Everybody hates Teddy Bridgewater

Sitting there on Thursday night a week before the draft I turn on SportsCenter and what do I see? Teddy Bridgewater doing damage control interviews with Linda Cohn. This is a far cry from last summer when he was a Heisman candidate and projected as a top 5 pick. Now, Bridgewater in projected to fall all the way to the second round and likely won’t even be the first or second quarterback taken. He won’t even be in the draft green room in a week when his name will be called. So what has created all of this criticism and noise surrounding Teddy that simply wasn’t there before the season ended? Can a pro day really have that big an impact? Or is this all a smokescreen thrown out by teams who hope Teddy falls to them?

“You went from top 5 to not mentioned at all”- Jay Z either talking about Nas or Teddy Bridgewater

As late as this January people, including Sports Illustrated and Pro Football Talk, were talking about Teddy as the favorite to be the number one overall pick taken in the 2014 draft. So what happened? Because as far as I know Teddy hasn’t played anymore games between the end of the year and now. The list of things that draft analysts bang on him for seem pretty ridiculous when you actually take a look at them. They claim he isn’t big enough despite the fact that Teddy is 6’2 and 215 pounds which is taller than fellow QB prospect Johnny Manziel, and bigger than Andy Dalton, Michael Vick, Drew Brees, Robert Griffin III, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. Seems a bit silly to try and say he isn’t tall enough when all six of those guys are starting quarterbacks for playoff teams, and three of them have Super Bowel trophies under their belts. Also it seems crazy to knock Bridgewater for his height while projecting Manziel to go far ahead of him. I am a Manziel guy and would take him before any of the other quarterbacks in this draft, but if you are grading these guys on height and placing a huge emphasis on it, then how can you knock Teddy and ignore it with Johnny. The lack of consistency in these criticisms is insane. Scouts and supposed draft experts also moved Teddy down in their rankings because they say his hands are too small, even though he had bigger hand measurements than Drew Brees and Colin Kaepernick when measured at the combine. Aside from the physical measurements that have been picked apart to death, and overly so, there was Teddy’s personality at the combine that media and scouts have said was too reserved and lacked the leadership of Manziel or Bortles. As ridiculous as that sounds in a league where Russell Wilson, the most reserved guy on the planet, just won a Lombardi Trophy, it has caused teams to question his intangibles as a field general and a leader.

After all that came the biggest tool used against Teddy in this vortex of negativity that has sent him hurling down draft boards, his infamous pro day.

Bridgewater disappointed in his pro day at Louisville when scouts saw some of his throws lacked the zip on them that they wanted to see. Never mind the past two years of throws Teddy had made IN ACTUAL GAMES THAT MATTERED. Nope. The guy underwhelmed during one throwing session at his pro day and all of the sudden everyone seems to hate him as a prospect. After the pro day ESPN draft “guru” Todd Mcshay listed Bridgewater behind Johnny Manziel and had him going with the 11th pick. Now? Mcshay lists Teddy completely out of the first round and behind Blake Bortles, who from here on out should be known as “Captain Bubble Screen” which is basically all he did at UCF. The biggest problem with that is that people actually listen to what Mcshay says. After Todd said that Blaine Gabbert should be drafted ahead of Cam Newton, I never had any reason to listen to a single word he has to say ever again, and neither should you.

At the pro day another thing that people who have watched Teddy in college noticed is that his gloves were noticeably missing. Bridgewater chose not to wear gloves for his pro day which may have been the biggest mistake he has made leading up to the draft. Some have said that Teddy was advise not to wear the gloves for his pro day which seems likely, but in the end he should have worn them and if he had known how unusually over-scrutinized his pro day was going to be, I believe he would have.

With the somewhat unprecedented fall in draft stock that struck Teddy, and the simply flabbergasting news that he is more than likely to fall to the second round, I reached out to Joe Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) who does terrific prospect analysis for the NFL draft as well as game analysis during the NFL season. He had this to say about the critiques of Teddy that have come about lately, and whether or not those criticisms are legit:

“It’s hard for people on the outside to know if the criticism is real. The things that sources are calling into question aren’t exactly easy for us to see on tape. In games, he’s a great prospect. The claims that’s he’s small, quiet, not a leader and can’t be a face of a franchise sound like last resort criticisms.  Is that the point we’re at?  I hate to be THAT GUY, but I believe African American quarterbacks get picked through a little more. The ones drafted at the top are usually very athletic and/or big, strong arm prospects. Teddy is neither. I believe Bridgewater is just as good as any of the QB prospects that have been drafted in the top 10 over the last decade. ”

That quote doesn’t like like a guy who is worried about skinny knees or lack of leadership. As far as the face of the franchise knock that some have thrown out about Teddy not being that kind of star, it’s just silly. There are very few superstars that come out of college and make a splash off the field and in pop culture as well as play well on the filed, and even fewer at the QB position. Personality wise Teddy is not Cam Newton or Johnny Manziel, but neither are Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin so why is it only an issue when it comes to evaluating Bridgewater? Again, the inconsistencies in the way Teddy has been picked apart have been astounding, and I think Joe nailed it when he said that African American quarterbacks are picked through more than other prospects. Media and scouts alike even tried to trash Cam Newton when he was coming out, and anyone in their right mind could see he was the unquestionable top prospect and was going to be a star. So why did people attempt to tear him down when they did all they could to build the hype machine around Andrew Luck?  Because Luck fits the status quo. He is a big, strong armed, white quarterback, which fits the stereotype of what a quarterback has been for years in the NFL . If that stereotype didn’t exist do you think media and fans would be drooling over Blake Bortles? Captain Bubblescreen? No way. So when they look at Teddy and see that he isn’t a physical freak of nature type of athlete like Michael Vick or Cam Newton, that leads to him being picked apart as a quarterback in a way that simply wouldn’t happen if he wasn’t a black quarterback.

With all these so called draft experts on ESPN dropping Teddy in their mock drafts faster than they can slick back thier hair, I asked Joe where he would rank Bridgewater among the quarterbacks in this draft based on what he has seen from them:

“He’s my #1 QB and by a large margin. My #2 overall prospect.”

Well that settles it. And come Thursday night when the first round picks are announced I think that will also settle the fact that Joe is 100% correct with his views on Teddy. All the talking heads and anonymous scouts are throwing massive shade at Teddy right now, but none of it matters until their team is on the clock in the first round. I think much of this overblown criticism could be smokescreens from some team hoping that Teddy falls to them in the late first round, but I doubt that will even happen. As much as I would love to see him fall to my Bengals towards the end of the first round, it simply won’t happen. Teddy is too good. And if for some crazy reason he actually does fall into the late first or second round, the league will be kicking themselves in a few years when Bridgewater looks like a franchise quarterback, and they let him fall to the Patriots or another good team looking to steal a talent like Teddy at a bargain price.