Teddy Bridgewater was traded to the Denver Broncos only 1 year after signing a multiple-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. Bridgewater didn’t speak fondly on his time in Carolina and their Practice structure. And HC Matt Rhule didn’t agree with Bridgewater’s sentiments
Advertisement
After an impressive 2019 season, Teddy Bridgewater signed a 3 year $63M deal with the Carolina Panthers to be their new QB in the Matt Rhule era. But only 1 year in, the Panthers pulled the plug on the experiment and traded for former Jets QB Sam Darnold.
Jets Trade Sam Darnold to Panthers 😲
Can the coaching braintrust of Matt Rhule and Joe Brady unlock Sam Darnold’s potential in Carolina? https://t.co/IyLsAYDpxt pic.twitter.com/iJ0YUbV3RA
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 6, 2021
The Panthers played much better than their 5-11 season suggests. This was because the Panthers were awful in 4th quarters of close games. The team lost 9 games out of their 11 by 1 score in 2020. And Teddy Bridgewater had some telling comments about that.
Teddy Bridgewater said that the team barely practised 2-minute drills.
In an appearance on the “All Things Covered” podcast with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden, the recently traded quarterback shared that his old team didn’t go over some key in-game situations.
“One thing we didn’t do much of when I was there, we didn’t practice two minute, really. We didn’t practice red zone. . . . You walk through the red zone stuff and then Saturday you come out and practice red zone, but you’d only get like 15 live reps. Guys’ reps would be limited,” Bridgewater said.
I was stunned to hear this from Teddy Bridgewater, speaking about his time in Carolina…
“One of the things we didn’t do much of when I was there, we didn’t practice 2-minute really, we didn’t practice red zone.”
Full interview 👇https://t.co/1ysjGRsthA pic.twitter.com/79E5nJcA4h
— Bryant McFadden (@BMac_SportsTalk) May 12, 2021
Teddy Bridgewater threw for a below-par 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2020.
Matt Rhule responded to Teddy Bridgewater’s comments
Rhule responded to that criticism on Wednesday saying he was disappointed Bridgewater didn’t believe in their structure but they have confidence in the way they prepare their team each week.
“I’m not going to delve into specifics about our process, some of that is specific to us,” Rhule said, via Darin Gantt of the Panthers’ website. “But I feel really good about our preparation, and the amount of work our coaches put in and the amount of work our players put in. The amount of practice work, I think we push them in a really smart way.”
Rhule was complimentary of Bridgewater but expressed disappointment he didn’t have the same feelings about the way the team practiced last year
#Panthers Matt Rhule has nothing negative to say about former QB Teddy Bridgewater, “unfortunately part of this business is trading guys and moving on from guys.” @WBTWNews13 pic.twitter.com/txwxZHwJqL
— Candace Martino (@CandaceMartino) May 13, 2021
“When you have 140 guys in a locker room, guys will disagree on some things sometimes,” Rhule said. “You can’t ask everyone to agree with everything. … But I feel really good about what we do, I want to make sure to say I feel really good about the way we practice and our process. I’m disappointed to hear he didn’t feel the same way.”
Teddy Bridgewater will compete for the starting position for the Denver Broncos in 2021. And Matt Rhule will look to improve on his 5-11 record, especially with Christian McCaffrey back to full health.
Also Read: NFL Thanksgiving Games 2021: Thanksgiving Games Leaked Early For 2021-22 NFL Season