Los Angeles Chargers: Current quarterback options better than Tom Brady
By Jason Reed
1. Teddy Bridgewater
Teddy Bridgewater fell under the NFL radar after suffering an unfortunate ACL tear in practice with the Minnesota Vikings. As a result, Bridgewater did not start a game for three years and did not start a meaningful game for four years, up until this season.
Drew Brees went out with a thumb injury in Week 2 and the New Orleans Saints seemed to be in panic mode. That is when Bridgewater stepped in and went 5-0 as a starter for the Saints. And while at first, he seemed to just be a great game manager, he got better every single week and put together an impressive stat line.
If we average his five starts into 16 starts then Bridgewater would have finished with 3,856 yards, 29 touchdowns and six interceptions. The only quarterback to finish with 3,800+ passing yards, 29+ passing touchdowns and six or fewer interceptions this season was Russell Wilson.
It only happened in five instances in the entire decade, belonging to Wilson, Aaron Rodgers (twice), Tom Brady and Drew Brees.
Of course, he may have thrown more interceptions or the averages might have dipped but Bridgewater made it clear that he is easily still a top-15 quarterback in the league and could even be one of the 10-best when healthy.
He is someone that can extend plays with his legs and is cautious with the ball and won’t turn it over, which was the one thing that hurt the Chargers the most this season.