Some Cause For Hesitation
Sometimes people make mistakes. Like those other people, there are times on tape where Bridgewater appears to just misread what is in front of him. In the following play, the defense is in man coverage with two safeties over the top, but Bridgewater looks to try and force it to the receiver down the seam rather than having the patience to wait for the man-beating route to come open in the slot on the far side of the field:
Similarly, on this following play, the defense picks up all the receivers going vertically, but the near-side corner drops rather than taking the crosser, which the safety then drops down to. Bridgewater should have recognized that and hit the crossing route, but instead he tried to force the ball down the field:
There were also a couple of times where he looked to get the ball out too quickly and made misreads as a result. The first of these is similar to a play from earlier, with the outside receiver drawing away the outside corner leading space inside for the slot receiver to work outside, only here the outside corner then works back inside onto the slot receiver, leading to the incompletion:
And here, while the throw is completed, Bridgewater throws his receiver into contact as the safety targets the underneath route:
It’s hard to make too much one way or the other out of a handful of plays – and Bridgewater certainly made consistently good decisions with the ball – but for a player whose big selling point is his consistent execution of the offense with some nice throws down the field, when he then fails to execute the offense, that is more frustrating than for a player who offers more in other areas.
The final area that is worth considering with Bridgewater is how he is able to contribute to an offense with his feet, and while he is hardly Cam Newton, this is still something that could add value to an offense looking to spread teams out with four and five wide sets.
Mobility And Running Threat
Bridgewater’s ability to run with the ball and to be mobile added to the offense in three major ways.
First, it allowed the scheme to ask him to work outside of the pocket, and to keep the ball himself if things don’t open up down the field:
It also allows him to extend plays under pressure by working around defenders and breaking the pocket while still looking for somewhere to go with the ball:
And finally, it allows him to tuck the ball and run when nothing open ups and he sees a clear rushing lane:
It is easy to see why Bridgewater would chose the Panthers and why, having decided on changing their QB, the Panthers would chose Bridgewater.
While every player is different, Bridgewater has a very similar skillset to what allowed Joe Burrow to be so successful in the LSU offense this past season. He makes good, quick decisions on where to go with the ball, has the ability to be consistently accurate on short and intermediate throws and has enough arm strength and touch to push the ball down the field at times. While he occasionally makes the wrong read and sometimes is too happy to check it down – McCaffrey will be glad to take all of those – Bridgewater’s contract is testament to the fact that he has limitations, but also that he has a lot of talent, and whatever you think about whether adding a new quarterback was the right decision or not, they certainly could have done a lot worse – especially given the scheme the Panthers are expected to run.
(Top Photo Via Mark Lagrange)
