For those of you who only read the title of an article, there is some sarcasm in there. Who I am kidding, you’re probably not reading this if you’re part of that group. In any event, reports out of Louisville’s Pro Day, which was conducted on Monday, aren’t good for former Cardinal quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, via USA Today.
#Jaguars team has live coverage of Teddy Bridgewater throwing at Louisville’s pro day: http://t.co/VN6AalLSxL pic.twitter.com/OAobaRl4wK
— Big Cat Country (@BigCatCountry) March 17, 2014
A lot normally doesn’t change from the scouting combine to pro days, but Bridgewater did not throw in Indianapolis last month, instead waiting to show his arm off for scouts on Monday.
Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski had the following to say about Bridgewater’s performance, via USA Today.
Usually, at a pro day, the ball doesn’t touch the ground…You’ve got to be more accurate.
Schools tend to make sure that they’re able to showcase the talent of their best players. In this, quarterbacks aren’t necessarily given much of an opportunity to fail in individual and team-specific drills. If Bridgewater struggled with everything working in his favor, that could be a red flag to some.
On @nflnetwork‘s Path to the Draft, Mike Mayock & @kurt13warner break down Teddy Bridgewater’s Pro Day performance: http://t.co/CRmDkY4ElN
— NFL Media PR (@InsideNFLMedia) March 17, 2014
Mike Mayock of NFL.com, had the following to say about Bridgewater’s performance…
Let’s be specific, also. I mean, a couple of the things we saw. The ball didn’t jump out of his hands, he didn’t drive it outside the numbers. He was inaccurate, especially on some of the movement drills that he was very good on tape.
Ouch. Mayock is 100 percent correct. When breaking down tape on Bridgewater, one of the things I noticed was his ability to throw the ball accurately. If he struggled with that on Monday, and there is every indication that he did, this isn’t good for his perceived draft stock. After all, Teddy’s one weakness on tape had to be intermediate accuracy from inside the pocket.
With all the reports we have heard about Bridgewater struggling at his pro day, it is important to take everything with a grain of salt. NFL teams pretty much have their draft boards set long before mid March when these pro days take place.
They are utilized in order to confirm what front offices see on tape and to gain a better understanding of the mental makeup of specific products, especially with individual meetings. A couple inaccurate throws and issues with mechanics isn’t going to necessarily change a team’s opinion on a prospect. More often than not, that team is already 99 pages into a 100-page short story on said player.
Those dropping Teddy Bridgewater after this Pro Day need to recheck how they evaluate prospects. He has plenty of positive plays on film.
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_BSN) March 17, 2014
This confirms my previous point. If you’re basing an opinion solely on how Bridgewater performed on Monday, it’s probably high time that you get out of this business we call armchair scouting. If front office executives are dropping Bridgewater based on this performance, they won’t be front office executive for much longer.
Want some evidence of accuracy? Let’s go…
Rolling left and throwing on the run, Bridgewater hits his receiver nearly in stride about 43 yards down the field.
Under pressure and rolling right, Bridgewater shows a tremendous amount of touch about 40 yards down the field.
This is the type of stuff you rely on, not organized pro days when there is already a book out there on a prospect. Considering that Bridgewater has long been the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the draft class, the microscope he’s been placed under has been real. If there were tremendous red flags in his game, we would already know about them.
Bridgewater had 1 bad throw per Gil Brandt out of 65. Matt Stafford had 3 bad throws out of 50 per Brandt. Newton 83.3%, Teddy 87.7% vs. air
— Christopher Hansen (@ChrisHansenNFL) March 17, 2014
Precisely my point here. Based on this, as Hansen mentioned, Newton should have dropped a great deal following his Auburn Pro Day in March of 2011. Instead, he went No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers.
In the end, Bridgewater will be a top-five pick. If he was losing traction as the top overall player in the draft, it was happening long before Monday. The likes of Jadeveon Clowney, Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles and even Khalil Mack have also been mentioned as possibilities for the Houston Texans at No. 1 overall.
If Bridgewater isn’t the first QB selected, there is little reason to believe he’d last past the Oakland Raiders at No. 5 overall. We base that off game tape and his entire body of work, not one two-hour practice on Monday.
Photo: Brian Spurlock, USA Today