Panthers ready to move on from Teddy Bridgewater over ‘physical limitations’

The Panthers are ready to make a change at quarterback and they don’t care who knows it. Since it was reported that Deshaun Watson doesn’t want to play for the Texans anymore, they have consistently been involved in the potential Watson trade conversation, even though teams like the Dolphins and the Jets and can offer more.

Carolina has also been in the mix in practically every other veteran QB trade discussion. The team almost had a deal to bring in Matt Stafford which would have sent the No. 8 overall pick and Teddy Bridgewater to the Lions. Clearly Bridgewater is out of favor. As if that wasn’t already apparent based on owner David Tepper and coach Matt Rhule’s public comments, Albert Breer at Sports Illustrated reported earlier this week that the Panthers are ready to dump Teddy over what he called “physical limitations.”

What a revelation.

Bridgewater was a solid fit on some levels and there was legitimate reason to believe he could thrive running Joe Brady’s offense after a strong run as a starter in New Orleans in 2019. The weapons that Bridgewater has here in Carolina could have helped him to a breakout year and establish himself as a respectable QB1 again after working back from his 2016 knee injury.

Unfortunately, Bridgewater’s ceiling appears to be just a little too low for that. His apex might be as the best No. 2 option in the league, which is what we called him when we advocated for bringing Bridgewater in a few years ago to be his predecessor’s backup.

While he had some good games mid-season, Bridgewater simply wasn’t aggressive enough or athletic enough to lead his team on scoring drives when they needed them, especially when it counted most.

Bridgewater infamously went 0-8 on potential game-winning or tying drives last season. That failure has to be shared somewhat by Brady’s questionable play-calling in the red zone and the team’s total lack of traditional threats for that area of the field. That said, the ball was in Bridgewater’s hands and therefore he ultimately bears the most responsibility. Signing Teddy to that three-year deal will now go down as one of the franchise’s worst decisions in recent memory.

It didn’t have to be this way.

What’s most frustrating is those limitations were abundantly clear from the get-go and the Panthers already had a vastly superior athlete on their roster one year ago at this time.

Cam Newton may not ever return to the level he played at in his peak in 2015 or even when he was fully-healthy the first half of 2018. That said, even a past-his-prime Newton has physical gifts that are still rare at his position.

The lowest point for Bridgewater came on a cold night in Green Bay late in the season. In that moment the dramatic difference between the two quarterbacks could not have been made more abundantly clear. Trailing a surging Packers team late in the first half, Bridgewater had brought the Panthers to the one-yard line. A score would most likely have cut their lead to one possession at halftime despite a horrible start from Carolina. Instead, it turned into a total disaster.

Bridgewater attempted to reach the ball over the goal line and promptly got the ball swatted out of his hands by a defender. Another Packer picked it up and ran the ball back 48 yards, leading to – a devastating 13-point swing that effectively put the game away.

Bridgewater’s coach publicly rebuked him at halftime over that mistake, telling a sideline reporter that he’s said from day one “we don’t reach across the goal line.”

Ever since then, we haven’t heard a vote of confidence from Matt Rhule regarding Bridgwater’s ability – not even the usual coach-speak nonsense “Teddy is our quarterback” you hear every offseason when an obvious change is afoot.

This brings us back to a question we’ll probably never know the answer to, but remains worth asking: who did Rhule really want to be his quarterback in year one with this team?

Early on the job Rhule replied to a reporter’s question by saying he was “unbelievably excited” to work with Cam Newton.

That was the beginning of a meme for some Carolina fans. Based on how things went for Cam after that comment, some have taken to joking that a player is about to be cut anytime Rhule says something positive about them.

Here’s the thing, though. We don’t know how much influence Rhule had over that decision to let Newton go. Techinically, that was former general manager Marty Hurney, who has since been fired and replaced by Scott Fitterer. While Hurney suffered for that sin, he wouldn’t have gone through with it if he didn’t have the approval of team owner David Tepper.

Speaking of the boss, every report we’ve read about him in recent weeks speaks to his becoming obsessed with trading for Deshaun Watson, including Breer’s article.

While nobody would be in a position to complain if the Panthers really can pull off a deal for Watson, it’s more than just a little ironic that Tepper is the one who’s driving this train forward. Watson is a rare specimen who is only 25 years old and has demonstrated the ability to elevate a dysfunctional franchise that has no right to win football games at this level.

Tepper’s interest in Watson (and every other team’s) is well-founded. It’s also strange that he didn’t see those same qualities in the quarterback who was there when he bought the team – especially considering he’d already won a league MVP and led that team to the Super Bowl.

We will never know how Newton might have looked running this offense in 2020. We will always wonder.

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