Teddy Bridgewater did not want to play for Cleveland Browns
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is interviewed by the media. Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
The Cleveland Browns did indeed trade up from their second first-round pick in order to draft a franchise quarterback, but they decided to pull Johnny Manziel instead of selecting Teddy Bridgewater, who was involved in the most rumors in the week leading up to the Browns pick. A team did trade up for Bridgewater in the first round, and the Minnesota Vikings decision to move up and make Bridgewater their franchise QB is a huge reason why they were draft-day winners. After making the playoffs a couple of years ago with Christian Ponder under center, the Vikings could very well return to the postseason this year with, in my opinion, the best and most polished rookie quarterback at the helm.
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According to Paul Pabst, the producer of “The Dan Patrick Show”, Bridgewater said on the show that he told his agent that he didn’t want to be drafted by the Browns, “I actually told my agent that that’s not the place I want to be.”
While the Browns have a better defense than the Vikings, Bridgewater’s wide receivers in Minnesota will be much better with Josh Gordon out for an indefinite amount of time due to a suspension that could range in severity. Cordarrelle Patterson, Greg Jennings, Kyle Rudolph, and Adrian Peterson (Norv Turner seems set on getting him more involved as a pass-catcher) are big offensive weapons around Bridgewater, who should have plenty of success as a rookie. Manziel also figures to take the league by a storm due to his dual-threat ability, but I think the Browns are better off using Brian Hoyer as their starting stopgap guy this year and allowing Manziel to develop behind him for one season (especially since the Browns don’t have good enough WRs in place for their rookie).