So here are my two cents about his NFL potential and by no means am I an expert. I will be honest, I am scared to draft the guy. It seems that everyone is drooling over his potential but potential is never a sure thing for success. I am actually hesitant based on his struggles this year at Louisville. Sure he had a great bowl game vs. Florida last year but what else has he done to set himself apart? I was trying to explain to my brother the other day that great QBs elevate the play of their teams in college regardless of the play around them. Let me preface this by saying that I am relatively young so will use more current players for what I am saying. For instance here are some current starting QBs that come to mind: Ben Roethlisberger - having Miami (OH) as a top 10 team Cam Newton - basically carried Auburn to a championship Matt Ryan - had BC as a top ranked team Andrew Luck - basically turned around Stanford along with Harbaugh and was said to be the most NFL ready QB in a long time. Alex Smith - made Utah relevant and a top 10 program (with Meyer of course) Drew Brees - when else has Purdue ever been relevant in recent memory? Eli Manning – made Ole Miss a top ranked team Philip Rivers – made NC State relevant RGIII – made Baylor relevant Russell Wilson – made NC State contenders Aaron Rodgers – had Cal as a top ranked team Jay Cutler – made Vanderbilt contenders Of course this is a small sample size but again I say that a franchise NFL QB makes such a difference in college that he can almost by himself dominate a season. There are of course exceptions such as Manning and Brady who either came from programs that always seem to be good or never really had a shot in college. Of course there are also products of the system (thanks Oregon and Sumlin’s UH teams). There are also guys like Flacco and Romo who played at such small schools that it would be hard to evaluate them off of their college credentials. What I am really saying is that Bridgewater could be great but how much of a sure thing is he? Is he worth the number 1 pick? I think of a guy like Jake Locker, Josh Freeman, Brady Quinn or Jamarcus Russell who were touted as being physically NFL dreams and look at their careers. You know it was not too long ago that the Texans had a big decision to make between the two hall of fame careers of Vince Young and Reggie Bush . . .
I either disagree or cant remember half of the things on your list. Miami (OH) was a top ten team? Newton did carry his team on offense (Fairley helped on D) - but so did VY and Crouch. BC was a top ranked team? Ole Miss was a top ranked team? NC State were contenders? Vandy were contenders?
Louisville went 11-1 and is ranked 19th in the nation. Last year Louisville went 11-2 with Bridgewater as a starter. In 2011, Bridgewater's freshaman season, Louisville went 6-5. He threw 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions that season. This year, he threw for 28 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. In 2010, the last year without Bridgewater, Louisville went 7-6. Bridgewater has clearly elevated Louisville football as he has progressed as a quarterback.
You just described Teddy Bridgewater. He single handedly carried Louisville to an 11-1 record. And they would be undefeated if he could have played d against UCF. He did his part throwing 29-38 for 341 yards with 2 td's and no interceptins. His D couldn't stop nothing. But if they had stepped up a little it would be Louisville vs FSU in the BCS championship.
You can be a stud in college and suck in the pros and you can be forgettable in college and become a great pro.
How many guys were forgettable in college and great as a pro. Brady - Was pretty good at Michigan, but obviously a better pro. Manning - He choked, but was pretty good a Tennessee. Bree - Was really good at Purdue Rodgers - Was pretty good at Cal. Please name me a qb who wasn't that good in college?
Ah yes, the ol' basketball adage being applied to football again. Seems to happen exceptionally frequently on this BBS (of course). I'd argue the opposite is true. The rule is that QBs are limited by the players around them. A great QB cannot catch his own passes or block his own blitzes. We see great supporting performances on teams (Pro Bowl OTs and WRs: see Duane Brown this year, or Calvin Johnson last year) with crappy QB play all the time, but we rarely see that reversed. If you put a great QB in a position with competent teammates, he can then be great. If you surround him with turnstyles for an OL and stonehanded WRs, he's going to look terrible. This is Tom Brady circa 2013 or Ben Roethelisberger circa 2008. An exception to this rule is a guy that can buy time with his feet for his slow, sloppy-handed WRs to get wide-open and makeup for his OL being unable to stop anyone. But that doesn't really *make his teammates better*, it only shows how much better that QB is by making up for his teammates mistakes. I don't consider those the same thing. In basketball, a guy can draw so much attention as to create easy baskets for his teammates, or control the paint to the point where his teammates can be easily set up for steals or rebounds. In football, it just doesn't quite work that way. Too many moving parts, and too much dependency on other people doing their job.
Why do people keep talking about Teddy B as a player with physical tools and no football smarts? He is NOT Jamarcus Russell. He is NOT Vince Young. His BEST skill is his ability to read defenses, work through his progressions, and be a cerebral qb.
Exactly. He either doesn't have football smarts, or they assume he's a running QB. If that's your angle on Teddy, then you haven't seen him play.
And yet, Tom Brady circa 2013 with no receivers to speak of is 10-3 and the #2 seed (with the 2nd highest scoring offense in the AFC too). He's the perfect example of the opposite of what you're suggesting, showing what a great QB does with mediocre talent around him. The great QBs regularly work with subpar teams and elevate them. It's not a coincidence that these guys are in the playoffs virtually every year, regardless of the changes in the teams around them. Rodgers has had a horrible O-Line his whole career and is consistently top-5 in sacks. He's had a revolving door at WR. Brady has regularly made crappy receivers look good. Manning has had multiple coaches, teams, O-Lines, WRs, etc. All of them aren't great - but they all look really good because the QBs make them look good.
Lol, obviously OP did not do his home work. He just woke up and was like "hey, today i am going to post some mindless drivel on clutchfans!!"
It's a QB league.... If the Texans pass on Bridgewater with a new regime coming in, I will be shocked.
TJ yates led a north carolina team where basically half or more of the starters were suspended....he did an awesome job too btw we won our first playoff game with him at the helm
Tom Brady through the first 8 weeks of the season was not even in the top half of QBs this year. It took time, but they eventually worked things out. He's the perfect example of what I just said. We know he's awesome, but he got paired with a bunch of strangers and otherwise lesser talents, and he sucked. It took them 3 months, but now the cream has finally risen to the top (Vereen, Edleman, Gronker... RIP) and all the turds have been relegated to the bench (Kenbrell Tompkins, Aaron Dobson, Brandon Bolden, etc.). Those guys held Brady back this year far more than he made them better.
