Bridgewater Drawing Interest Around the NFL

The Miami Dolphins moved on from Teddy Bridgewater after one season, but the veteran quarterback clearly has some supporters around the league.

Bridgewater, who became an unrestricted free agent last month, reportedly is drawing interest from several teams around the NFL to serve as their backup, including a "strong offer" from the Detroit Lions.

That move would have Bridgewater backing up Jared Goff and being reunited with former interim Dolphins head coach Dan Campbell from his time with the New Orleans Saints.

Free agent QB Teddy Bridgewater has interest from several teams, including a strong contract offer from the #Lions, per source. Bridgewater hasn’t decided where he’s playing as he takes his time this offseason. Bridgewater can reunite w/ Dan Campbell from their New Orleans days
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 8, 2023

BRIDGEWATER'S ONE SEASON IN MIAMI

Bridgewater is a Miami native who got the chance to play for his hometown team in 2022, but it was a very frustrating season that left little doubt the Dolphins would look somewhere else for their backup this year.

The reason, though, wasn't so much production as it was dependability.

Bridgewater's stats for 2022 were underwhelming as he finished with 49 completions in 79 attempts for 683 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions for an 85.6 passer rating.

But the big issue, really, was that Bridgewater wasn't able to finish either of the two starts he made — against the Jets in Week 5 and against the Patriots in Week 17 — and also was inactive for five games because of a knee issue.

And while he was active for the win-and-in regular season finale against the Jets and the playoff game at Buffalo, he was dealing with a finger injury that forced the Dolphins to go with rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson as the starting quarterback.

STATS DECEIVING FOR BRIDGEWATER

There's a narrative that the Dolphins offense collapsed whenever Tua Tagovailoa was sidelined and that's backed by most statistical analysis, but a deeper dive and a more nuanced look show that Bridgewater's work was much better than was portrayed.

For example, in the Week 17 loss at New England when Bridgewater left the game with his finger injury after a pick-six that gave the Patriots a 16-14 lead, Bridgewater had a passer rating that game of 113.4 (higher than Tua's NFL-leading season total of 105.5) before that pick-six. After the pick-six, his final play of the game, Bridgewater had a passer rating of 85.6 (higher's than Tua's December passer rating of 80).

We also can examine Bridgewater's appearances in relief. Against Cincinnati in the Thursday night game, he passed for 193 yards in a little more than two quarters, but his night was ruined by an INT that came as the result of a clear mix-up with Mike Gesicki, who never turned around to look for his pass. Take that pick away and Bridgewater's passer rating for that game would have been 106.8.

Against Minnesota, Bridgewater passed for 329 yards in less than three full quarters and his passer rating was a decent 93.9. Take away the pass that went through Jaylen Waddle's hands near the end of the first half and became an INT, his passer rating would have been 109.3.

And let's remember that Pro Bowl tackle Terron Armstead was inactive for that game against Minnesota and that Tua had the difference-making Armstead in the lineup with him for all but one of his starts. That start was against San Francisco when Tua's passer rating was 79.7.

The above isn't to suggest that Bridgewater was or is as good as Tua, but rather to provide some nuance and some push back against the narrative that the offense fell apart without Tua at quarterback because Bridgewater never really got the chance to operate the offense under ideal circumstances, such as having a full game after prepping as the starter all week.

The NFL is offering validation to that concept because if Bridgewater was as ineffective as many would have you believe, combined with his injury issues of 2022, he logically would have a hard time finding another job.

And that's apparently not the case.