Saints 2019: Offseason priorities, the case for Teddy Bridgewater
By Tony Twillie
There are plenty of priorities for the Saints in the lead-up to the 2019 Season. The need for a backup quarterback and the case of Teddy Bridgewater is huge.
One of the major question marks for the Saints in the 2019 offseason will be addressing the quarterback position. Drew Brees has already committed to coming back and will be in the last year of his contract. Taysom Hill is also a QB on the squad, to go along with his numerous other talents. At this moment, he’s not projected as Brees’ backup. And if he were, he’s no longer available in all the other capacities. Horror would be if Hill goes down on a kickoff return, then Brees gets hurt as well. For Hill to be the backup, he’s no longer going to be the “Mormon Missile”, as Alvin Kamara calls him.
To that end, it’s logical that Hill remains a third choice for a QB simply because of his value in the rest of the game. Plus, you’re not looking to need him anyway. Brees doesn’t really look to have lost much if anything at age 40. Obviously we still win games with him. We won 13 of 16 this season.
The next issue is that of Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater was signed during training camp the day before our final preseason game. Bridgewater is seen as a potential starter in the NFL. He was a starter in Minnesota in 2015 but a severe injury suffered in training camp in 2016 sidelined him for over a year.
He’s made a solid recovery and is thought to be a starter-in-waiting, but the opportunities for him have slipped. In 2017, he played in the final game of their season, making something of a symbolic appearance.
The Vikings declined to pick up his fifth year option and he signed with the Jets in March of 2018 as a free agent. The Jets subsequently drafted Sam Darnold, and with veteran Josh McCown also on the roster, Bridgewater was just extra.
The Saints signed him to be a solid backup to Brees as we didn’t really know what we were getting with Hill at that point. As well, we had Tom Savage as a backup and we did know what we were getting there. Bridgewater was a superior backup.
That leads us to where we are today. Bridgewater will be a free agent on March 3rd. The Saints must decide whether to re-sign him or not. But there are a lot of issues that go into this.