Teddy Bridgwater has arguably been playing the best football of his career, but will this level of play continue at the helm of the Denver Broncos?
A good portion of the Denver Broncos fanbase was unhappy with Drew Lock’s performance after last season. Thus, there were calls to bring in competition. But instead of drafting the likes of Justin Fields or Mac Jones, George Paton and the front office elected to trade for veteran Teddy Bridgewater, sending Carolina just a sixth-round pick to acquire him.
Bridgewater and Lock battled throughout training camp and the preseason for the starting job and the newcomer won after a strong showing. However, expectations for him remained modest as fans believed he’d be serviceable but nothing more. He’s proved people wrong thus far.
While playing with New Orleans, Carolina and Minnesota, Bridgewater earned the moniker of a game manager as he rarely threw the ball down the field. That’s not been the case in Denver, though. He has put up highest average depth of target (ADOT) of his career at 9.5 through three weeks.
Teddy Bridgewater average depth of target from every season (excluding 2016, 2017 and 2018 when he barely played or didn’t play)
— Lucas Schuh (@LucasSchuh2) September 27, 2021
2014: 7.9
2015: 7.4
2019: 6.1
2020: 7.6
2021: 9.5
Even more impressive, despite being more aggressive throwing down the field, it hasn’t affected his ability to take care of the ball. In fact, Bridgewater has thrown just one interceptable pass this season, per Player Profiler.
The supporting cast with the Broncos has definitely helped lead to Bridgewater’s success. Jerry Jeudy (though now injured), Noah Fant, a now-healthy Courtland Sutton, and K.J. Hamler (also injured) are all great pieces. And even with the injuries, the veteran quarterback hasn’t taken a step back.
It should be said that Bridgewater and the Broncos may have greatly benefitted from their schedule to this point. Denver has faced the Giants, Jaguars and Jets to this point, a group of opponents that have combined to start the season at 0-10 and all of which have a bottom-half defense in the league by DVOA.
The schedule gets tougher moving forward, though, as the Broncos get the Ravens, Steelers and Raiders in the next three weeks. That may cause a dip in Bridgewater’s box score numbers as he’ll also face better defenses without two of his best receivers. However, if he can keep up his more aggressive approach and throw down the field, his ascension to being more than a game manager should continue.