Teddy Bridgewater Named Starting QB

[Starbroncs]

By the way I feel like I should clarify those Rookie Of The Year numbers. His 'less than 3k yards' was 2919. So 81 less than 3k yards.

Bridgewater passed for 2,919 yards and 14 touchdowns in 13 games after being selected 32nd in the 2014 NFL Draft. The Vikings were 6-6 in his 12 starts, with victories over the Falcons, Panthers and Bears among others.

https://www.nfl.com/news/teddy-bridg...p3000000466226


The guy's not a one year wonder.

3,000 yards isn't that much. 14 tds isn't that much, and barely having a 1:1 TD to int ratio isn't impressive. 6-6 record isn't impressive so yea I'm wondering how he won rookie of the year as well. No idea what the competition was for the award.

If my rookie qb put up those numbers I would just be looking back on the positive plays and think maybe there's something to look forward to. When people reference those two seasons like they were great though I'm just not seeing it. I watched some games of his back then and the vikings passing game just wasn't scary to me.

The guy isn't even a one year wonder yet. The only real success he's had so far is his stretch of games with the Saints. He had an impressive 9tds to 2ints and went 6-0. Outside of that he's been average at best and is nearly 30 years old.

I just don't see giving him even middle of the road money for multiple years. Not much evidence that he won't revert back to his Panthers level of play.

[listopencil]

3,000 yards isn't that much. 14 tds isn't that much, and barely having a 1:1 TD to int ratio isn't impressive. 6-6 record isn't impressive so yea I'm wondering how he won rookie of the year as well. No idea what the competition was for the award.

If my rookie qb put up those numbers I would just be looking back on the positive plays and think maybe there's something to look forward to. When people reference those two seasons like they were great though I'm just not seeing it. I watched some games of his back then and the vikings passing game just wasn't scary to me.

The guy isn't even a one year wonder yet. The only real success he's had so far is his stretch of games with the Saints. He had an impressive 9tds to 2ints and went 6-0. Outside of that he's been average at best and is nearly 30 years old.

I just don't see giving him even middle of the road money for multiple years. Not much evidence that he won't revert back to his Panthers level of play.

It's a fan vote. So even though you don't find his stats impressive there was something about his play during his rookie year that caused an overwhelming number of NFL fans to vote for him. I would assume that they watched him play and that they considered him to be substantially above average. He had about 224 yards and about one each TD/INT per game average for his rookie season. Without digging further we don't know if those stats started badly and climbed as the season went on but going by that fan vote he did impress with his play and that's a reasonable assumption. He's 28 years old and he missed a huge chunk of time when his knee was injured so badly that he 'almost had to get his leg amputated' according to him. So we'll see how he does. So far he's only two games into the season and looking like a competent starting NFL QB.

[LordTrychon]

The Herbert recency bias is real.


2014 Rookie Qbs -
Bortles - 13 starts - 3-10 record - 2908 yds - 58.9% Comp - 11 TD - 17 Int - 69.5 Passer Rating
Carr - 16 starts - 3-13 record - 3270 yds - 58.1% Comp - 21 TD - 12 Int - 76.6 Passer Rating
Teddy - 12 starts - 6-6 record - 2919 yds - 64.4% Comp - 14 TD, 12 Int - 85.2 Passer Rating

Teddy may not have lit the world on fire with his numbers, but Carr had him beat in yards only because he had 4 more starts, and he had more TDs. It's worth noting that if I had a rookie QB and Adrian Peterson and we were inside the 20 or 10, I'm probably going to give the ball to Adrian Peterson a lot.


Still, he had as many wins as his two counterparts combined.

[LordTrychon]

Justin Herbert had arguably (and not that hard to argue) the best Rookie QB season ever.

He averaged all of 64.6 more yards/game.

He went 6-9.

But heck... 6 wins isn't impressive for a rookie.

[LordTrychon]

Kyler Murray two years ago won Rookie of the year.

He averaged 8.1 yds/game more than Teddy. Because he got 16 starts, that came out to 3722 Yds.

5-10-1.... ALMOST 6 wins.

[HDbroncos02]

In terms of starting experience, Teddy is right there with Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson in terms of career games started. Yes, Teddy is 28… but don’t we consider those other QBs to be fairly early in their career and development? I’ve seen a lot of analysts note that we could be seeing the physical finally catch up to the mental for Teddy. He only had two seasons of starting before getting hurt, then played a season for Carolina where he also got injured midway through the year and was without CMC and a competent OL. In my opinion, we haven’t seen the true Teddy yet—perhaps we are just scratching the surface. Let’s see how the season unfolds, I’m certainly excited to see what our offense can do with a QB who can fully take advantage of Shurmur’s scheme and play designs.

[HDbroncos02]

The Herbert recency bias is real.


2014 Rookie Qbs -
Bortles - 13 starts - 3-10 record - 2908 yds - 58.9% Comp - 11 TD - 17 Int - 69.5 Passer Rating
Carr - 16 starts - 3-13 record - 3270 yds - 58.1% Comp - 21 TD - 12 Int - 76.6 Passer Rating
Teddy - 12 starts - 6-6 record - 2919 yds - 64.4% Comp - 14 TD, 12 Int - 85.2 Passer Rating

Teddy may not have lit the world on fire with his numbers, but Carr had him beat in yards only because he had 4 more starts, and he had more TDs. It's worth noting that if I had a rookie QB and Adrian Peterson and we were inside the 20 or 10, I'm probably going to give the ball to Adrian Peterson a lot.


Still, he had as many wins as his two counterparts combined.

Adrian Peterson played a grand total of one game for the Vikings during Teddy’s rookie season.

[LordTrychon]

Adrian Peterson played a grand total of one game for the Vikings during Teddy’s rookie season.

Touche. My bad. It explains why he didn't improve his touchdowns and yards (though he did improve his Ints) the following year when he went 11-5, won the division (they were 4th in the division the year before he was drafted) and took them to the playoffs.

Heck, those 6 wins are even more impressive as a rookie then... did it on an offense missing its biggest weapon.

[Humberg]

Seems like people that don't like Teddy (or don't think he's a great answer) feel like we're going to give out some Mahommes level money for him if he still can't top his 15TD best year.

Nobody is suggesting we do that or that it would be a good idea to do so.

I would agree that giving Teddy Bridgewater the same money we'd give Aaron Rodgers would be a bad call if he only throws 11 more TDs this year.

I normally am one to jump in and support talking about just about anything on a message board, as that's what they're there for... but maybe it's just too early to be having this conversation.

Maybe Teddy's performance drops off the rest of the year. We have played some weak teams.

I'm sure he probably won't get 0 Ints the rest of the year. I'm also pretty sure (barring injuries) that he's going to top 15 TDs.

If the Broncos gave him a $50M/yr contract, that would probably be a mistake.

If they gave him a $20-$25M/yr for 2-3 years and then had a lot of cap space to keep towards keeping our other great talent, that would be acceptable to me if we make the playoffs.

Overpaying a QB based on one year can be bad, for sure. So can letting a QB go who leads you to the playoffs for the first time in 5 years, when you've been crying for a QB who can do that for 5 years.

And yes, I think that Teddy would be willing to see the overall longer-term gain of not making us overpay him on one year. He's already done the 'overpaid in a bad team/situation' last year. I think he'd prefer to be here under those circumstances... where he knows he can succeed.

These are very good points and thoughts. I hear what you are saying. It really is all conjecture at this point.

I think where we would differ is on the likelihood that a move like the one you are suggesting would work out. I point to the fact that a journeyman quarterback like Teddy has never found consistent success as a starter on their fourth team. And I note the above debate by others regarding how good Teddy was as a rookie etc, but somewhere along the line people that really know what they are talking about valued him at a sixth round draft pick plus a cap hit.

The panthers had him at 63 million over 3 years and dumped him one year into it.

If he has a good year this year, I think it would be smart to try and figure out why this is any different than Case Keenum. We need to not repeat the mistakes of the past which is what I think we would be doing by signing him beyond this year at the price he is going to command.

The reality is that prior to the last 2 games, Teddy is viewed around the NFL as:

“At his best, Teddy's still more of a good-but-not-great QB, which may or may not be enough to lift Denver to the postseason for the first time since Peyton Manning was in town.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...sunk-cost/amp/

In my mind this is the equivalent of hearing hoof beats and not just thinking zebras but thinking unicorns, when in reality it’s most likely just to be horses. It’s an age old story in the NFL.

My biggest issue here is not Teddy himself (seems like a good player and great teammate), but the fact that it seems like Elway influenced things and, once again, didn’t cut bait with a failed endeavor (Drew Lock) fast enough and in so doing missed a Golden opportunity to set us up at the most important position in football for years to come. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

[LordTrychon]

These are very good points and thoughts. I hear what you are saying. It really is all conjecture at this point.

I think where we would differ is on the likelihood that a move like the one you are suggesting would work out. I point to the fact that a journeyman quarterback like Teddy has never found consistent success as a starter on their fourth team. And I note the above debate by others regarding how good Teddy was as a rookie etc, but somewhere along the line people that really know what they are talking about valued him at a sixth round draft pick plus a cap hit.

The panthers had him at 63 million over 3 years and dumped him one year into it.

If he has a good year this year, I think it would be smart to try and figure out why this is any different than Case Keenum. We need to not repeat the mistakes of the past which is what I think we would be doing by signing him beyond this year at the price he is going to command.

The reality is that prior to the last 2 games, Teddy is viewed around the NFL as:

“At his best, Teddy's still more of a good-but-not-great QB, which may or may not be enough to lift Denver to the postseason for the first time since Peyton Manning was in town.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...sunk-cost/amp/

In my mind this is the equivalent of hearing hoof beats and not just thinking zebras but thinking unicorns, when in reality it’s most likely just to be horses. It’s an age old story in the NFL.

My biggest issue here is not Teddy himself (seems like a good player and great teammate), but the fact that it seems like Elway influenced things and, once again, didn’t cut bait with a failed endeavor (Drew Lock) fast enough and in so doing missed a Golden opportunity to set us up at the most important position in football for years to come. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

You're right. There was a negative narrative around Teddy coming into this season. In some respects it was earned.... but it's also unfair to an extent. There's some serious context required.

Sure, it's his 4th team he's starting on.... but it's not like he's been repeatedly dumped for his performance.

He was dumped by Minny for the same reason that Indy moved on from Peyton Manning... Nobody knew if they'd ever be able to even play again after their injury.

Jets don't even count here, because they shipped him out for outperforming their star rookie.

NO - He went 5-0 as a starter, but had a chance to earn starting money, so he was gone.

Carolina - Yes, things sucked here.

Take Denver out of it because it's too early to really say, and he has had 3 real stops, and two were successful. Rookie of the Year and Probowl years in Minny along with a playoff appearance... 5-0 in NO.

I'm biased towards Teddy and willing to admit it. The 'Teddy Checkdown' memes started in NO... but I think they were asking him to be as safe as possible, which is something he's very good at.

I've followed Teddy his whole career.... he's played at a different level this year than ever before. His yards and TDs aren't impressive, but that's partially because we're running the clock like crazy... which could be very key in beating some of the other teams we're going to be facing.

I honestly do not know if he'll be able to keep it up for the whole season. Having easy early games is good for getting rhythm and confidence, but not great for evaluating where you're really at.

But if we're able to keep this up after the schedule gets better... then things will be a bit different.

Keenum is not a great comparison... as he's had success in one place for one year. If Teddy warrants looking at another contract here, he will have had success in three places over several years after being kicked around the league for reasons generally outside of his control and not related to his play, except in Carolina.

After Teddy was named starter, I've repeatedly pointed out that his bad year in Carolina was largely due to missing the key component of the offense all year in McCaffrey. So I chuckled a little last night when I saw the following tweet -

"Panthers have totaled 14 net yards on 11 plays since Christian McCaffrey was injured."

https://twitter.com/PanthersBill/sta...17342575296517

Granted, I didn't watch the game, but it does look like they did manage to get something going against the Texans later, and they pulled out the win. I do hope McCaffrey is ok... he's the only reason I pull for anything good on that team though... and they're not much without him.

I'm trying my hardest not to get my hopes up too early for Teddy. There were times that I thought he'd never fully recover or take that next step after his injury. Like I said though... he's playing better now than ever before. If he keeps it up, he'll be better than a zebra or horse... he'll be a and I personally hope for long term, but not at an unreasonable contract.

FWIW... I do understand the trepidation. Some of it's certainly warranted. We'll see how he looks the rest of the season though. Can't wait!

[Starbroncs]

Kyler Murray two years ago won Rookie of the year.

He averaged 8.1 yds/game more than Teddy. Because he got 16 starts, that came out to 3722 Yds.

5-10-1.... ALMOST 6 wins.

Kyle Murray also had over 500 yds rushing in his rookie year, then over 800 his following year. He's more of a dual threat than Teddy.

Teddy really didn't make a jump his second year and looked even worse with Carolina.

He also had a problem staying healthy. I think bronco fans need to pump the breaks a bit. He has been above average against a few bad teams. He hasn't been asked to win a shootout or anything and his defenses has been lights out these two games.

[LordTrychon]

Kyle Murray also had over 500 yds rushing in his rookie year, then over 800 his following year. He's more of a dual threat than Teddy.

Teddy really didn't make a jump his second year and looked even worse with Carolina.

He also had a problem staying healthy. I think bronco fans need to pump the breaks a bit. He has been above average against a few bad teams. He hasn't been asked to win a shootout or anything and his defenses has been lights out these two games.

I'm not saying Teddy is better than Murray. They're not even the same style of QB. The point was that maligning his yards and wins as a rookie is a bit odd. Murray may be more of a dual threat, but his wins were less impressive.

Problem staying healthy?

That's not a bad opinion, it's flat wrong. He's had one major injury in his career that caused him to miss significant time. It just happens to be one of the most horrible individual injuries that someone has come back from at all... that's all.

[beastlyskronk]

Why can’t Teddy be Alex Smith? Different circumstances but Alex struggled to find his place for awhile and dealt with his fair share of injuries early. He eventually found his rhythm and turned out to be a very good QB. Teddy struggled to find his way early, albeit in a different fashion as he was relatively successful before a gruesome knee injury derailed his career. People will say that the talent around Smith dictated his success much like they’re doing with Teddy now but I think Smith’s stint in Washington disproved that notion. Smith won a lot of games by being a very smart QB and taking calculated risks, Teddy is doing that currently.

Yes, they’re bad teams although I think the Giants will end up making a push for the division, but you only play who you play. I don’t think there’s a team in our division outside of us that has a secondary as good as the Giants, I think they have a pretty underrated dline as well. Offensively they have kinks to work out, but when Barkley is back to getting his normal workload and Engram is back on the field, they should start rolling. It’s good we got them early in the season, I wouldn’t want to play them towards the end. The Jags are bad, there’s no way around that. The Jets are also bad and Wilson is currently proving my Drew Lock comp right even down to talking about keeping his swagger after a 4 pick game.

After that the schedule picks up, the Ravens will be tough and should be a good litmus test. Then the schedule eases back up with an offensively challenged Steelers team and a rather one dimensional Browns offense. Tough defenses for sure, but nothing Teddy can’t deal with, at least not from the Steelers/Browns, the Ravens will be tougher but they also lack a legitimate edge threat. If Teddy can make it to the bye week with a good record, I think we should start prepping ourselves for another year with him. I don’t think the contract would be prohibitive due to this media narrative around Teddy that largely formed in Carolina when he had to play without McCaffrey. Teddy had a great group of receivers, but nothing else on that team, no run game, no TEs, a bad oline, and a very poor defense. Very few QBs can win like that.

[beastlyskronk]

I'm not saying Teddy is better than Murray. They're not even the same style of QB. The point was that maligning his yards and wins as a rookie is a bit odd. Murray may be more of a dual threat, but his wins were less impressive.

Problem staying healthy?

That's not a bad opinion, it's flat wrong. He's had one major injury in his career that caused him to miss significant time. It just happens to be one of the most horrible individual injuries that someone has come back from at all... that's all.

And his stats didn’t jump in his second year because Adrian Peterson came back so he was asked to do less. Teddy was never supposed to be the guy that early in his career in Minnesota, the team was built around Peterson, the fact that he managed to go 6-6 while Peterson was out is incredibly impressive and why he won rookie of the year. They didn’t have good WRs or TEs and the oline was built to run the ball, not pass protect. Teddy has been conditioned to get the ball out quickly because of that and since they had a strong defense he just needed to avoid mistakes. It wasn’t until year 2 that he got a good WR in Stefon Diggs as a rookie who didn’t really break out until their game against us. But with Peterson back he got to stick in his game manager role and they went 11-5. Peterson was dominant, yes, but he’s not the sole reason for a 5 win improvement. Teddy did play better even if the stats weren’t drastically better.

[Starbroncs]

I'm not saying Teddy is better than Murray. They're not even the same style of QB. The point was that maligning his yards and wins as a rookie is a bit odd. Murray may be more of a dual threat, but his wins were less impressive.

Problem staying healthy?

That's not a bad opinion, it's flat wrong. He's had one major injury in his career that caused him to miss significant time. It just happens to be one of the most horrible individual injuries that someone has come back from at all... that's all.

He missed time last year as well and many have used his injury as an excuse for his level of play.

you're the one who brought up Murray because of his rookie season but look how good his second season was. You also compared him to Derek Carr, how was his second year? Both made huge jumps and are now top 15 qbs.

How many bronco fans were seriously excited when we signed Teddy? Andy Dalton would have been a better pickup based on their history. Andy has had way way more success in his career. Obviously Teddy has had a better two games than Andy this year but the argument was teddy's performance in previous years.

Giving a multi year deal for 25+ mil for an unproven qb rarely works out. Seahawks did it with that gb qb who I can't remember. 49ers did it with Jimmy and while they made it to the Superbowl they are already trying to move on from him.

We will see how he does in the upcoming weeks. For now I am pleasantly surprised and it's nice to win for once. Hopefully he can keep it up.