By Sean Gannon

March 28, 2020

Teddy Bridgewater was the 32^nd pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, and although his stats never blew people away the fans in Minnesota (like myself), we felt like we finally found our guy of the future. In 2015, just his second season in the league, Bridgewater led them to an 11-5 regular season record and a playoff berth that was sadly spoiled by a Blair Walsh shanked kick against Seattle. He earned a Pro-Bowl nod and Minnesota felt like 2016 was going to be a big year not only for the team but for their young promising quarterback. But on August 30^th, 2016, following a non-contact injury, reports came flying out, not only of a torn ACL, but structural damage and a dislocation in Teddy Bridgewater’s knee. He wouldn’t get to step on the field once that year and speculation was he may never be able to play again.

            In May of 2017 Minnesota declined Teddy’s fifth year option, and even Mike Zimmer was unsure if he was going to be able to play in the future. But in November Case Keenum and the Vikings were flying, and Bridgewater was officially activated to the roster while Sam Bradford hit the IR. It was the first time Teddy had been suited up since the 2015 season, and after sitting on the bench for a month, in December in a blowout game against the Bengals, Bridgewater officially stepped back onto the field and took a snap from under center, hushing critics that said he wouldn’t play again. Once the offseason started, he was no longer set to be a Viking and would hit the market for the first time as a young quarterback with a big injury. The New York Jets would be the first team to move on him, singing him to a one-year deal in March of 2018. In late August they would trade Teddy and a 2019 sixth round pick to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a 2019 third round pick.

            Teddy didn’t do much in New Orleans in 2018. He appeared in five games and got the start in one of the them. The Saints would re-sign Teddy in the 2019 offseason and this past year we really got to see how far Teddy Bridgewater has come since his devastating knee injury in 2016. In week 2 of 2019 Drew Brees went down with a thumb injury and was going to be out for five weeks following surgery and sitting at 1-1 with games against the Seahawks, Bears, and Cowboys in those five weeks things were looking bleak for the Saints. Out of nowhere Teddy Bridgewater is forced to be the starter for the next five games. In those five weeks Teddy Bridgewater posted an outstanding 67.8% completion rate, 1,205 yards, 9 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. He won all five of Saints games during Brees absence and to top it off he won three of those five games on the road in Jacksonville, Seattle and Chicago. He balled out plain and simple.

            Teddy deserved his 3 year $63-million-dollar contract with $33 million guaranteed with the Carolina Panthers he just signed. He suffered an injury and worked his butt off in rehab to come back and play the sport he loves, something not many others get to say. He was let go by one team and traded from another. Sat as a backup and waited for his opportunity and once it was placed in front of him, he took complete control of his own future. He proved that not only is he way past this devastating knee injury but that he deserves to be in the NFL because he can play at a high level. Teddy, DJ Moore, and run CMC are going to be leading that offense in Carolina and under new head coach/offensive minded Matt Rhule this is going to be a really fun offense to watch win some games. It’s going to be even more fun to see number five leading that offense all on his own in 2020.