Saints: Teddy Bridgewater credits Drew Brees for his sustained success

Teddy Bridgewater spent two seasons as the New Orleans Saints’ backup quarterback before moving onto Carolina (and now with Denver). Bridgewater backed up Brees during his two years in the Big Easy and recently told Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden of the All Things Covered podcast just how much of an impact Brees had on his career.

Jaylon Thompson of 247 Sports provided several quotes from Bridgewater during the podcast,

"“My two years there taught me the real meaning of valuing your process and honing in on your process,” Bridgewater said on the podcast. “I tell everybody, I watched Drew Brees be the same guy for two years straight. I am talking about eating breakfast at a certain time … This guy was so routine that it meant a lot to me because I was still a young guy.”"

Bridgewater, a former first-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, played for the Vikings for the first four years of his career and suffered a major leg injury in the summer of 2016 that saw him fighting for his life. After recovering from that injury, Bridgewater returned to football in 2017 for one more season with Minnesota before signing with the Jets in 2018 where he was traded to New Orleans shortly after.

Bridgewater didn’t do much during his first year in the Big Easy but was a hot commodity on the free-agent market the following season but he opted to re-sign with the Saints to be Brees’ backup again rather than sign elsewhere as a likely starter. The decision panned out, as Bridgewater ended up starting five games for New Orleans while Brees was nursing a finger injury.

Former Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater learned a lot from Drew Brees.

Bridgewater was 25 years old when he was traded to the Saints and had a whirlwind of a career at that point. He credits Brees for showing him the ropes at the sport’s most important position and says it gave him a different perspective.

"“Just watching those guys operate gave me a different insight and a different view,” Bridgewater said. “I was able to take bits and pieces of what Drew did and apply it to my career. It was been working for me.”"

Bridgewater signed with Carolina last year and went 4-11 as a starter while throwing for 3,733 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions while rushing for 279 yards and five touchdowns. The Panthers clearly weren’t impressed with Bridgewater and opted to trade him to the Broncos after they acquired Sam Darnold from the Jets. Bridgewater will now look to battle it out with Drew Lock for the starting job in Denver.

Bridgewater was the best possible backup to have behind Brees in those 2018 and 2019 seasons. He led a Saints team that could have floundered without their leader to a 5-0 record during Brees’ absence and Bridgewater wouldn’t have been able to do that without learning from Brees himself.

Saints fans will always have a special place in their hearts for Bridgewater no matter where he plays. He was a class act for this organization and hopefully, he can succeed in Denver this year.