{"id":55528,"date":"2018-12-28T15:55:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T20:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=55528"},"modified":"2018-12-28T15:56:13","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T20:56:13","slug":"fantasy-football-what-to-expect-from-teddy-bridgewater-with-drew-brees-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2018\/12\/28\/fantasy-football-what-to-expect-from-teddy-bridgewater-with-drew-brees-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Football: What to Expect From Teddy Bridgewater With Drew Brees Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drew Brees<\/a><\/strong> fantasy owners, it\u2019s time to panic. The New Orleans Saints<\/a> have already clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and have nothing to play for in Week 17. Because of this, head coach Sean Payton<\/a><\/strong> has opted to rest his 38-year old superstar quarterback. In his place, 26-year old quarterback Teddy Bridgewater<\/a><\/strong> will make his first career start<\/a> since 2015. Bridgewater, a former first-round pick, is one of the better backups in the league. Is he capable of being a streamer candidate, or should fantasy football owners look somewhere else for quarterback help?<\/p>\n

Fantasy Football: Setting Expectations for Teddy Bridgewater Without Drew Brees<\/h1>\n

Even when Bridgewater was the future of the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> franchise, he was never a great fantasy option. Playing in 29 games, Bridgewater completed 64.9% of his passes for 6,150 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions over his first two seasons. In his lone season starting all 16 games (2015), Bridgewater finished as the QB23 in standard scoring, per Pro Football Reference.<\/p>\n

Since then, Bridgewater suffered a serious knee injury which reportedly almost cost him his career. After rehabbing for all of 2016 and the majority of 2017, the former first-round pick returned as Minnesota\u2019s third-string quarterback. The Vikings opted not to pick up his fifth-year option, allowing Bridgewater to hit free agency with just one pass attempt all season long.<\/p>\n

While this may not paint the prettiest picture for Bridgewater, there is hope he could improve. Bridgewater signed with the Jets in 2018 and put together a fantastic preseason. Playing in three preseason games, Bridgewater completed 73.7% of his passes for 316 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Preseason football is obviously a lot different from regular season action, but Bridgewater looked to be fully healthy and comfortable on the football field. The Saints liked what they saw enough to send over a third-round pick for Bridgewater\u2019s services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saints head coach Sean Payton <\/strong>is one of the most brilliant offensive minds in the league, so playing for him should help Bridgewater\u2019s final production. However, there\u2019s a lot of unknowns here, so let\u2019s take a deeper dive into the matchup and the situational scenarios which could affect Sunday\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n

Bridgewater\u2019s Matchup<\/h2>\n

Bridgewater faces off against a Carolina Panthers<\/a> defense which just hasn\u2019t looked right all season long. Carolina enters Week 17 averaging the 10th<\/sup>-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. This shows that this defense can be exploited by a guy like Bridgewater.<\/p>\n

The biggest question in this game is what the Saints will do on offense. Drew Brees isn\u2019t going to play, and chances are star players<\/a> like Michael Thomas<\/a><\/strong> and Alvin Kamara<\/a><\/strong> will also sit that one out. Obviously, losing superstar talent is going to negatively impact Bridgewater\u2019s final line. Also, since this game means nothing to the Saints, they\u2019ll just try to get out of the Week 17 as quick as possible in order to minimize injury risk.<\/p>\n

That said, the Saints will probably want to see what Bridgewater can do with the ball. Bridgewater is in the final year of his contract, and the Saints gave up a third-round pick for his services. Drew Brees is still fantastic but is also getting old. Bridgewater was acquired to be the heir to the throne, and New Orleans will need to make a big decision on Bridgewater sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

The Saints need to know what they have in Bridgewater, and you can only learn so much from practices. Head coach Sean Payton will give Bridgewater a full set of plays to run, and it\u2019ll be up to Bridgewater to execute them. Facing off against a subpar defense, he should find success whenever he throws the ball.<\/p>\n

Last Word on Teddy Bridgewater Starting For Drew Brees<\/h2>\n

If Drew Brees brought you to a championship, you might want to look to his backup to bring you the rest of the way. He\u2019s not nearly the player Brees is, but he\u2019s an interesting streaming candidate. Bridgewater has a history of starting, looked good in the preseason, and has one of the best offensive minds in the league as his head coach. Payton and the Saints will want to see what they have in Bridgewater, so they\u2019ll probably let him come out of the gate with a full playbook.<\/p>\n

That said, Bridgewater was never the best quarterback from a fantasy perspective. He hasn\u2019t started a game since 2015, and there\u2019s no replacement for regular season action. Even when he was playing, he finished 2015 as the QB23. On top of that, there\u2019s a very real possibility that the Saints go into a heavy clock-kill mode if Payton sees everything he needs to see out of Bridgewater.<\/p>\n

All this adds up to making Bridgewater a low-level streaming candidate. In deeper leagues, he can fill in and get the job done. He\u2019s probably not a better play than a guy like Sam Darnold<\/a><\/strong>, but Bridgewater can give you some production in a deeper two-quarterback league.<\/p>\n

Main photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>