Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3 Players to avoid in 2020 NFL free agency
1. Teddy Bridgewater, Quarterback
After seeing his quarterback literally give away football games, Arians would probably like to have a signal-caller who is a better decision-maker and could take care of the football. On paper, Teddy Bridgewater seems like a great option for the Buccaneers; he’s an efficient thrower, has shown incredible accuracy and places a high value on ball security.
Bridgewater demonstrated his starting capability this season in relief of Drew Brees, going 5-0 in his starts, completing 68 percent of his passes, and throwing nine touchdowns to only two interceptions.
Yet, the Buccaneers would be foolish to give the former backup a large contract in the hopes he could become a franchise passer. Bridgewater has been a great story in regard to his comeback from injury, but he is the opposite of what Arians needs. Arians’ system requires the quarterback to throw the ball downfield and Bridgewater is a mediocre downfield passer at best.
He could only muster 7.1 yards per pass attempt this season, which would rank him 17th among starting quarterbacks for 2019. He is also not a high volume passer, throwing for under 250 yards in more than half of his starts.
Bridgewater is projected to command $20 million AAV on the open market, per Spotrac, which is too high of a price for a quarterback who has a career average of 173 pass yards per game. Even though Bridgewater is only 27 years old, I doubt he will suddenly become a gunslinger like Patrick Mahomes.
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He’s a safe, accurate thrower who likes to make high percentage passes. While that may work for some coaches, it won’t work for Bruce Arians, who’s offense thrives on chunk plays and deep throws. If Licht decides to give Bridgewater a long-term deal, fans will be screaming at their televisions in September when Bridgewater throws a check-down instead of a fade to a single-covered Mike Evans.