Teddy Bridgewater was once the quarterback who could do no wrong as the top quarterback prospect in the 2014 NFL Draft. It seems that ever since his pro day, however, he seemingly can't do anything right.
Bridgewater has seen his stock drop significantly over the past two months, sliding behind fellow quarterbacks Blake Bortles, Derek Carr and Johnny Manziel on several draft boards. While Bridgewater still has a chance of going in the first round when the draft rolls around in May, it's become clear that a number of teams are souring on him quite a bit.
NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock was in Louisville to watch Bridgewater's pro day and came away saying that the workout drew a few red flags for him and that he would need to go back to the film room to re-evaluate the signal-caller. Appearing on "The Petros and Money Show" on Friday, Mayock seemed to join the chorus of folks who now think that Bridgewater doesn't make the grade as a first-rounder anymore.
"I would say in general, tape is worth about 85 percent of an overall grade, and the rest of the process is set up for red flags, and to go back and watch more tape to try to confirm what you saw or didn't see," Mayock said. "I saw about four of his tapes prior to the combine, and I really liked him. I thought he had a chance to be a franchise quarterback from what I saw on the tape. ... Except you've got to see the quarterbacks throw the ball live. I've never seen a top-level quarterback in the last 10 years have a bad pro day, until Teddy Bridgewater. He had no accuracy, the ball came out funny, the arm strength wasn't there, and it made me question everything I saw on tape because this was live.
"I went back and watched a bunch more tape and compared him to the rest of the guys in the draft," he said. "And like it or not, I've come to a conclusion -- if I was a GM in the NFL, I would not take him in the first round of the draft."
In his latest position-by-position rankings, Mayock slots Bridgewater behind Manziel and Bortles as the third-best quarterback in the draft. Considering the analyst had him atop his list coming out of the NFL Scouting Combine, that's a rather signficant drop in just a few weeks. Only fellow NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah has remained firm and kept Bridgewater as his top quarterback.
Recent NFL.com mock drafts are also split on Bridgewater. Some have him going as high as eighth overall to the Minnesota Vikings while a number of others have him out of the first round. The good news for Bridgewater is that he needs only one team to fall in love with him during the draft.
Bridgewater threw for 3,970 yards last year with 31 touchdowns and four interceptions. While he is not the most mobile quarterback in this year's draft, he is praised for his ability to move in the pocket, his accuracy downfield and intangibles.
Despite seeing his stock take a severe drop over the past few weeks, the good news for Bridgewater is he continues to keep his head up and is thinking positively heading into May.
Follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter @BryanDFischer.
