Conceding that No. 3 overall pick Blake Bortles has "some development to do," the Jacksonville Jaguars plan to ease their rookie quarterback in behind Chad Henne this season.
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The Minnesota Vikings won't place the same limitations on their own first-round quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater.
"Teddy will play when we feel like he's ready, if he's the best guy, which we hope that he will be," coach Mike Zimmer said, via The Star Tribune. "We always want to have competition."
The Vikings re-signed Matt Cassel to function as a "bridge" quarterback, but that's hardly an inspiring proposition for the fan base.
In Nicholas Dawidoff's "Collision Low Crossers," former Broncos defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale is quoted as saying Cassel "couldn't hit Black Beauty in a field of white mice."
It's realistic to believe Bridgewater will enter Week 1 as the starter. He was the most advanced of this year's quarterback prospects in terms of reading defenses, beating blitzes and keeping his poise in the pocket.
Since Cassel is also learning Norv Turner's offense, he won't have a significant head start on Bridgewater.
All four 2012 first-round quarterbacks opened the season as the starter. As did the only two quarterbacks selected in the first two rounds of last year's draft.
Jacksonville's approach with Bortles is the conventional NFL exception, not the rule.
*The "Around The League Podcast" wrapped up the draft by picking our winners and losers. *
