NFL Trade Rumors: Sam Bradford NOT on the Trade Market

With the Scouting Combine over and the new NFL season about to start, the rumor mills have started churning. Although rumors are often dispelled by the parties involved, they still manage to generate a lot of buzz.

One of these rumors is centered on St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford. According to earlier reports, the Rams were rumored to be interested in trading Bradford to the Cleveland Browns and more recently to the Buffalo Bills. These reports, however have been shot down by Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News, Mike Rodak of ESPN.com and NBCSports' Pro Football Talk.

Just last week, Rams coach Jeff Fisher stated that Bradford will be the starting quarterback next season despite reports claiming that Bradford had permission to seek a trade. Fisher' statement suggested that these claims about Bradford were inaccurate.

"When we've had him, he's 5-2-1 in our division," Fisher said at the Combine. "And we weren't very good when we got here, so we're counting on him. I'm betting on him and if that doesn't happen, then we'll win games with somebody else."

Regardless of the rumors, many analysts have noted that trading Bradford would not make sense right now for the Rams. Nick Wagoner, ESPN St. Louis Rams reported, wrote:

"But it's also worth noting if these teams were legitimately interested in Bradford, it stands to reason the Rams would have similar interest in keeping him. It's not like the Rams have a better option waiting in the wings and the list of available quarterbacks in free agency or ones they could realistically get in the draft don't offer a clear upgrade, either.

Simply put, Bradford is every bit as valuable to the Rams, probably more so, than he would be to other teams... People close to Bradford insist he wants to stay in St. Louis in 2015. The Rams insist they want to keep him. What shape that takes will reveal itself in time but in the meantime, don't be surprised if the rumors persist."

In the meantime, more rumors are bound to surface, especially now that teams have started releasing players.