4 things Teddy Bridgewater must do better down the stretch
By Dean Jones
Teddy Bridgewater needs to improve down the stretch.
There was a lot of pressure coming into the 2020 season for Teddy Bridgewater. The Carolina Panthers brought him in on a three-year, $63 million deal that included a $15 million signing bonus and $33 million guaranteed deal during free agency that eventually ended with the organization parting ways with legendary signal-caller Cam Newton.
It’s taking some time for Teddy Bridgewater to win people over. There are obvious limitations regarding his play, of that there is little doubt. But the overall standard of his production hasn’t been the worst in the league by any stretch of the imagination.
However, one only has to look at Newton and the New England Patriots to see that the NFL is a results business.
Bridgewater might be going into Carolina’s game against the Denver Broncos without two primary weapons in the passing game. Curtis Samuel and D.J. Moore are currently on the reserve/COVID-19 list and not having them would harm the former first-round pick’s chances of finishing the season on a high.
We picked out four things Bridgewater must do better down the stretch to diminish the expected speculation regarding his long-term future this offseason.
No. 1
Pocket Awareness
Bridgewater is accurate with the football. But one area that he needs to improve is his pocket awareness. He isn’t being helped by the protection at certain points of games and doing things a little quicker would stand him in good stead in this regard.
It’s easy to forget that this is the first time that Bridgewater has occupied a prominent starting role since 2015. This was obviously going to come with some complications despite the Louisville product going 5-0 with the New Orleans Saints in Drew Brees’ absence in 2019.
However, we are now 12 games into the season, so this is a moot point at this juncture. Simply put, Bridgewater needs to recognize where pressure is coming from better and act accordingly.