PurplePTSD: Garrett Bradbury: “I Was Playing To Not Mess Up”

Press release from the PurplePTSD:

December 18, 2021

Garrett Bradbury looks like a bust. He has been a major disappointment since being chosen in the first round of the 2019 draft. Initially, it looked like he could be the solution at center for the next decade. He is a plus athlete who did well in the combine’s strength testing. Ah, how wrong we all were. Recently, he got benched in favor of Mason Cole, a former third-rounder who was brought in during the offseason through a trade with Arizona.

Being benched, as the video below demonstrates, caused Bradbury to reevaluate things:

There are several notable quotes in this sequence. He admits that he was “probably just got too comfortable” before indicating that “you’ve gotta take a hard look in the mirror, ‘What do I need to do differently, what can I do differently?'” His honesty here is appreciated. His play over these past two weeks certainly suggests he has committed to improving.

He also makes a bit of a puzzling comment about how he used to understand his play: “Personally, I felt like watching the tape, I was playing to not mess up, playing a little timid. Whereas in the moment, I felt like I was just playing good, good enough, etc.” One wonders what kind of tape he was watching before. It was plain to anyone watching that Garrett Bradbury was a bust through 2.5 years in the NFL.

Being benched evidently caused him to approach the situation with a fresh set of eyes. Watching reps with a sense of urgency is different from watching reps with a sense of complacency.

On Monday night, the Vikings will take on a battered and beleaguered Bears team. Their defensive line has the capacity to make life supremely difficult for Prime Time Kirk, so a lot of the onus will fall on the front five to hold strong.

This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.