A Pretty Impressive Record For Sam Bradford

In his first season with the Minnesota Vikings, we all saw Sam Bradford set a single-season record for completion percentage by a quarterback. However, he has another record that some people might be even more impressed by.

According to Gary Gramling of Sports Illustrated, Bradford has the distinction of earning more per game than any other player in the history of the National Football League.

Thanks in large part to being the last #1 overall pick to not have his earnings potential handcuffed by a rookie salary scale, Bradford has certainly cashed in over the years. According to Gramling (using numbers from Spotrac), Bradford has earned $96,084,404 in his career and has played in 78 career games. That puts his per game earnings at a cool $1,231,851, which is over $200,000 a game clear of the next-highest player on the list (New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning).

Not surprisingly, eight of the ten players on the list are quarterbacks, with defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy being the exceptions.

Gramling apparently thinks that Bradford is going to have another huge payday coming. If you look at his 2017 predictions, which he goes through in the rest of his column, he has the Vikings going to the Super Bowl (and losing. . .grumble grumble), names Bradford as a “dark horse” MVP candidate, and Mike Zimmer as his Coach of the Year.

If a Bradford-led offense takes Minnesota to their first Super Bowl appearance since January of 1977, Bradford is going to be in line for another huge payday. . .likely from the Vikings themselves.