Florida State linebacker Nigel Bradham, who became the first Seminole since Marvin Jones to lead the team in tackles three straight seasons, was selected in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft Saturday afternoon by the Buffalo Bills.
Bradham's selection makes him the 31st FSU linebacker to ever be taken in the draft and he is the sixth player to ever be taken by the Bills. He joins former 'Noles longsnapper Garrison Sanborn as one of two Florida State players on Buffalo's roster.
Here is a transcript of Bills scout Darrell Moody discussing Bradham, courtesy of BuffaloBills.com:
On if Bradham is an outside or inside linebacker:
He's played both. He's played inside and outside linebacker for them.
On his strengths:
He's a physical kid and he's got good size. With the spread formations now, a lot of the linebackers are smaller than we would like. But he's got good size. He's got good straight-line speed and is a great special teams player. I've done this for 10 years and I think in the 10 years that I've done it, of a starter playing on special teams, I think he covers better than any starter I've ever seen on special teams. He really works hard covering punts and kickoffs. He's a productive player for them and he's been a very productive special teams player for them.
On if he played in the sub-package at Florida State:
Yes, he played in their sub-package. I think he's got good cover skills.
On if he can play at strongside linebacker:
Well, the way we play it now, if I understand from talking to Dave (Wannstedt), the two outside linebackers you would like to be interchangeable because of the way people shift with formations and those kinds of things. I think our strongside linebacker and our weakside outside linebacker are going to be very similar as far as what they are going to be asked to do at different times during the ballgame.
On his speed and athleticism:
I think he's got good speed, maybe a little tight, but he compensates for that with effort and playing hard.
On being highly recruited out of high school:
You would have to ask Florida State about that. I would say most of their players are pretty heavily recruited.
On his career as a starter at Florida State:
I'm not sure about three years, but he's been a starter the last two years. I think he's made a tremendous amount of improvement each year.
On where he has improved the most:
I think the thing that you saw where he made the biggest strides is instincts from playing time and playing experience. The more you play, the more comfortable you feel and the more aggressive you could be and I think he improved a lot with that from last year to this year.
On being a team captain at Florida State:
We have nothing but positive things about him as a person and as a leader for the football team.
