Tom Pelissero

USA TODAY Sports

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Teddy Bridgewater can joke about the obsession about the glove he wears on his throwing hand, even though the Minnesota Vikings' rookie quarterback knows he probably hasn't heard the end of it.

"Man, I don't think gloves have been much of a deal like this since Michael Jackson," Bridgewater told USA TODAY Sports recently. "But to this day and for the rest of my career, I'm going to continue to wear gloves."



The equipment has come a long way since Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon first donned gloves during the Bears' Super Bowl run after the 1985 season. The likes of Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger have thrown while wearing one at times, and Peyton Manning put one on late in his 2013 MVP season.

But the list of NFL quarterbacks who have worn glove on a regular basis isn't long, in part because, unlike Bridgewater, most come into the league as traditional bare-handed throwers and have no interest in risking the pitfalls of experimentation.

"The ball goes flying over somebody's head and at that point mentally you go, 'Forget it, I can't wear this glove,'" two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner, who wore a glove in his last few years with the Arizona Cardinals, told USA TODAY Sports.

"I can throw 35 balls perfect, but if I'm going to miss two balls in a game that could easily be a pick-six, forget it, I'm not doing it. You have to develop to the point where you feel like you can make every throw and the glove is never going to affect you negatively."

Bridgewater, a Miami native, doesn't know any other way. He began wearing a glove soon after arriving as an early enrollee in 2011 at Louisville, where he said it was cold and the type of ball being used was "like a brick," making it difficult for him to grip.

The glove stayed on throughout college, but it was off at Bridgewater's widely panned pro day workout in March — a decision he chalked up to trusting his preparation, because he'd had success throwing perfectly brushed NFL balls without wearing a glove during workouts in humid Florida.

"Teddy got himself caught up in what everybody's talking about," former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie told USA TODAY Sports.

Flutie washed out in his first NFL stint in the late-80s but revived his career in the Canadian Football League, where he recalls a frigid game day in Calgary prompting him to search for a glove — not for warmth, but to get a better and more consistent grip on the ball.

He wore a glove off and on for the rest of his career, which brought him back to the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 1998. The best test, Flutie said, was to take a one-handed snap on the sideline. Without the glove, it was impossible. With the glove, he could do it in his sleep. He also could throw the ball about 5 yards farther, with faster revolutions.

"I wish I had done it from the beginning of my career," Flutie said, "because it was always an advantage."

Warner, an NFL Network analyst, decided to give the glove a shot after being benched in favor of Matt Leinart during the 2006 season and seeing Roethlisberger wear one, as the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback has at times throughout his career.

Though Warner didn't buy into speculation that injuries early in his career had weakened his throwing hand — a reason similar to why Manning wore a glove last season — he figured it at least was worth quietly experimenting with wearing one in practice. When Leinart got hurt late in that season, Warner returned wearing a glove and played so well he decided to keep using one.

"I have no idea if there's any way to say they helped me or didn't help me," Warner said. "But the last time we went to the Super Bowl with Arizona (after the 2008 season), I'd actually broken my index finger midway through that season. I remember one time going, 'I'm going to take the gloves off and see if they're aiding me.' I could barely throw the football without it."

Warner was quick to note the glove isn't "a magic advantage" that would transform an average quarterback into a star. But it's worth wondering if a rise to NFL stardom by Bridgewater – gloved from Day 1 – might inspire a generation of young quarterbacks to follow his lead.

Bridgewater wore Nike gloves at Louisville and now has an apparel contract with the company, which has been sending him gloves to try out, according to his advisor, former NFL safety Abe Elam. Where McMahon's Neumann Tackified Sport Glove three decades ago was a modified leather golf accessory, Bridgewater's glove will be engineered for throwing the football.

"It feels like the ball actually – like the texture of the ball," Bridgewater said. "I guess that's why it's a perfect match for when the ball is in my hand. When the ball is in my hand, it just sticks to my hand. It feels like I'm bare-handed, but I'm not."

Dennis Ryan, the Vikings' longtime equipment manager, is involved in planning for managing the glove in different conditions, which could be more of a factor the next two seasons as the team plays its home games outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium.

Like Bridgewater, Flutie has hands that are small for an NFL quarterback, exacerbating the grip issue in cold conditions. For all the advantages of the glove, Flutie said his accuracy sometimes suffered when he was running toward his target and couldn't spin short touch throws. He vividly recalls an interception and a key third-down incompletion he still blames on the glove.

"But the days that I played in Buffalo and we had windy conditions and snowy conditions where other quarterbacks couldn't make certain throws, I was still throwing corner routes, seam routes, posts," Flutie said. "I was still just turning it loose without an issue, which I know if I didn't have the glove on my hand I couldn't have been doing."

To this day, Flutie said, he'll toss a glove in his bag if he thinks there's any chance he might pick up a ball, even on a day at the beach.

Warner doesn't go that far, but he said he'll always feel more comfortable with a glove than without – and the bottom line for any quarterback is finding that comfort and sticking with it.

"Oh yeah, and he told me the same thing: 'Wearing gloves got you where you are to this day,'" Bridgewater said. "I'm just going to continue to do that."