Report: Packers Wanted To See Bridgewater At Quarterback

This is a bit of a strange story, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

The source of the story is Matt Miller, who is the lead NFL Draft Analyst over at Bleacher Report and does some really good work. He’s also one of the few media types that isn’t constantly a disrespectful jerk to the Minnesota Vikings and their fans, so that helps. (I’m shallow like that sometimes.) According to Miller, the Green Bay Packers apparently wanted to see Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback for the Vikings this year prior to his injury, apparently because they thought they could “control” him more easily.

Here’s what Miller says in his post:

When the Teddy Bridgewater injury happened, my phone blew up. Coaches, players, scouts, friends...everyone knew Bridgewater was my No. 1 player in the 2014 draft and that I'd taken a decent amount of flak for that stance. So when he went down, people were concerned.

Except for some members of the Green Bay Packers. They called and texted to let me know this was bad news for them. You see, the Packers wanted to face Bridgewater because they felt their defense could control him with his short throws and timing-based passing.

Shaun Hill? A wild card with a better arm.

Sam Bradford? Now people are worried.

It's interesting to me that a Pro Bowl quarterback and former first-round pick would be a player a team wants to face, but as one defender from Green Bay told me, they were instructed not to hurt Bridgewater during the 2015 season because he was easier to defend than Hill.

If there were members of the Packers organization that were actually saying this, it ranks right up there with some of the dumbest things I’ve heard about football. “Oh, don’t hurt that team’s starting quarterback, because their backup is probably going to kill us.” I mean, seriously, that’s just stupid.

Miller, as you can see from the excerpt from his story, has always been high on Teddy Bridgewater, and with good reason. Anyone that watched Bridgewater this preseason saw the strides that he had made and could tell that he was developing in what was supposed to be his third year behind center for Minnesota. There’s a reason that Bridgewater was starting and Hill was the backup. . .because Teddy Bridgewater is a better quarterback than Shaun Hill.

Then again, if what Miller is saying is accurate. . .and I have no reason to believe that it isn’t, because Matt isn’t one to post garbage. . .the Packers aren’t exactly pleased about the idea of having to face Sam Bradford in his first start as a member of the Vikings, either. If they thought they could control Bridgewater because of his perceived lack of arm strength or whatever the reasoning was, maybe they have good reason not to be pleased, particularly with their #1 cornerback set to miss tonight’s matchup.

Hopefully, when the smoke clears tonight at U.S. Bank Stadium, Bradford will have shown that the Packers had a good reason to (reportedly) not want to face him.