After the draft, Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater told Dan Patrick that the former Louisville quarterback didn’t want to play for the Browns. Bridgewater is now backpedaling like the player Cleveland picked after an eight-nine flip-flop with Minnesota.
“I think it was misinterpreted,” Bridgewater said Tuesday at the Rookie Symposium, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “What I was saying was I had a strong feeling about the Minnesota Vikings. I was able to meet with them five or six times in the pre-draft visits. I just had a pretty solid feeling about the Minnesota Vikings, but, you know, I try to put the pre-draft stuff behind and try to just focus on my career with the Minnesota Vikings.”
Bridgewater doesn’t deny saying what he said to Patrick about Cleveland: “I actually told my agent that’s not the place where I wanted to be.”
“I said it on the air, but like I say, it was misinterpreted,” Bridgewater said. “I think I was just saying I had a solid feeling about the Minnesota Vikings and that was it.”
It wasn’t misinterpreted. It was interpreted correctly. It was misstated by Bridgewater.
Or maybe he meant exactly what he said, and then he realized it didn’t sound so good -- especially since he’ll eventually play in Cleveland if he stays with the Vikings. Under the current scheduling formula, the Browns will host Minnesota in 2017.