Teddy Bridgewater working out for Minnesota Vikings
Teddy Bridgewater (5) celebrates after the Russell Athletic Bowl. David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Viking are, as fully expected, working out as many top quarterback prospects in the 2014 NFL Draft class as possible, and the next QB on their list is Louisville Cardinals product Teddy Bridgewater, who has always been my top QB. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Bridgewater will work out for the Vikings today, and they have already worked out Jimmy Garoppolo, Zach Mettenberger, Derek Carr, and Blake Bortles recently.
Schefter’s colleague at ESPN Chris Mortensen reported yesterday that Bridgewater’s private workouts haven’t gone well, and these underwhelming workouts don’t bode well for his draft stock when combined with his disappointing pro day. These workouts aren’t as important as game tape, and Bridgewater is clearly the best QB on tape. But these workouts also vary in importance for certain teams, and they could scare some organizations off, especially if Bridgewater is ranked closely to a QB like Bortles or even Mettenberger. The Vikings are very high on Mettenberger, and there’s a chance they could pass on a quarterback with the eighth overall pick and take an impact player on defense before adding Mettenberger in the second round. Mettenberger has his fair share of concerns, but the Vikings could view him as a better value in the second and probably love his arm talent.
While Bridgewater doesn’t have Mettenberger’s arm talent, his physical tools are solid, and he’s more mobile than the statue-esque LSU product. He’s also easily the most developed quarterback in this class, as nobody understands protection schemes, reads blitzes, goes through progressions, or makes better decisions than Bridgewater.
The Vikings will get a close look at him today, and it will be interesting to see if his workout goes differently. There’s a conspiracy theory floating around that Bridgewater is only trying to look good in front of better teams, and the Vikings have a lot of talent in place for an incoming quarterback with Adrian Peterson, Greg Jennings, Cordarrelle Patterson, Kyle Rudolph, and an excellent offensive line. Their biggest need is easily quarterback, and they would likely be a playoff team with a franchise QB on their roster. I think they should snap up Bridgewater in a heartbeat if he’s there with the eighth pick, though he still isn’t a guarantee to slip outside of the top five despite the fact that his stock appears to be falling.