If you are going to be a professional athlete, you may want to seriously consider trying to sign with Sam Bradford’s agent, Tom Condon. Why him? Well—because he somehow convinced the Arizona Cardinals to a very lucrative deal even though his client is injury prone, has bad knees, and has never really been successful in the NFL.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Cardinals have signed Bradford to a two-year, $40 million contract with $15 million guaranteed and a $10 million signing bonus.
Go ahead and say it—wow.
As far as quarterback salaries go, it is not ridiculous. It is more than what the Eagles were willing to pay him (two-years, $36 million) before they traded him away. While the $5 million base pay looks team-friendly, he is guaranteed $15 million. So, no matter how much he plays, he is at least getting that.
His $5 million base ranks 20th among quarterbacks and could be considered fair. After all, he has only started 16 games twice (the last in 2012). He has never thrown for more than 4,000 yards and has a terrible win/loss record (34-45-1).
To be fair, he has been on some terrible teams. But a good quarterback should be able to elevate the level of play of the guys around him—right? There is no evidence that Bradford can do that.
From time to time, he has had a brilliant game or two. But it seems like the Cardinals are banking on the guy that played at Oklahoma showing up. Unless he plays in all 16 games this season and has a Pro Bowl caliber year, it is hard to imagine the Cardinals are going to exercise his option for next year.