The Denver Broncos have decided on a QB1 for the 2021 season. Teddy Bridgewater has beaten Drew Lock for the top job and will start.
The Denver Broncos have made their decision at the quarterback position. Drew Lock, the incumbent and full-time starter since the end of the 2019 season, has been beaten in the training camp and preseason competition by veteran Teddy Bridgewater.
The Broncos acquired Bridgewater the day before the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft and the move was pitched from the very beginning as true competition for Lock. Although some believed from the jump that Bridgewater could and would beat Lock, the thinking after the Broncos passed on quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft was that perhaps George Paton liked what he saw from Lock more than people thought he might.
That could still be true, but Teddy Bridgewater being named the starter seems to spell the end for Drew Lock in Denver, whether that’s sooner or later.
The Broncos were seeking the most consistent option between Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater, and it appears as though their evaluation led them to the former Minnesota Vikings first-round pick out of Louisville.
Coach Fangio informed our team this morning that Teddy Bridgewater will be the Broncos’ starting quarterback. pic.twitter.com/ZU0hNCi0kg
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 25, 2021
Teddy Bridgewater was absolutely solid in his first two preseason starts with the Denver Broncos. Despite the fact that the team went for a fourth-down play in the first drive against Seattle that they may not have in a regular season game, the Bridgewater-led offense has yet to be stopped. They have scored on all four of his possessions thus far.
Bridgewater has shown a conservative style of play at times, but the Denver Broncos have weapons at the receiver position to excel after the catch, and they also appear on their way to a very strong running game in 2021.
The defense Vic Fangio has may have been a true factor in this decision. With a potential top-three defense league-wide, Fangio may view the career completion rate Bridgewater boasts of 66.5 percent as odds very much in his favor.
Bridgewater may not have the same type of playmaking potential as Drew Lock, but he offers a history of much more consistent play in general.
Based on what we have seen through two preseason games, it’s a little surprising that the decision was not Drew Lock. You have to look through practices as well as what Fangio has been saying to the public about how close the competition is, as well as things we don’t get to see as fans like how Teddy is in the locker room with other players, how he is in the film room, and things like that.
The Broncos didn’t ever get to see Drew Lock with a normal offseason, which is a shame. Even though Lock wasn’t a first-round pick, he certainly has a lot of talent and this move is as clear of a signal as any that he could be done in Denver.
This move to Teddy Bridgewater is a move off of Lock as the incumbent and for fans that were upset about not drafting a quarterback in April, you have even more reason to be questioning that decision now with the team’s younger option at the position being benched.
This is not doom and gloom, however. The Denver Broncos obviously have aims on being a playoff team in 2021 and they have reason to believe Bridgewater can help them get there.
Despite the fact that he is not as athletically gifted as some of the other star QBs in the league, Bridgewater has been a starter on some really good teams, namely an 11-5 playoff team in Minnesota that was a missed field goal from Blair Walsh away from beating the Seattle Seahawks in a frigid playoff game.
He also was undefeated as a starter on the 2019 Saints, which won the NFC South but ironically lost in the playoffs to the Minnesota Vikings. That stretch of five games he started in 2019 with the Saints was his longest stretch of play after his gruesome leg injury in Minnesota.
Bridgewater gives the Denver Broncos a strong leader in the locker room and a quarterback that his teammates will really rally behind. He’s also still just 28, so there’s no reason he should be written off at this point.
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After a tough year in Carolina, he gets a chance in Denver with a much better supporting cast around him to get back into the postseason as a starter.