When wearing a helmet and shoulder pads and playing against a live defense during his college career at Louisville, Teddy Bridgewater looked like a very good quarterback. When wearing shorts and a T-shirt and playing against air at his Pro Day, Bridgewater looked like a bad quarterback. The NFL world is still grappling with that disparity.
NFL Network’s Mike Mayock has dropped Bridgewater way down his draft board, and Mayock said today that when he talks to NFL personnel evaluators, they all agree that it’s hard to understand how a quarterback who looked so good on tape could look so bad at his Pro Day.
“The Bridgewater thing has confused me, it has confused teams, but I’d be surprised at this point if he goes in the first round,” Mayock said.
Mayock acknowledged that some people are now questioning him about why he has changed his own opinion on Bridgewater.
“They’re good questions, and I’m struggling myself internally with the Bridgewater thing,” Mayock said. “I’ve always believed that the tape tells everything, so I’m struggling with this because I liked him on tape . . . then I saw him throw live and I didn’t like him at all.”
According to Mayock, this was not your ordinary mediocre Pro Day. It was a Pro Day that calls into question everything that went before it.
“I struggle, tape vs. live, and I think a bunch of teams feel the same way,” Mayock said. “I’ve talked to teams that have been unnerved by it.”
If Bridgewater is falling as far on NFL teams’ draft boards as he is on Mayock’s board, he may have had the worst Pro Day in NFL history.