ESPN: Teddy Bridgewater Vikings’ Most Underrated Player

Once again, the great E$PN paywall has given us an article that we can bring you a piece of to talk about the Minnesota Vikings, and this time it deals with their most underrated player.

Vincent Verhei of Football Outsiders has identified each team’s most underrated player for the four-letter, and for the Vikings he has tabbed quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to carry that label. Here’s what he had to say about him.

By Football Outsiders' numbers, Teddy Bridgewater was not a top-20 passer last season, but that's not fair, because the quarterback spent too little time playing football and too much time running for his life. No quarterback was pressured more often in 2015. Erase all pressure plays from all quarterbacks, and Bridgewater's ranking jumps up to 12th. With a rebuilt offensive line, Bridgewater should have better protection and better production this season.

He’s not telling Vikings’ fans anything they don’t already know. Thanks to a combination of stats from Pro Football Focus, we know exactly how good Bridgewater has been.

Being the most accurate quarterback in the NFL is one thing. Being the most accurate quarterback in the NFL while being the most pressured quarterback in the NFL is awfully damn impressive. . .particularly in light of the fact that Bridgewater wasn’t exactly working with a Murderer’s Row at the receiver position. Lest we think it was because all Bridgewater did is throw short, let Arif, as the kids say, drop a little knowledge on you.

Of course, I’m guessing that the people that do their "scouting" of Teddy Bridgewater by reading the boxscores on Sunday night and Monday morning aren’t terribly impressed, but they generally don’t know what they’re talking about anyway. People that have actually watched Bridgewater play football know the quality of player he is.

I have a sneaky suspicion that, by the time January rolls around, nobody’s going to be underrating Teddy Bridgewater anymore.