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My initial feelings were "Whatever. Rick Spielman throws another dart over his shoulder at the QB position." I still feel that way to a degree. Flip a coin or roll some dice if you want to know whether the pick will work out. I don't think anyone knows.

But I can also see that Bridgewater looks like a good kid. I'm guessing (I think correctly) that he'll be very coachable. He has talent. If you're going to roll the dice, the Vikings could have done a lot worse.

I didn't vote thrilled even though Teddy was he qb I wanted. After hearing a bit about his hand size and arm strength I am a little more cautious. Not because I think he's bad its just that I have concerns about his ability to throw well in poor weather conditions in Green Bay and Chicago. You look at the other qbs in our division and they have big arms. I think Teddy is smart enough and will make good decisions I'm just not sure about his ability to make the tough throw in crappy weather.

We all know the daft is a crap shoot most of the time anyway, especially at qb and I think we did as well as we could have his year. I think we got the best qb available this year. He is not a project qb which I like. I wouldn't be surprised to see his kid starting for us by the end of the year. We will know in a couple of years if we picked the right qb. I can't wait to see him play.

I just watched my first highlight films of teddy and was very impressed. He may not be as exciting or flashy as Johnny but he is so much more poised and competent looking. And every bit as confident, more in command of himself and the offense. Having seen him now I don't care if he beats out Cassel for the starting job. He looked like he could. And more importantly, I'm now even more certain Ponder will never start for us again.

First of all I will say that with any rookie quarterback there is a large gamble as to whether he will pan out or not. I'm sure many of us were excited about getting Ponder, but he turned out to be a bust. So I am cautious in that regard. What do I think of Teddy himself? I am so excited to see us get a quarterback who has a 70% completion rate against the blitz. So tied of watching Ponder and his happy feet in the pocket. Also tired of watching my QB release passes out of fear every time there is a blitz. I really hope the Vikings take it slow with him do he doesn't get happy feet. I'm not concerned at all about small hands or a weak arm.

720pete wrote:First of all I will say that with any rookie quarterback there is a large gamble as to whether he will pan out or not. I'm sure many of us were excited about getting Ponder, but he turned out to be a bust. So I am cautious in that regard. What do I think of Teddy himself? I am so excited to see us get a quarterback who has a 70% completion rate against the blitz. So tied of watching Ponder and his happy feet in the pocket. Also tired of watching my QB release passes out of fear every time there is a blitz. I really hope the Vikings take it slow with him do he doesn't get happy feet. I'm not concerned at all about small hands or a weak arm.

That's what I love about Bridgewater. He can see when a blitz is coming and knows when to call audibles and make adjustments against the blitz. He doesn't hold on to the ball very long either. After that last step, the ball is usually out way before the defender even gets close.

I'm really getting a Peyton Manning vibe from Bridgewater so far, on the mental side of things. Just in the sense that he seems to be really football smart. Watching Gruden's QB camp segments with Bridgewater he's up at the whiteboard going over the plays and Gruden's drooling over him "You're my kind of guy Teddy Bridgewater." But it's also the command of the offense he has and his ability to read a defense, call audibles, be decisive with the football, good decision making (look at his TD to INT ratio) and so on.

Physically he's not on Mannings level or he would have been the #1 overall pick no questions asked (dem small hands!) but hopefully it's good enough.

you guys make it sound like bridgewater has as weak of an arm as ponder. this is simply not the case. keep in mind, teddy will only get stronger he already wants to put on about 20 pounds prior to the season. in truth, the comparison to ponder isn't a fair one. i'm not sure there was anyone who was excited about ponder (at least none of draft guys, coaches, or analysts). everyone was in shock when we drafted him mainly because they knew he really wasn't any good to begin with. several coaches, including gruden mentioned above, rave over bridgewater. kurt warner is also a huge fan of bridgewater i also saw an interview with him.

I was not thrilled with the Bridgewater pick to
begin with; however, he is growing on me. Moving
all of his stuff through shipment right away. He got
working right away, Manning also did this. I am
not saying Bridgewater is a Manning or even close,
but IMO the work ethic helping change my mind and
give him a chance.

Boon wrote:
Not only that, they act as if Louisville, Kentucky is some kind of paradise that's 80 degrees all year. Its not wisconsin or minnesota, but the overall temps are right on par, if not worse than illinois and it snows quite a bit. I was stationed in kentucky for almost 4 years, I know how cold it gets.

Good point and as an example, Eddie Lacey seemed to acclimate quite well playing outside in Puker Land coming from the South.

mondry wrote: Gruden's drooling over him "You're my kind of guy Teddy Bridgewater."

Is there anyone that Gruden DOESN'T drool over? All he does is praise the guys he has on. He always picks some point that he ostensibly critiques the prospect on, but it's ultimately just a straw man.

If you haven't seen the video from this thread, you have to check it out: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27299

I like WHERE we got a QB prospect of Teddy's caliber. Just as I am with this coaching staff, I'm cautiously optimistic and really looking forward to seeing how they perform on the field in September.

Boon wrote: He could also throw a ball like 70 yards, your point?

He fumbled....A lot.

I don't care how far he can throw. That fumbling hurt the team immensely. What's your point, anyway?

while culpepper's fumbling did hurt us, he was never the same qb after he wasn't able to throw to moss anymore so that pretty much says it all right there. he could throw it 70 yards but by the time the ball left his hand moss was behind the entire secondary. i agree with boon, peterson was an ugly fumbler early on and its not like his hands magically grew overnight it was his mechanics and approach.

My point is someone with small hands and gripping issues won't be able to throw a football as far as he did. His fumbling was due to other issues. Adrian has meat hooks and an iron grip and had fumbling issues, his mechanics were off. I know its a rb vs a qb but the fundamentals are not, you either have good control or you dont.

That's completely false, bro. You can still have small hands and throw the football far. You can also grip a football with small hands, but when a D-Lineman is coming off the edge and his arm is swatting at a ball, the guy with small hands probably won't hold onto that football, whereas the quarterback that covers a larger surface area with his hands, has a much better chance of holding onto it. There's always been a direct correlation with hand size and fumbling for quarterbacks. Culpepper especially was no exception. It was the biggest negative for him going into his draft and it proved to be a huge problem for him in the league.

Scouts and talent evaluators don't just make this #### up. There's a reason for it. There's obviously exceptions, but if it were something to completely shrug off then teams wouldn't bypass players specifically because of it as was said to have allegedly happen with Culpepper.

Small hands really matter about as much as any other measurable. There are 6'6 220 lb receivers who run the 40 in 4.4 seconds, but if they can't play they can't play. You have to be able to produce. If you're a 5'3 170 lb QB with 7.5" hands, who's going to say he can't play if he throws for 4,000 yards and 35 TDs and leads his team to the SB? Hand size doesn't really matter unless you suck or you can't hold onto the ball because of it. Bridgewater seems to be able to throw it just fine. Not sure if he'll have problems when he gets tackled or not. Let's hope it really doesn't become an issue that he's getting tackled a whole lot and we won't have to find out.