The Next Teddy Bridgewater?

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http://mmqb.si.com/2015/03/27/teddy-bridgewater-marcus-mariota-nfl-draft/

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The Next Bridgewater?
Teddy Bridgewater was nitpicked extensively before the 2014 draft but he quieted the critics in a standout rookie campaign. Will the Vikings QB's success pave the way for a similar QB in the '15 class? Plus notes on Rex Ryan, drug tests, more
By Greg A. Bedard

PHOENIX — At about this time last year, Teddy Bridgewater was getting raked over the pre-draft coals.

  • Too skinny. Will get hurt.
  • Hands are too small. You can’t pick him if you’re a cold-weather team.
  • What a terrible pro day, especially on deep passes. Who needs a glove to throw?
  • Too quiet. Not enough of a leader.
Instead of going in the top 10, Bridgewater went 32nd overall to the Vikings. We know the result. Bridgewater ended up having the best season of all the rookie quarterbacks and was among the best first-year players regardless of position, grouped with the likes of Odell Beckham, Zack Martin, Joel Bitonio and Mike Evans. In his final five games of the season, Bridgewater didn’t have a passer rating below 84 (three times over 100), completed 72.1 percent of his passes for 1,230 yards and eight touchdowns against five interceptions.

So, after all was said and done, how much did any of those pre-draft concerns factor into Bridgewater’s game?

“It really didn’t matter,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said at the league meetings earlier this week. “That’s the thing about scouting. You think you have the right guy. You never really know. We didn’t really know.

“Like the players, I’ve just been really impressed [by Bridgewater]. In practice he might miss three throws. His accuracy in games but also in practice—it’s like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I’m excited to get him into the dome, where we have eight games, and then Detroit [the Vikings’ ninth indoor game every season]. He has a chance to really be something.”

This year it’s Marcus Mariota’s turn to be torn up during the pre-draft process.
  • Subpar pro day.
  • Skinny.
  • Hasn’t shown the ability to make all the throws.
  • Too quiet. Won’t be able to command a huddle.
A lot of the same stuff that Bridgewater heard, in particular that last one. It will be interesting to see if Bridgewater’s success will help Mariota. There were teams, several of them, that were turned off by Bridgewater because he doesn’t walk and talk with the swagger of a gunslinger. Believe it or not, despite the success of quarterbacks like Eli Manning and Matt Ryan, that still matters to some in the NFL.

“Just because a guy doesn’t yell and scream at a guy when he doesn’t run the right route, ask any of those guys if they’d take Eli Manning,” said Chip Kelly, Mariota’s coach at Oregon before Kelly went to the Eagles. “I don’t see Eli Manning screaming and yelling at anybody. But you talk about a stone-cold killer in the fourth quarter, look how many fourth-quarter comebacks Eli’s had.

“It’s the silly season. I’ve said it before. The NFL draft hype is the craziest thing in the world. Guys are going to go up, guys are going to go down. Cam Newton couldn’t play; there’s no reason to draft him in the first round. All of a sudden he goes No. 1. It’s crazy.”

Zimmer, who had been known as a smart and cocky defensive coordinator before getting his head-coaching shot with the Vikings, admitted he was one of those guys who wanted to see some swagger out of his quarterback. Zimmer might not have been as adamant about it as other coaches, but he certainly considered that factor a plus.

Bridgewater has made him a believer.

“Well, I did learn a lot about that, to be honest with you,” Zimmer said. “He’s a guy who leads by how hard he works, by the improvement he makes in practice every day, the way he wanted to learn how to enunciate the plays, just all the extra effort the guy put in. … He’s not one of those guys who is going to get in your face, but the players all gravitate toward this guy. He’s always got a smile. He’s confident but not cocky. It’s never about him, so it’s always about, How can I help this guy do this better, or the team?

“Maybe it’s not your leadership style that everybody is thinking about, but it was really effective this year. So I learned quite a bit.”

Mariota shares many of Bridgewater’s personality traits. Has Bridgewater erased “too quiet” from the negatives list for a quarterback, and laid the groundwork for players like Mariota? We’ll find out next month.

One more note on Marcus Mariota. Thought the comments from Browns coach Mike Pettine were interesting considering the team’s new quarterbacks coach, Kevin O’Connell, trained Mariota for the combine before going to Cleveland. “The mental part, on that he’s very advanced,” Pettine said when asked what O’Connell told him. “This was a guy who I think understood coming in from the system he was playing in, that it’s not similar to potentially a lot of systems he would be playing in in the league.

So he understood that and addressed, it and that’s one of the reasons he worked with Kevin. Because Kevin understands more of the offensive structure he’s going to have to play in. He attacked a weakness. Everybody who’s had him on the [white[ board [to diagram plays and talk about schemes and coverages] said he’s just blown them away just because of how he’s essentially turned that weakness into a strength.”
 

thirteen28

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His fall last year was a classic example of over-analysis and paralysis therefrom. I could see him not being #1, but falling all the way to the end of the 1st round and behind Johnny Rehab ... ridiculous. Amazing how people can talk themselves out of something or into something despite the evidence.
 

jjab360

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I'm not sure why everyone's acting like the book is closed on Bridgewater as a franchise QB. I've never really been that impressed with him and still am not, tbh.

Mariota is on another level than him as a prospect, I'd eat my hat if he fell past the Jets at 6.
 

jrry32

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I'm not sure why everyone's acting like the book is closed on Bridgewater as a franchise QB. I've never really been that impressed with him and still am not, tbh.

Mariota is on another level than him as a prospect, I'd eat my hat if he fell past the Jets at 6.

They are accepting what is inevitable. If you watched him down the stretch last year, you saw it. Only a matter of time until he's a top 10 QB.
View: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000447115/Bridgewater-to-Wright-8-yard-TD-2-point-conversion

View: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000417571/Greg-Jennings-hauls-in-17-yard-touchdown

View: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000446703/Bridgewater-hits-Jennings-for-a-21-yard-TD


I'd take Bridgewater over Mariota as a prospect. But Mariota is a plenty great prospect in his own right.
 

jjab360

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Man, he has such a quirky throwing motion. It's weird but effective I guess. I think Bridgewater will be a solid, top 15/20 QB but he was really pro-ready coming out and doesn't have much more upside than what we've already seen, imo. I know Teddy is one of your guys jrry, but I just don't see what you see.
 

jrry32

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Man, he has such a quirky throwing motion. It's weird but effective I guess. I think Bridgewater will be a solid, top 15/20 QB but he was really pro-ready coming out and doesn't have much more upside than what we've already seen, imo. I know Teddy is one of your guys jrry, but I just don't see what you see.

It's like Rivers. Unorthodox but it's quick and he can change arm slots to get the ball around defenders.

What I see are instincts, ball placement, and mental acuity. The three things that make a franchise QB. Don't underestimate his upside because of his physical tools. His mental processing speed, anticipation, and pocket presence/movement are exceptional for such a young QB.

I think he can be every bit as good as Matt Ryan...possibly even better.
 

Elmgrovegnome

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I still worry about how skinny he is. Otherwise I was not concerned with his game. Hope he holds up.
 

thirteen28

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Man, he has such a quirky throwing motion. It's weird but effective I guess. I think Bridgewater will be a solid, top 15/20 QB but he was really pro-ready coming out and doesn't have much more upside than what we've already seen, imo. I know Teddy is one of your guys jrry, but I just don't see what you see.

Throwing motion quirkiness or not, the ball placement on the throws in those video was excellent.
 

Warner4Prez

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I'm not sure why everyone's acting like the book is closed on Bridgewater as a franchise QB. I've never really been that impressed with him and still am not, tbh.

Mariota is on another level than him as a prospect, I'd eat my hat if he fell past the Jets at 6.
His numbers were nearly identical to Austin Davis last year. Just food for thought.
 

LazyWinker

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I thought it was crazy that he fell so much. Although, the hand size criticism had me cracking up. Mostly because it's these average guys commenting on how small his hands are. Bridgewater has monster hands compared to a lot of his critics. Not every quarterback has 12" hands.

I don't foresee Marcus Mariota dropping out of the first round, much less out of the top 10.