Fantasy Upside
Teddy Bridgewater showed a lot of promise in the final weeks of his rookie season. In his last four games he averaged 273 yards and threw six touchdowns. Perhaps the most impressive stat was his accuracy as he completed 72 percent of his passes during that stretch. Bridgewater's progression should improve into his second season. As he gains more NFL experience, and works with the first team in training camp, he'll become a much better player.
Fantasy Downside
While there's reason for optimism in Bridgewater, it's important to remain realistic. His rookie season came with a lot of faults. He threw at least one interception in all but four of his 12 starts. He's also not in the most ideal offense for fantasy purposes. With Adrian Peterson returning, the focus for Minnesota's offense will be running the football. While this will take some pressure off of Bridgewater, it mainly means he won't have as many pass attempts if the Vikings can run the clock and manage games. Bridgewater is also lacking a strong supporting cast in the receiver department. Mike Wallace is a nice acquisition, and Charles Johnson shows promise, but overall it's nothing to write home about.
Bottom Line
Bridgewater is a promising young quarterback in real life, but he's relatively unknown when it comes to fantasy. His rookie year wasn't filled with a lot of great performances. We expect him to improve in his sophomore campaign, but he's far from being a QB1. If you're the type to stream quarterbacks, Bridgewater could turn into a good option. He shows promise, but he needs to prove it first.
