Teddy Bridgewater is the future. We all know that. Unless he gets into a freak accident that ends his football career, or four years down the road he is just utterly terrible, we have our starting quarterback. But who should start this year?
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| from: q.usatoday.com |
Lots of people have said they want Bridgewater to start right away. He's the new, exciting addition, and all the analysts have said he's the most NFL ready quarterback that came out of the draft. From Facebook to Twitter, I've read lots of posts bashing Cassel and saying it's a no-brainer to start Bridgewater. Christian Ponder, sadly for him, is practically nonexistent in these discussions.
I completely disagree with that. Cassel wasn't anywhere close to terrible last year. No, he didn't get us to the playoffs. He went 4-3 as the starter (though he didn't really start in one of those, but played most of the game). That's much better when compared to Ponder's 1-6-1 record. Oh, and don't forget about Josh Freeman's abysmal outing against the Giants. I take that back; please forget about Freeman's abysmal outing against the Giants.
Cassel threw for a bit more than 1,800 yards with 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Given a full season, I could see 4,000, 20 and 14. Those aren't great numbers and won't guarantee the playoffs, but that will give Bridgewater a whole year plus another offseason to learn the playbook and watch games and film. Bridgewater is not Andrew Luck, nor is he Robert Griffin. He won't step in right away and do amazing things for us. But give him a year, and I think we will all be pleasantly surprised.
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| from: cbssports.com |
The best example I can think of is probably not the greatest example, but I'm going to put it out there anyway. I don't think Aaron Rodgers would have been very good if he'd been thrown in right away. Because he got four years to sit behind Favre (granted, Favre was a better quarterback than Cassel), he was ready to go and could start producing at high level. Bridgewater will only get a year at the most to sit, but ideally he will also have Adrian Peterson for the first couple years. Having the best running back in the game goes a long way in improving the passing game.
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| from: startribune.com |
I want Cassel to start and play the whole year. Mike Zimmer has expectedly not named a starter yet, though, and I agree with that. He's said that the best player will start, and that could easily be Bridgewater. I do hope it's really close, but Zimmer and Speilman end up going with Cassel. 2014-15 may not be a great year, but I honestly believe Bridgewater will provide a solid level of quarterback play for many years to come that will get us back into contention for the NFC North title and multiple trips to the playoffs. Bold prediction here, but I predict we win our first Superbowl with Bridgewater at quarterback.
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