Denver Broncos: Teddy Bridgewater a worthwhile risk?
If the Denver Broncos want to go a cheaper route in free agency, is Teddy Bridgewater a worthwhile risk for John Elway and company?
If the Denver Broncos ultimately fail to land Kirk Cousins, would Teddy Bridgewater be worth a shot in free agency?
Bridgewater suffered a gruesome leg injury at Vikings camp prior to the 2016 season, which was supposed to be a breakout year for the former first round pick out of Louisville.
He hadn’t put up crazy numbers for the Vikings or anything, but Bridgewater was starting to look the part of a franchise quarterback and his teammates in the locker room in Minnesota were rallying around him as such.
When Bridgewater was hurt, the Vikings made a move to get Sam Bradford from the Eagles for a first round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and all of those dominos falling led us to the 2017 season where Bradford played just a couple of games, and Case Keenum ended up playing 16, including starting for the Vikings in the NFC Championship.
Keenum’s performace this past year and Bradford’s history with new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo have put some doubt on the future of Bridgewater, who is apparently going to walk free in free agency:
With the March looming and some murkiness around #Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater’s contract, he is expected to be a free agent, sources say. Minnesota is not planning to assert that his contract tolls and Bridgewater is proceeding as if he’s a free agent.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 27, 2018
There were rumors the Vikings were going to try and see if the NFL would toll Bridgewater’s contract due to the lost time from a non-contact injury.
They are apparently proceeding as though that’s not going to happen, and with the recent situation involving A.J. McCarron being on the non-football injury list for a season in Cincinnati not working out in the Bengals’ favor, the Vikings probably just wondered if it was even worth it to try.
Thus, we come to the discussion of whether or not Bridgewater is a viable option for the Denver Broncos.
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I think if the Broncos are really wanting to see if things can work out with Paxton Lynch, then Bridgewater is a guy you could bring in who has started a lot of games, won’t sign for a ton of guaranteed money or years, and could potentially be a strong risk/reward type of player.
Bridgewater hasn’t really played meaningful football in two years, but we saw what he was capable of when he almost helped lead the Vikings to a win in Denver during the Broncos’ 2015 championship season.
If healthy, the guy can play.
I don’t know what Bridgwater’s market will be like. It’ll be interesting to see if teams value him at the level of someone like a Mike Glennon, or if his injury and the fact that he hasn’t played much at all since 2015 will cause teams to wait until the third or fourth wave of free agency to even give him a shot.
If Denver strikes out on some of their other top targets in free agency and they want to go the draft route, or try one more time with Lynch, I wouldn’t mind Bridgewater on a one-year contract with an option for year two if things work out.