What does Brees’ return mean for Teddy Bridgewater in free agency?

Earlier last week, Drew Brees announced that he will be returning for the New Orleans Saints in 2020. This upcoming year will make the 20th NFL season for the 41-year-old franchise quarterback. But there’s more than one QB in the Big Easy that will be making some decisions this offseason. Saints backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has hit NFL free agency, and with Brees’ recent announcement, will most certainly be exploring his options outside of New Orleans. 

Teddy Bridgewater was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings as the final pick of the first round in the 2014 NFL Draft. After spending a few years with the Vikings, and a one year stint with the New York Jets, he was traded to the New Orleans Saints in 2018. But even though this coming up season will make his seventh year in the NFL, he has spent the majority of his career as a backup QB and has only started six games since 2015. 

But despite a quiet last several years in the league, Bridgewater came up clutch for the Saints last season. After starting quarterback Brees went down with a thumb injury in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, Bridgewater took the helm as the leader under center for New Orleans. And amid the skepticism, Bridgewater led his Saints through an impressive five-game winning streak before Brees’ return to the field in October. 

Teddy Bridgewater in 2019

Over a span of five weeks, Bridgewater, with his new starting job, threw for 115 pass completions for 1,205 yards, nine touchdowns, and only two interceptions. Nine passing touchdowns, by the way, is only five shy of Teddy’s 14 total touchdowns that he threw over the span of his entire 2015 season when he was voted into the Pro Bowl — and he accomplished these nine in only five games. With many fans already thinking the worst for the season with Brees’ injury, all of a sudden the people of New Orleans were falling in love with Bridgewater. 

But how much of these performances and stats were actually on Teddy? A look at the Offensive Share Metric tells a different story than just the stats. The PFN OSM is unique in a way that it singles out performance data that relates solely to the player’s individual performance. So a player that contributes more to the team’s success that week would have a higher grade than others on the team. Bridgewater’s OSM grades were, for the most part, Average over the course of his starting Saints QB run. 

Bridgewater averaged a PFN OSM grade of 19.77 over his five-week winning streak. On the grading scale, this is considered an Average grade for a quarterback. For comparison, Jacoby Brissett was the lowest overall QB on the OSM charts last year with a grade only a few points shy of Teddy’s at 16.45. Brees’ final five games of the regular season crafted an OSM average of 28.62. So yes, while Bridgewater did lead the Saints across a 5-0 run, it makes it a little easier when you have the help of guys like Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara lined up with you. 

This isn’t a knock on Teddy by any means. But this does help to show what type of quarterback he is: a game manager. Bridgewater isn’t going to be putting a team on his back. But he does know how to read a defense and to take advantage of the tools at his disposal. By moving Bridgewater into a scheme that fits well with his abilities, I would expect a late-career second wind akin to what we saw with Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee this season after taking the place of Marcus Mariota.

Teddy Bridgewater’s best prospects this offseason

Where would be a good landing spot for Bridgewater if he does decide to move? This offseason will definitely be QB-centric with a slew of teams looking for their new man and a group of free agents and draft prospects that include some huge names. But there are a couple of franchises that I would be interested to see Bridgewater take a shot at. 

The Carolina Panthers still have Cam Newton under contract but the rumor mills are buzzing about Newton being on his way out of Charlotte. A combination of D.J. Moore and Christian McCaffrey would be a very similar setup to the weapons that Bridgewater had access to in New Orleans. And with their new offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, coming to town, it would be interesting to see what type of offense could be built around Bridgewater’s IQ. 

We still don’t know what exactly is going to happen with veteran quarterback Tom Brady in New England this offseason. But who else knows how to exploit a quarterback’s talents and build a scheme around them better than Bill Belichick? I don’t think that Bridgewater would be the long term answer for the Patriots if they decide to part ways with Brady, but he would allow them to stay competitive in the AFC East while they search for their next franchise quarterback. 

We still have a few weeks before any news will be announced on Bridgewater’s future with the Saints. NFL teams can officially start negotiating with free agents on March 16. Until then, stay tuned into Pro Football Network for the latest offseason news and announcements.