Dwayne Haskins interest is an early indictment on Teddy Bridgewater
By Dean Jones
The visit of Dwayne Haskins poses a problem for Teddy Bridgewater.
Teddy Bridgewater is a man under pressure, to put it mildly. The Carolina Panthers put a tremendous amount of faith in the quarterback by bringing him to the organization in free agency, ending Cam Newton‘s long-standing relationship with the team in the process.
Things haven’t gone according to plan. Bridgewater has been poor in critical situations of games and his clear lack of confidence was especially evident down the stretch that saw the player go into the offseason with plenty of questions surrounding his long-term future.
Carolina’s decision to bring in free-agent Dwayne Haskins for a visit on Monday is another strong indicator that the Panthers are looking for additional options at the position. They might be out of the running to take Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Zach Wilson in the 2021 NFL Draft, so the coaching staff is clearly looking to explore all options before coming to a final conclusion.
It’s worth noting that Haskins is visiting without a general manager in place. Owner David Tepper fired Marty Hurney shortly before competitive action came to a conclusion, so this is something that’s clearly been signed off by head coach Matt Rhule.
This is probably the most worrying part of all where Bridgewater is concerned and isn’t exactly the vote of confidence he may have been hoping for heading into the offseason period.