Examining the quarterback options: Could Teddy Bridgewater be in play?

TEDDY BRIDGEWATER, CAROLINA PANTHERS

• AGE AT START OF 2021 SEASON: 28
• EXPERIENCE: 8th year

It’s not hard to imagine how this all could have turned out differently for Teddy Bridgewater.

First, go back to Jan. 10, 2016. Bridgewater’s second season with the Minnesota Vikings resulted in their first division title since 2009, when Brett Favre was their quarterback. Having guided the Vikings to an 11-5 finish, Bridgewater had been unspectacular — but good enough. And in the final moments of a wild-card game against Seattle, with the Vikings trailing 10-9, Bridgewater had guided them into chip-shot field-goal range against one of the league’s finest defenses.

A trip to the divisional round seemed assured. But Blair Walsh missed a 27-yard field-goal attempt. The laces were in, the kick was wide, and Bridgewater’s work was for naught.

The following summer, the Vikings were tipped for big things. Bridgewater was firmly established as their starter, poised for a leap from the NFL’s middle tier of quarterbacks.

A practice on Aug. 30, 2016, changed all that. He suffered a dislocated left knee, a torn anterior cruciate ligament and additional structural damage during a non-contact repetition.

His rehabilitation process would take more than a year. It took three years for Bridgewater to start another game. It took four for him to become a team’s clear first-team quarterback.
And now, with the Panthers apparently casting their lot with Darnold, he’s about to be on his fourth team in as many seasons, a peripatetic fate that seemed unfathomable on that crystal-cold Minneapolis afternoon five years ago.

THE HIGHS: Joining the Saints as Drew Brees’ understudy in 2019 revived Bridgewater’s career. Always accurate, he completed 68 percent of his passes, threw just two interceptions in 196 attempts and guided the Saints to wins in each of his five starts, restoring his viability as a starting quarterback.

THE LOWS: Down the stretch as the Panthers faded last year, Bridgewater’s efficiency dropped. Although he remained reasonably accurate in the Panthers’ final five games — completing 63 percent of his attempts — he had just two touchdown passes, with two of the five games seeing him finish with sub-75.0 passer ratings.

Bridgewater also had four interceptions and five fumbles in those five games to close the season — a rate of one fumble or interception every 21.3 plays. That went against his career-long reputation of avoiding big mistakes.

FOUR-YEAR FORM (2017-20)

(Rankings are among 62 quarterbacks with at least 250 total plays — attempts, rushes and times sacked — over the past four years.)

• PASSER RATING: 92.5, 22nd
• YARDS PER ATTEMPT: 7.34, 23rd
• COMPLETION PERCENTAGE: 68.3, 2nd
• TOUCHDOWN-PASS RATE: One every 28.5 attempts, 48th
• SACK RATE: One every 16.84 pass plays, 20th
• INTERCEPTION RATE: One every 47.5 attempts, 23rd
• FUMBLE RATE: One every 121.9 plays, 10th
• BALL LOSS RATE (INTERCEPTIONS + FUMBLES): One every 38.77 plays, 9th

WHAT STANDS OUT: Although his interception rate is fairly average, he does a good job protecting the football in general, as evidenced by having one of the best fumble rates in the NFL. Bridgewater’s ability to protect the football is all the more impressive given that he has one of the highest run rates in the NFL; since 2017, 11.1 percent of his dropbacks result in him taking off and running, the 12th-highest percentage in the league.

WHY HE COULD BE A FIT: Bridgewater’s ties to key Broncos decision-makers are obvious. General manager George Paton was part of the Vikings’ management team that drafted him 2014. Paton scouted Bridgewater first-hand during his superlative 2013 season at Louisville. Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was also on the Vikings’ staff in 2016 and 2017; although Bridgewater’s injury kept him from contributing, he did see him at work on a daily basis.

Bridgewater’s typically low giveaway rate and pinpoint short-to-intermediate accuracy could be a good fit for a team with a top-shelf defense.

In the end sum, his performance last year in Carolina was average. He ranked 17th of 33 eligible quarterbacks in ESPN’s QBR metric, and his season-long passer rating of 92.1 was 1.5 rating points below the league-wide mean. But average might be good enough for the Broncos to win.

WHY HE WOULDN’T BE: At his current salary — which would be $18 million for the team that traded for him if his current contract terms are honored — it would be hard to rationalize having him as mere “competition.” That salary dictates being a starter. Without a significant restructure, he wouldn’t be a fit for a team that wouldn’t hand him the job.

HOW THE BRONCOS MIGHT GET HIM: Via trade. The current contract terms would have to be altered. Further, the Broncos wouldn’t declare him the starter; he’d be in a competition with Drew Lock.