Teddy Bridgewater

[Webbfann]

I heard him talk the other night and that put a bit of doubt in me. Hopefully he's the opposite of Ponder, who has book smarts and no football smarts, because he didn't exactly come across as a genius.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

I heard him talk the other night and that put a bit of doubt in me. Hopefully he's the opposite of Ponder, who has book smarts and no football smarts, because he didn't exactly come across as a genius.

Bridgewater is intelligent - both off the field and on the field. He had a 4.0 in high school, and, IIRC, he already has his degree from Louisville.

[Webbfann]

Bridgewater is intelligent - both off the field and on the field. He had a 4.0 in high school, and, IIRC, he already has his degree from Louisville.

That's what I've been hearing, that he is intelligent, which is why I was surprised he didn't come across as more articulate. Then I dug a bit and read he only scored 20 on the Wunderlich. But we all know that doesn't indicate success or failure. Hopefully what I've read about his on field intelligence is the truth of the matter. Maybe he just doesn't test well.

[Dirtyswabby]

I think I found a video that actually displays that Bridgewater can throw some with some heat on the ball too. After watching a bunch of video over the last three days im feeling more and more comfortable with this kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPDuvxSEMrc

[Texas Vike]

I think I found a video that actually displays that Bridgewater can throw some with some heat on the ball too. After watching a bunch of video over the last three days im feeling more and more comfortable with this kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPDuvxSEMrc

Nice Vid, thanks for posting it. I like his pocket awareness (especially at 1:45). He seems to know where to go with the ball--really good vision and a feel for where protection is breaking down, where to slide, etc. I get the sense that he is going through his progressions.

His throwing motion is interesting. He has a bit of a wrist snap or flick. I was surprised at a few of the longer balls he threw in this video. His TD to INT ratio is fantastic. In short, he has a lot of qualities that typically lend themselves well to NFL success. Glad we got him at 32.

[mosscarter]

teddy doesn't need to come in and start right away, but ponder doesn't need to start ever again. cassel already got the run around last year so its no wonder he didn't perform to the best of his ability. he would play good and then get benched the next week. ponder needs to be out of this equation he is downright horrible.

[John_Viveiros]

There was an article here (well I think it was here, in the draft section of the board) that a university did a major study about picking players after football but before the combine / pro days / all that jazz and their study showed that the combine and all that really didn't help at all, in fact it could often lead GM's into worse picks. I buy that theory a lot, when the football was done Teddy was ranked pretty high. You add in the circus that is the combine and pro day and all that and suddenly Teddy sucks! Well F that I say, I think we got a heck of a football player.

Guys like Bortles sky rocket AFTER footballs over and go #3 overall, what a joke that is! I'm fine with my boy Teddy! (Yes i hated on him a lil bit to talk up Manziel but now that that "competition" is over TEDDY!!!)

I found the article on Grantland. Here's the link to the original post:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27194&p=535500&hili ... nd#p535500

And the original article:
http://grantland.com/features/teddy-bri ... aningless/

The key quote from the article:

"More and more, when I go back through recent history and look at the first-round quarterbacks who failed to live up to expectations, I notice how frequently the problem of making accurate throws while handling a professional pass rush seems to come up. It’s not just that this isn’t tested during any of the pre-draft rituals, it’s that it’s thrown out the window and replaced with what might very well be false information. A quarterback shows effective footwork after weeks of drilling for a pro day, only to immediately lose that footwork and resort to bad habits once Aldon Smith or Robert Mathis starts bearing down on him."

[Eli]

Gotta say: In the tape that I've watched of Bridgewater, his pocket presence is impressive.

I hadn't heard about his having small hands until it was mentioned here, but while watching him throw I couldn't get over the feeling that he looked like a high school kid throwing a ball that was a little too big for him. Maybe it's the hands, but he also has an odd throwing motion, with a bit of a wind up. Definitely not a compact throwing motion. I hope it translates well to the NFL.

[Purple bruise]

teddy doesn't need to come in and start right away, but ponder doesn't need to start ever again. cassel already got the run around last year so its no wonder he didn't perform to the best of his ability. he would play good and then get benched the next week. ponder needs to be out of this equation he is downright horrible.

Cassell got benched and Freeman got signed because he played like crap half of the time, mystery solved. How many more posts do you need to make about Ponder sucks, Ponder is horrible?

[Webbfann]

[
Cassell got benched and Freeman got signed because he played like crap half of the time, mystery solved. How many more posts do you need to make about Ponder sucks, Ponder is horrible?

Your memory is flawed. They got Freeman the week after Cassel's first win and before his first loss. Cassel had done everything we asked-he went out and got a win where Ponder had none, and was rewarded with a new starting QB in the lineup.

[Purple bruise]

Your memory is flawed. They got Freeman the week after Cassel's first win and before his first loss.

Yeah he was sooo good they thought that they needed to bring in a 2 million dollar replacement. This is after screwing up the Panthers game http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=331013016.

[saint33]

That's what I've been hearing, that he is intelligent, which is why I was surprised he didn't come across as more articulate. Then I dug a bit and read he only scored 20 on the Wunderlich. But we all know that doesn't indicate success or failure. Hopefully what I've read about his on field intelligence is the truth of the matter. Maybe he just doesn't test well.

I know a ton of very intelligent people who are poor public speakers. I wouldn't read too much into his press conferences, Ponder is great in press conferences and incredibly intelligent off the field. And none of it translates to the football field

[Loki]

Couple things I wanted to note about Bridgewater that I think make him an excellent QB and some of the reasons why I think he has the best shot to be the best QB drafted this year.

The first thing is how Teddy understands how to drive the ball down the field, he understands how to take what the defense gives him on 1st and 2nd down so that he has a manageable 3rd down and is able to continue to drive down the field. He does less searching for the big play and more taking it if the defense gives it up than some in the draft (Manziel). Manziel too often plays every play searching for the big play and forgeting to set himself up for 3rd down. He can get away with it in college because he can hit a high percentage of big plays, but it will be hard to maintain drives in the NFL if he continues to play with this style.

The second thing is how on every pass he makes he puts his full arm behind it. Something that really turned me off about Bortles is that on short throws and sometimes deep balls he would only put 3/4 of his arm into it. On short throws he would still complete the ball to the reciever but the fraction of a second extra he had to wait for the ball would result in less YAC and occasionally the pass being broken up. What really concerned me about Bortles was that he would also put 3/4 power on some deep balls resulting in 50/50 balls, which in college recievers will usually win or they'll fall incomplete. In the NFL these will almost allways be intercepted. Teddy on the other hand throws the ball where either his reciever will catch it or it will fall incomplete. while he has an average completetion percentage on deep throws, one thing he does do well is throw them selectively. I believe he knows he's not the greatest at deep throws so he tends to throw them mainly on 1st downs, slightly less on 2nd downs, and focuses mainly on converting on 3rd downs. All of this translates better to the NFL to make him a very consistent QB.

The third is his ball protection. Teddy grew in this area every year in college, almost cutting his interceptions in half every year while also increasing his Touchdowns, Completion percentage, total yards, Yards per Attempt, and QB rating every single year. Compared with the other prospects Manziel is the only one with around the same amount of touchdowns as Bridgewater, he raised his touchdowns but also raised his interceptions and had 3 times the amount of interceptions that Teddy did. This shows me manziel just took more risks, some paid of some didn't. Bortles didn't even manage to raise his touchdowns from last year to this year but did manage to throw more picks. He threw twice as many interceptions as Teddy. Teddy also had the highest completion percentage of any QB in the draft. Another are people don't necessarily think of when thinking of ball protection is 3rd down. With punt's coming after third downs they are basically turn overs. Louisville was second in the nation in 3rd down conversions and teddy was a big part of that completing 68% of 3rd down attempts. For comparison Manziel is 65% and Bortles is 54%. The last thing I wanted to mention is that teddy protects the ball this well and also has the highest yards per completion and 2nd most touchdowns.

My fourth and final note is on Bridgewaters Greatness Under Major Pressure leading to his nickname G.U.M.P. This may be the single greatest thing about bridgewater but it is the hardest to explain with stats but I'll do my best to try. Bridgewater’s completion percentage when under duress was 53.5 percent, third-best among AQ quarterbacks. To put that into perspective, the average completion percentage in that situation was 35 percent. He ranked second among AQ quarterbacks in completion percentage when blitzed (70.1 percent) and threw 15 touchdowns and just one interception when facing five or more pass-rushers. The most Disturbing thing to me about our current QB's is they seem to shutdown under pressure. Cassel will simply fall to the ground when facing a free blitzer and move on to the next play, ponder will stop progressing through his reads and look for a running lane or simply throw up a terrible pass. Teddy on the other hand keeps his eyes down field progressing through his reads while stepping up in the pocket and is not disturbed in throwing even when he gets completely leveled after getting a pass off. Another aspect of Teddy excelling under pressure is that he wins big games. Teddy led Louisville to 2 for 2 in bowl games the past two years while having HUGE games in each of them. He is also 23-3 over the past 2 years and 12-1 least year. Also I can't find the exact number but Teddy is something like 6-1 against teams with a top 25 defense. This is compared with Bortles and Manziel who were each around 50% vs top 25 defenses. Teddy is definately cool under pressure and that is something that elite QB's have in common

Thanks for reading, I hope for those that have their doubts about Bridewater this can ease the tension a bit. And for those who have faith in Teddy hopefully this reassures and excites you about his potential. I was an adamant fan of Manziel but I never let that blind me to how great of a QB Bridgewater was. While I still think Manziel has the highest ceiling of the QB's this year he is also the biggest risk. There are so many If's with Manziels game it's easy to see why we stayed away. The thing with Manziel is he will be great IF his style translates to the NFL, IF he can manage to stay healthy, IF he can Progress as a pocket passer, IF he can stay out of trouble off the field, and IF he is willing to put in the time in the film room. Teddy doesn't have these IF's, I see Teddy's floor as being a top 15 QB in the league but Teddy's ceiling is Aaron Rodgers like. I'm OK with the Vikings not wanting to take those risks and sticking with a sure thing in Bridgewater. Also getting this sure thing at 32 in the draft makes Bridgewater all more worth-while.

[Vikings28]

Breer tweeted this the other day.....

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer
Bridgewater told me he wants to get his weight in the 225 range. He's moving to Minneapolis ... Now. Having his stuff shipped. Going to work.

[Loki]

Another I think should be said is that it's easy for fans to look at the draft under Ideal circumstances and to avoid the responsibility GM's face when taking risky picks. I think this was highlighted in the posts in the thread "your worst move as GM". It's easy for fans to look at Manziel and automatically assume all of the IF's I addressed above will automatically be fixed and we will get a Manziel that Excels in the pocket and only uses his legs to move the chains and create long passes, Never gets hurt, Never gets in trouble off the field, and who gives up his new found celebrity to spend hours in the film and weight room getting better for his team. In reality it doesn't work like that and it becomes a lot more obvious post draft hype. so remember when evaluating players to also consider worst case scenario along with best case, because more often than not you can end up with the former.