ALEXANDER PARK Dan Campbell, the head coach of the Detroit Lions, hasn’t been hesitant in expressing his love for and want to acquire Teddy Bridgewater as a quarterback.
When asked why the Lions were bringing in the seasoned quarterback less than two weeks into training camp, Campbell gave no room for interpretation.
I mean, you know, I was with him. Two years with someone gives you a pretty solid sense of what they are capable of, Campbell remarked on Tuesday. “The wiring of them. I’ve observed him working because of the way he thinks. He’s ran the offense in front of me. I’ve witnessed him at pivotal times. I’ve watched him nurture young talents and receivers. Drew Brees leaves us, going 5-0. He just entered the area, kept the ship afloat, and maintained the required course. And I really appreciate that. That is all we require. That, in my opinion, is one of the motives of his presence.
Campbell was referring to Bridgewater’s five starts for the Saints in the 2019 season. The quarterback and Campbell were together there for two years. And in all five of those starts, the Saints prevailed, with Bridgewater throwing for 1,384 yards on 67.9% of his throws, nine touchdowns, and only two interceptions.
The third-year Lions head coach expressed his admiration for Bridgewater’s willingness to spend time in New Orleans working with the team’s young receivers. And that’s what he expects the seasoned quarterback to do when he shows up and begins working out at Allen Park the following week.
The day before the game, “he’d come in and take those young receivers out, go through the whole game plan and tell them what they’re looking for,” Campbell said. “The coverage is here. Here is what I’m contemplating. ‘No, I don’t like that,’ and ‘This is how I’m running that.’ He was competitive and oversaw the scout teams. Man, that was just amazing. He fits that description. He makes an incredible teammate. He is skilled. A vet, he is. He manages his affairs. That is it.
Bridgewater joins Jared Goff, the starting quarterback who is returning, at the front of the quarterback group. Nate Sudfeld and Adrian Martinez, an undrafted rookie, will be his rivals for the position of QB2. Former first-round selection Bridgewater has 65 starts under his belt under a variety of staffs and schemes.
Since being selected in the sixth round of the 2016 draft, Sudfeld has yet to make a start. Through the spring program and the first two weeks of camp, he appeared to be in good shape. Sudfeld experienced a few unpleasant incidents during the team’s practice over the weekend, and he is once again competing for a roster position.
The only rational explanation, according to Campbell, was “hey, let’s bring in a guy that can compete.” “We’ll work it out, he (Bridgewater) and Nate argue back and forth. We experiment with three stages here, but if anything occurs, you want to feel like you can keep this ship afloat again.The bad news is that he will need time to become used to the terminology because it will be new to him. The good news is that Teddy has already been in every system imaginable at this time. He has likely committed six distinct infractions and verbalizations, so he is familiar with the ideas. It only has to be acknowledged that this is what you’re calling it.I can handle this. So, that will require some time. Teddy knows what he’s doing. He’s going to study it to death. He’ll grab it. I’m not worried; he’ll take it up quite quickly.