After the Arizona Cardinals lost out on their top two quarterbacks targets in free agency, they quickly worked to land their third option. This week, the Cardinals and quarterback Sam Bradford agreed to a one-year deal for $20 million, the deal also includes a $20 million option for 2019.
Bradford comes off a 2017 season that started on a bright note but quickly faded into another chapter NFL fans are all too familiar with from his career.
In the Minnesota Vikings opener against the New Orleans Saints, Bradford looked like an MVP-caliber quarterback with a 346-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 29-19 win. Expectations for Minnesota's season immediately soared and many thought this would finally be the moment he may all put it together.
Instead, further problems with his knee sidelined him and would keep him out of action outside of a lone appearance a month later when the 30-year-old hobbled down the field on one leg and only completed five of 11 attempts for 36 yards before Minnesota pulled him off the field.
While Bradford would later be active in the playoffs and reportedly healthy, Minnesota remained locked in on Case Keenum given how far he carried him. As a result, Bradford entered free agency with significant question marks, especially after Vikings' head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters Bradford had a degenerative knee.
Now Bradford will hope to find better success in Arizona, but it's not exactly the ideal landing spot for a quarterback with major durability concerns and a degenerative knee condition. Pro Football Focus graded Arizona's offensive line as the second-worst unit in the NFL last season and the group allowed the second-most quarterback hits (123) last season, according to NFL.com. Even with small additions in free agency, this remains one of the worst lines in football and it present a frightening scenario for Bradford.
Arizona's offense will rely heavily on David Johnson to carry the load, but even another All Pro-caliber season from Johnson won't be enough to protect Bradford and take pressure off this offensive line. Bradford will also be very limited in his options to throw to with Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald serving as the only reliable options in this offense.
Given Bradford's immense injury risk and the high probability hits behind this offensive line could cause him to miss time paired with the lack of weapons to put up fantasy-relevant numbers, Bradford is not on the fantasy radar. Teams will match more coverage up against Fitzgerald and bring massive heat against Arizona's offensive line, which could all lead to this being one of the worst offense's in football next season.