his first victory as an NFL starter when the Rams defeated the Washington Redskins in an upset by a score of 30 – 16 , which snapped a 13 - game overall home losing streak . The next week , he passed for 289 yards and two TDs in leading the Rams over the Seahawks , 20 - 3 . This was their first win in a division game since November 2007 . In week 8 against the Carolina Panthers , Bradford connected on 25 of 32 passes , two of them for touchdowns . In his first eight games he scored eleven TDs , which tied an NFL record — held by Dan Marino ( ) , Peyton Manning ( ) , and Ben Roethlisberger ( ) — for over that span by a rookie since the AFL – NFL merger in 1970 . Bradford went 3 - 2 as a starter in October , passing for 1019 yards and 7 TDs against 3 INTs . He was named the NFL ' s offensive rookie of the month . During October and November , he established a record for most consecutive passes without an interception for a rookie ( 169 ) , which ended with an interception by William Moore in a home game against the Atlanta Falcons on November 21 . On November 28 , 2010 , against the Denver Broncos , Bradford became the first rookie in NFL history to pass for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions during a road victory . He capped November by becoming the first rookie QB to win two consecutive Offensive Rookie of the Month awards . On December 26 , Bradford surpassed Peyton Manning ' s record for most completed passes by an NFL rookie quarterback ( 326 ) . Bradford finished the season with 354 completions out of 590 attempts , surpassing Manning ' s record of 575 for most attempts by an NFL rookie quarterback . Bradford became just the third rookie quarterback to start all 16 regular season games and pass over 3000 passing yards , joining Peyton Manning and Matt Ryan . 2011 : Struggle and Injury . Bradford regressed in the eyes of many football pundits in 2011 during his second season in the NFL . He only threw six touchdown passes in 10 starts , winning only one game against the Cleveland Browns in Week 10 . He was sacked 36 times in these ten starts . He missed six games due to the lingering effects of a high ankle sprain . In place of his absence , the Rams used quarterbacks A . J . Feeley and Kellen Clemens . Bradford concluded his season sitting the final game on the bench . He ended the season with low totals of 2 , 164 yards and 6 touchdowns , with an unimpressive Passer rating of 70 . 5 . With Bradford ' s inability to stay healthy and poor performance when on the field , along came a league low 2 - 14 record and the firings of Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo and General manager Billy Devaney at the conclusion of the 2011 season . Personal . Bradford is 1 / 16th Cherokee and listed as an official citizen on the Cherokee Nation tribe ' s rolls . Bradford is the first person of identified Cherokee descent to start at quarterback for a Division I university since Sonny Sixkiller , a full - blooded Cherokee , who played for the University of Washington during the 1970 – 1972 seasons . Bradford also holds the distinction of being the first Native American to win the Heisman Trophy . His father , Kent Bradford , was an offensive lineman for the Sooners from 1977 to 1978 . Bradford is also an avid ice hockey fan . At one point Bradford compared his love for hockey to his love for football . According to a January 6 , 2009 report , his favorite team is the Vancouver Canucks . Bradford is a scratch golfer and was a star basketball player in high school . Bradford also appeared in a short film of testimonials from celebrity videos called , I Am Second , sharing his faith about Jesus Christ and winning the Heisman Trophy . In 2009 , Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett declared January 13 as " Sam Bradford Day " in Oklahoma City .