College: Louisville

Height: 6’2 ¼”

Weight: 214 pounds

Positives

Accuracy/Anticipation: Teddy Bridgewater may not appear all too special, but truly, he is. He may not appear so because he does everything with ease. With most prospects, there are merely flashes of stunning accuracy and the idea is to tame that talent. Bridgewater is different. He routinely hits his receivers in stride, whether it be a simple slant or a 15 yard post. Seldom, if ever, does he restrict his receivers' opportunities for yards after the catch. More often than any other quarterback, he enables yards after the catch. Bridgewater can fit the tightest of windows, seeing that he throws a tight spiral with efficient velocity to accompany his accuracy.

Footwork When Moving: Too many young quarterbacks, and even veteran ones, struggle with the concept of footwork. Poor footwork can lead to disrupted timing on drop backs or undesirable pocket positioning, as well as poor ball placement when throwing. For the most part, neither are issues for Bridgewater. His drop backs are quick, natural motions that correlate perfectly with his receivers routes, allowing him to be in position to make the throw right when it needs to be made. On rollouts, Bridgewater works out of the fake hand-off and back up near the line of scrimmage more quickly and cleanly than any other prospect by quite a large margin. On tangent, when he is on the move on such rollouts, there is not a drop-off in his accuracy. He still hits his receivers to move the chains.

Pocket Maneuverability And Poise: Like any upper echelon quarterback, Bridgewater's sense of pressure and maturity in handling it is outstanding. Louisville's offensive line was absolutely abysmal, especially when injuries occurred, yet Bridgewater made the best of the situation and got sacked much less than he was pressured. He evaded pressure while also keeping his eyes up, looking for an open receiver. Even at the pro level, only a handful of quarterbacks have that trait. The biggest showcase of such trait was the 2013 Sugar Bowl (2012 season) against then No.3 ranked Florida. Florida had a defensive roster loaded with NFL talent. Just in the 2013 draft class, Sharrif Floyd, Jon Bostic, Jelani Jenkins, both starting safeties, and Lerentee McCray all ended up on NFL rosters, most of which were drafted, and two of which were taken in the first round. The rest of the defense is now touted as respectable 2014 prospects, some even 2015. Despite all that talent, Bridgewater evaded their rushers and made their defensive backs look silly. He kept his poise all throughout the game, the toughest game of his career, and carried Louisville to victory with his performance.



Negatives

Deep Accuracy: Bridgewater's deep accuracy only truly applies to a specific area. Up until about 25 yards downfield, which is still rather deep, his accuracy is stellar, but when exceeding that limit, he struggles. The issue is with his weight transfer because when he goes deep, he often has to rush it because Louisville's system generally reads from low to high, as opposed to high to low. Since the deep pass is often the last resort, he has to rush the throw and his weight transfer suffers. He fails to transfer his weight from his back foot to his front foot and it leads to poor ball placement. In his case, it is often overthrown. In a different system, he may prove that it is not an issue, but as of now, it is.



NFL Comparison: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Much like Rodgers, Bridgewater's accuracy is generally outstanding, as is his pocket presence. To an extent, both can be mobile, but choose to be lethal with their arms instead. Bridgewater's deep ball accuracy is not on the same level as Rodgers, but outside of that, the two are quite comparable.



Draft Outlook

Talent-wise, Bridgewater is a top five pick, if not the top pick overall. Clowney is a better prospect for his position, but the value of quarterback boosts Bridgewater ahead of Clowney in terms of value. He is the best quarterback in the class and there are multiple QB needy teams inside the top ten. It would be a mistake if ten teams were to pass on him.



Best Fits

The Houston Texans have a strong corps of skill players on their roster, including two star receivers in Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins. Bridgewater would take full advantage of those weapons.

If Houston were to pass on him, Bridgewater would fit in with Gus Bradley as a part of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are a rebuilding franchise, and to build a franchise, you need a quarterback.