Rich Cimini made a comment in this slideshow http://espn.go.com/newyork/photos/g...dgewater-louisville-10-qbs-jets-consider-2014 that some recent mocks had Teddy Bridgewater slipping to the Vikings at 8. He thinks that if that happens and the Vikings pass that Bridgewater could get all the way down to 18 and the Jets in a Brady Quinn-esque slide. At first glance I thought that was a preposterous idea. However thinking about it there have been several QB's who were considered top 10 possibilities who did slide down to the Jets vicinity. 2000 - Chad Pennington slides to the Jets at 18. 2005 - Aaron Rodgers slides to the Packers at 26. 2007 - Brady Quinn slides to the 22. Chad was in consideration as a top 10 pick by the Steelers who took Plaxico Burress instead. The Jets took Shaun Ellis and John Abraham with their first two picks but could not pass up Chad on the 18 despite the fact that he was not really suited for the EP offense they ran at the time. Rodgers was in the running to be the 1 pick by the 49ers right up until a few weeks before the draft when they decided that Alex Smith was a better fit for them. He then slid down to the Packers. Quinn was over-hyped, as many Notre Dame players are, and it's unclear how many teams viewed him as a top 10 pick but all the analysts did. He went top 8 in almost every pre-draft analysis but slid to the Browns at 22 on draft day. I don't think there's much chance that Bridgewater slides down to the Jets at 18, but how far could he slide if things broke just wrong for him and right for the team that finally got him?
With Derek Carr getting more and more hype, I could see Teddy sliding down to the #4 ranked QB after Manziel, Carr and Bortles.. No way he gets past 8.
I've been against taking a QB this year as I think we'd just see a repeat of Geno without weapons to surround him. That said, it'd be impossible to pass up Teddy.
I would rather stick with Geno personally.. The guy has shown glimpses of greatness... Teddy is an unknown coming out of one of the weakest conferences in College Football.. Lets surround Geno with some talent and see what we have..
He's my third QB. Manziel is first and Carr is second. I like everything about teddy except he does not throw with precision, especially to moving targets. A whole lot of his completions went to stationary targets this year. If you look at the Miami game almost every horizontal route was thrown behind the receiver (he even got his RB injured on one of those) and many of the vertical routes were overthrown. The passes were completed, but it ruins any chance for YAC. His biggest YAC plays were on screens. A lot of those outs and slants he threw this year would be smacked by players like Buster Skrine and Brandon Boykin in the league. That's why I think Bridgewater will need receivers like Brandin Cooks or Marquis Lee in the league rather than Kelvin Benjamin or Jordan Matthews. Carr on the other hand is more accurate the harder he throws it. Two great examples are the 35-yard rope he threw for a TD vs. San Jose St to Burse on the skinny post/seam towards the end of the first half and the out he threw on 4th and 3 vs. USC. If Bridgewater tries that out it's a pick-6. Where I think Bridgewater can overcome this deficiency is his decision-making. At least in college he didn't make a lot of decisions where he had to throw contested balls. He also has good scrambling ability which can allow his receivers to come open and he's good at finding them once they do. The opportunities just may not be quite as frequent in the NFL. Of course, this is just my interpretation of what I saw this year.
Only problem I have with Carr, is when he had to play USC in that bowl game he shat the bed.... That was the only real competition he ever faced in his college career.
Wow. I just don't see how people can rank Manziel, Bortles and Carr ahead of Bridgewater. That seems crazy. IMO, Teddy is going to go #1 to Houston when it's all said and done. If not, he will be the first QB taken in the draft. No sane GM is going to take Johnny Football or Blake Bortles over Teddy Bridgewater.
While i agree w/ you that he is far & away the best QB prospect in this draft, I do think he COULD slip like Brad is saying When you have 4 legit 1st round Qbs(though none elite) that have very different skillsets..you're gonna see alot of difference in evaluations/opinions. That means somebody could jump up..and someone like Bridgewater could slip
Maybe. I personally think he is head and shoulders above the others. Manziel get pub because he is lightning rod for the talking heads. People are clamoring now for Carr because he is the only one playing in the all-star games. But Bridgewater has everything you look for in a QB prospect. Arm strength, accuracy, intelligent, athletic, tall, pocket presence, character, leadership. He played 3 seasons in a pro-style offense and dominated the competition. The only knock on him is that he is a little light (roughly 200 lbs). A lot og 21 year olds need time in the NFL weight room to max out their potential. Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers were skinny when they were drafted.
You know why people could rank Bridgewater below the guys above? Because none of them are can't miss great prospects. There isn't a Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Andrew Luck caliber prospect in this draft. There isn't even a Carson Palmer level consensus #1 who is clearly the best prospect with no questions asked. This draft resembles the 2004 draft minus Eli Manning. Ben Roethlisberger was the best prospect behind Manning but nobody was sure enough for that to be set in stone. Philip Rivers leap-frogged Roethlisberger on draft day. If 3 to 5 QB's do go in the top 12 the odds are just as good you're looking at Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb, Akili Smith, Duante Culpepper and Cade McNown as that you're looking at a run of true NFL starting QB's. That's why things seem so unstable at the moment. The top of the draft is full of QB-needy teams but the prospects don't seem to fit with the positions those teams are drafting in. The other side of the coin is that there is a lot of really great non-QB talent in the draft this year. The team taking the 3rd or 4th QB in a heavy run at the top will almost certainly be giving up a huge amount of value to do that.
Just hypothetically: 1. Texans - Jadaveon Clowney 2. Rams - Jake Matthews 3. Jaguars - Anthony Barr (The Jags need a pass-rushing OLB badly and Barr is worthy of the pick) 4. Browns - Johnny Manziel 5. Raiders - Greg Robinson (Raiders o-line is a mess at the moment) 6. Falcons - Sammy Watkins 7. Bucs - Marqise Lee 8. Vikings - Blake Bortles And away we go. All that takes is for two teams looking for QB's to decide that there are better prospects at positions of need and then two other teams to have QB's rated above Bridgewater and he is in free fall.
Amazing how Bridgewater's only flaw (being "undersized") could allow him to drop. That would be great for the Jets, that's for sure. Bridgewater could gain 20 pounds in 2 seasons and become a franchise QB for sure.
Well, Carr injured his left shoulder or collarbone in the 1st quarter, not sure if you remember that. It was on the 11th pass play (3rd drive). He missed badly on some touch passes after that. He kept his accuracy on the hard throws, though. I think USC had a great game plan on defense as well, in addition to that elevated level of competition that you mentioned. They sold out against the pass because they knew Fresno couldn't run on their front 4. Dion Bailey (who played an incredible game) was up on the line of scrimmage but out towards the wideouts to shut down the screens (read: Fresno's running game). He also blanketed Isaiah Burse. Burse was embarrassing that game. Fresno St passed 55 times and ran 6 times that game. USC knew they were 1-dimensional and had the athletes to stop it. That being said Fresno had a bunch of drops that game as well, including three consecutive plays in the third quarter.
The talking heads have a way of manipulating QB draft stock. They love creating drama around the position. Again..you've got 4 very different but legit 1st round QB prospects. Expect a roller coaster ride from now till early May. The media would have it no other way.
