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Comparing Teddy Bridgewater to Other NFL QBs

By Thomas Shefchik

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Dec 21, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback

Teddy Bridgewater

(5) throws a pass as Miami Dolphins defensive tackle

Earl Mitchell

(90) applies pressure during the first half at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

A few days ago, Bill Barnwell of Grantland tweeted this:

Certainly, he was not trying to say Teddy Bridgewater is at Aaron Rodgers’ level yet, or that he was implying that he ever will be (I definitely hope he will), but it is an interesting piece of information. It got me wondering how Teddy has been comparing to other well-known contemporaries around the league. Let’s take a look.

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It is tough to compare any of Teddy’s aggregate numbers, as he has started 12 games, many others have started 15 and so on. What I was more interested in was his averages and how he stacks up to other signal callers around the league. So as to avoid cherry picking, I will use the same four quarterbacks for each category. Teddy, Andy Dalton, Philip Rivers and Tom Brady. The purpose for that is to give the best cross-section of the talent spectrum, at least perception-wise.

The first statistic we will look at is yards per attempt, which helps gauge both aggressiveness as well as accuracy. For perspective, the league leader is Tony Romo at 8.49 YDS/A, while Derek Carr is bringing up the rear at 5.53 YDS/A. In descending order, the aforementioned quarterbacks’ averages are:

  • A. 7.45
  • B. 7.19
  • C. 7.12
  • D. 7.10

Any guess which is which?

It turns out option A is Rivers, which is no huge surprise, and Dalton is D, which also probably is not a shock to many. Perhaps the most surprising aspect is that B is Teddy. Considering he had well-documented issues throwing the deep ball, the fact that his average yards per attempt is up to 16th in the league is certainly a positive and indicative of his improved play as of yet. Let’s move on.

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The next stat we will look at is yards per game. The options are:

  • A. 269
  • B. 266
  • C. 226
  • D. 210

So, who is who?

I’m guessing most of you would be able to separate the top 2 from the bottom 2, if not guess the correct order. The answer is Brady, followed by Rivers, Bridgewater then Dalton. Obviously, Cincinnati has a very potent running game behind Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard, but I still would have thought Dalton’s average would be higher. Then again, I saw some of that Thursday Night game against Cleveland, so I’m not too shocked.

One last number I will put into focus is Quarterback Rating. While I do question how accurate the number truly is, it does aggregate many factors to attempt to quantify how well a quarterback is playing. The numbers thus far:

  • A. 98.3
  • B. 95.8
  • C. 84.9
  • D. 83.3

I will save the suspense this time and tell you that the order is the same as it was for yards per game. Perhaps some of you have noticed that while not yet at the same level in most of these metrics as Brady or Rivers, Bridgewater has been better in each category than Dalton. In fact, check this out:

[table id=6 /]

So Bridgewater has a better completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown to interception ratio, yards passing per game and passer rating than Dalton. I should note that I personally have never been high on Dalton, and do not believe he will ever be an “elite” quarterback. That said, this underlies my belief that Teddy is already a starting-caliber quarterback in the NFL, and hopefully can make strides in the coming years to get into the upper-echelon of quarterbacks in the league.

Next: Why Extending Phil Hughes Makes Sense

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