Teddy Bridgewater heading to his fifth team in the last five years
By Adam Patrick
Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was traded by the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday to the Denver Broncos.
Back in 2016, when he was with the Minnesota Vikings, Teddy Bridgewater didn’t know if he would ever play football again. Bridgewater suffered a gruesome knee injury during a 2016 Vikings practice that immediately put his NFL career in jeopardy.
To the disbelief of some, however, he rehabbed his injury day and night until he returned to the practice field for Minnesota in 2017.
Since then, Bridgewater has managed to remain in the league, and he’s even started 21 games. But on Wednesday, he found out that he’s about to put on a new uniform for the fifth time since 2017.
Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater trade to Denver Broncos
Last season, Bridgewater was the starting signal-caller for the Carolina Panthers. With him under center, however, the Panthers only managed to win four games.
On Wednesday, Carolina informed Bridgewater that his time with the franchise has come to an end and he was being traded to the Denver Broncos.
In exchange for the former Vikings quarterback, the Panthers only received a sixth-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft. Something that could turn out to be a bargain if Bridgewater ends up emerging as Denver’s starter for next season.
If the former Minnesota passer is going to start for the Broncos in 2021 though, he will likely have to beat out Drew Lock, and possibly a rookie, this summer for the job.
Bridgewater ending up in Denver shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The Broncos’ new general manager, George Paton, spent the previous 14 years working in the Vikings front office, and he was in the war room when the team selected Bridgewater in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Denver’s current offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, was also on Minnesota’s coaching staff during Bridgewater’s final two seasons in the Twin Cities. So the Broncos know what they’re getting into with the former Vikings quarterback.
Will Bridgewater find a way to begin the 2021 season as Denver’s starting signal-caller or will this be the beginning of the end for his time as a starter in the NFL?