Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Sam Bradford shows knee is healthy, embraces offseason plan

TEMPE, Ariz. -- It wasn't much but it was enough to see that Sam Bradford’s chronically injured left knee is doing just fine.

During the portion of the third and final day of the Arizona Cardinals’ voluntary minicamp on Thursday that was open to reporters, Bradford went through a series of quarterback drills that showed off the progress made by his surgically repaired knee since it was scoped in November. He rolled out and threw on the run, went through play-action sequences, took five-step and seven-step drops, threw quick-fire screens and handed off to running backs.

He did it all with just a sleeve on his left knee, which looked healthy.

"I didn't see anything out of his knee," coach Steve Wilks said. "Not one thing. His knee is fine. Again, I don't think it's a process of something that's wrong with his knee. It's just myself as well as the trainer and everybody else, we want to make sure we just go through a process of not getting him out there too soon. Nothing is wrong with his knee.

"I thought he threw the ball well. We talk about ball handling. He handed the ball off. He rolled out, bootlegged. All those things. He's doing everything we've asked him to do. We just want to make sure we don't put too much on him too soon."

Bradford, who has torn his left ACL twice during his eight NFL seasons and who last season injured the same knee in Week 1 only to aggravate it four weeks later and then have it scoped in November, is in the midst of a plan that will slowly bring him along through organized team activities, minicamp and training camp until the start of the regular season.

"I mean, if you just look at what I've gone through, I think you would be foolish not to have a plan," Bradford said. "I think the past couple of offseasons I've gone into, even going into last offseason having been healthy, there was a plan with what I did in the weight room, there was a plan with continuing treatments in the training room.

"I think the staff here has been fantastic from (strength and conditioning coach) Buddy (Morris) to (trainer) Tom (Reed) to Fisch (physical therapist Brett Fischer). They're all hands on deck. They've had a great plan from Day 1. I feel like I've learned a lot, just about my body and about my knee in the past three weeks I've been here."

When pressed to divulge exactly what he's learned about his knee, Bradford said Morris uses technical words that he's often asking about their definition or for more clarification. But aside from his vocabulary, Morris has brought "a different training mindset" to working with Bradford.

Part of the plan has been to limit Bradford's reps. On Thursday, he went through drills in a rotation with the three other quarterbacks, sometimes taking every fourth snap, sometimes with more snaps passing between reps.

Bradford might not like the idea of sitting out reps but he understands the reasoning.

"Obviously, it's frustrating, but at the same time the end goal is to play 16 games and the end goal is to be healthy for an entire season," Bradford said. "And I think with that in mind you understand that you really lay the groundwork for that starting now. I think you have to be patient and trust the plan. Obviously, this isn't the first time that I've gone through something like this in an offseason. I think you have to have reasonable expectations and know that it would be nice to be out there and to take every rep. The goal is to play 16 games. That's what everything's geared toward and that's really what my mindset is right now, trying to make sure I get myself the best opportunity to do that."

Bradford has not played in all 16 games since 2012 -- and that was just his second time with a complete season. Injuries have marred his career, overshadowing his on-field production. And as he's learned, while playing 16 games is the goal every season, sometimes a brief moment can take that hope away.

So despite a new approach to training, limited reps and a plan to protect him, Bradford isn't confident enough right now to say that he'll play in all 16 games -- and he might never be.

"I don't think you ever know that -- no one knows that," Bradford said. "You can feel as great as you can and one play can take that away from you. I feel like with what I've done, what I said when I was here a month ago, what I've been doing from February to now, I feel like it gives me the best chance to succeed and to be able to be out there for 16 games."

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