I’m not a Teddy Bridgewater fan. I think he’s another Alex Smith – a careful game-manager type quarterback who’s a lot better in real life than he is in our little game.
Bridgewater, of course, went 5-0 as a starter last year, and he went 11-5 in his last season in Minnesota before shredding his knee. A 16-5 record isn’t anything to sneeze at. But just 23 TDs in those games. It was turnovers (just 11 interceptions) that were key.
Including fumbles, Bridgewater turned the ball over less often (per play) than any regular starter last year. That’s very Smith-like.
But if you want to avoid turnovers, that usually involves cautious decision making – settling for check-downs and not attempting the deep, 50-50 type throws. And Bridgewater, to me, looks like one of those kind of guys. He’s got a popgun arm – definitely one of the very weakest among the 32 guys who’ll start on opening day.
If we look at yards per completed pass last year, we see Bridgewater at only 10.4. Among quarterbacks who started at least half of last year, only two finished lower, and they’re definitely a lesser pair – Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.
| QUARTERBACKS, YARDS PER COMPLETION | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player | Pct | Yd/Com |
| Ryan Tannehill, Ten. | 70.3% | 13.64 |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 60.7% | 13.44 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 64.3% | 13.36 |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 65.9% | 12.64 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 65.1% | 12.63 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo, S.F. | 69.1% | 12.09 |
| Baker Mayfield, Cle. | 59.4% | 12.07 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 66.1% | 12.05 |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 66.0% | 11.83 |
| Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 66.1% | 11.80 |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 62.9% | 11.77 |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 69.1% | 11.74 |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 67.3% | 11.57 |
| Gardner Minshew, Jac. | 60.6% | 11.48 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 58.8% | 11.40 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mia. | 62.0% | 11.35 |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 62.0% | 11.34 |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 70.4% | 11.23 |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 59.5% | 11.13 |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 61.9% | 11.08 |
| Kyle Allen, Car. | 62.0% | 10.96 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 66.2% | 10.95 |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 60.8% | 10.88 |
| Jacoby Brissett, Ind. | 60.9% | 10.82 |
| Case Keenum, Was. | 64.8% | 10.67 |
| Kyler Murray, Ariz. | 64.4% | 10.66 |
| Daniel Jones, NYG | 61.9% | 10.66 |
| Joe Flacco, Den. | 65.3% | 10.65 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 74.3% | 10.60 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 63.9% | 10.41 |
| Teddy Bridgewater, N.O. | 67.9% | 10.41 |
| Mason Rudolph, Pitt. | 62.2% | 10.03 |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 63.2% | 9.63 |
The Panthers have brought in some interesting offensive minds, of course. Matt Rhule was a big success at Temple and Baylor, and Joe Brady was the coordinator for that wildly successful LSU offense, with Joe Burrow throwing 60 touchdowns and averaging 378 passing yards per game. So I will concede that we’ll need to take a look at Bridgewater in August.
But to me, Bridgewater doesn’t look like a quarterback with much of a chance of putting up top-20 numbers.
—Ian Allan