Sam Bradford Introduced in St. Louis

Originally Published: Apr 23, 2010 5:15 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff and AP Wire Reports

ST. LOUIS -- Former Oklahoma quarterback and No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft Sam Bradford was introduced as a St. Louis Ram Friday.

Bradford was already familiar with his new team; A week earlier at his private workout, the Rams introduced the Oklahoma quarterback to a slice of the daily routine. He spent time in the huddle calling plays, barked out signals at the line, made defensive reads.

"We were doing things you do in practice," Bradford said Friday. "It was great to hear how they do things here and get a sense of what practice is going to be like."

Coach Steve Spagnuolo said the workout differed from Bradford's pro day in that there was more "spitting out verbiage." Coaches also wanted to measure the quarterback's retention of some plays he had been given.

The Rams, 1-15 last year and 6-42 the last three seasons, are pinning their long-term hopes on the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner. He held up a No. 8 jersey at a news conference Friday that was attended by his parents, Martha and Kent Bradford, and Lucia Rodriguez, one-half of the brother-sister ownership team.

Bradford hits the field for the first time next weekend at a three-day rookie minicamp. He's a bit relieved that except for deeper pass routes, the plays he's run so far were not much different from college.

"I felt very comfortable going through those drills, going through those reads," Bradford said. "It eases my mind a little bit knowing that everything's not going to be completely different."

Repeating remarks just after being picked, Bradford appeared in no hurry to grab the starting job over an undistinguished group led by career backup A.J. Feeley. The Rams basically had to take a quarterback after releasing Marc Bulger earlier this month.

"I realize I have a lot of work in front of me, I realize there's some good quarterbacks here that I can hopefully learn from," Bradford said. "I'm just excited for my opportunity and I'm going to get to work as soon as possible, and then it's up to
the coaches."

Bradford wore No. 14 at Oklahoma. He chose No. 8 with the Rams as a nod to fellow Oklahoman Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame quarterback he recalled had a knack for finding ways to win.

"He was very good at that," Bradford said. "I just relate to him."