3 reasons Teddy Bridgewater’s sour grapes tour needs to end
By Dean Jones
Teddy Bridgewater took another parting shot at the Carolina Panthers, casting criticism on the team’s practice methods throughout the 2020 season.
It doesn’t appear as if Teddy Bridgewater’s bitterness is going away anytime soon. The former Carolina Panthers quarterback has made his feelings about the organization known in no uncertain terms since the team decided to move on from him after just one season, trading him to the Denver Broncos for nothing more than a sixth-round pick just before the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Panthers clearly saw enough from Bridgewater to know he wasn’t going to help them progress moving forward. A 4-12 record as a starter will do that for a signal-caller, but it was his inability to come through down the stretch that had the biggest detrimental impact on Carolina’s fortunes during their first season without Cam Newton under center.
Carolina has now placed their faith in Sam Darnold doing what Bridgewater couldn’t, which is to make the most out of the outstanding weapons at his disposal and guide the Panthers to a winning record. However, if the organization thought their recently departed quarterback was going to take being traded lightly, they were sorely mistaken.
Speaking on the All Things Covered podcast with Bryant McFadden and Patrick Peterson, Bridgewater did not hold back when discussing the Panthers’ practice methods during the campaign.
"“As an organization there’s things you can do better. I’ll just say this, for Joe Brady’s growth, that organization, they’ll have to practice different things in different ways. One thing we didn’t do much of when I was there, we didn’t practice two minute, really. We didn’t practice red zone. . . . You walk through the red zone stuff and then Saturday you come out and practice red zone, but you’d only get like 15 live reps. Guys’ reps would be limited.”"
This is quite a statement from someone who showed a distinct lack of ability getting the football downfield efficiently not only in Carolina but throughout his career. Regardless of whether this is true or not, Bridgewater only has himself to blame, and here are three reasons why his sour grapes tour needs to end at the earliest possible opportunity.