SPORTS

Adam Himmelsbach: Judgment Day finally comes for Teddy

Adam Himmelsbach
ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com

NEW YORK – Teddy Bridgewater dropped back to pass on the artificial turf field here in lower Manhattan, and his ball came out wobbly. Then his receiver dropped it. Then another pass fell to the ground. And then another.

Was this evidence that some of the criticism surrounding the former Louisville quarterback was valid? Was this another difficult day that would send him further down draft boards?

No, this was a youth football clinic, with little footballs and little kids and little worry. For Bridgewater, it was a perfect chance to step away from the chaos of the NFL draft, if only for an hour.

"You try not to pay attention to what's been said," he said. "But at the end of the day, I'm human."

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Over the past few months Bridgewater has been scrutinized and judged and inspected, and few positives have come out of it.

He didn't participate in the NFL combine, it was determined his hands were too small and his legs were too thin, and then he struggled through his pro day. And now there is a possibility that the player once projected as the draft's No. 1 overall pick will slide out of Thursday night's first round altogether.

Teddy acknowledged that his pro day was not his best day. He also acknowledged that he had looked at some of the mock drafts, flawed as they may be.

Someone asked Teddy if it hurt to hear and read unflattering evaluations, or if they made him angry.

"It's more anger," he said, narrowing his eyes a bit, "just wanting to, you know…"

Then Teddy stopped himself. It was as if he had realized he's supposed to be crafting his image.

"You know, I wouldn't even say anger," he said. "I really don't get angry."

But his first sentence made it clear that he was angry. And he should understand that there's nothing wrong with being angry, that maybe some teams would even like to see a fiery Teddy.

Chris Simms, a former NFL quarterback who is now a lead analyst for Bleacher Report (and the son of NFL great Phil Simms, a Louisville native), said the premise that Bridgewater's stock has plummeted is faulty, because it was never as high as some people believed.

"Through my friends in the NFL and the personnel people alike, I don't know anybody that has a first-round grade on Teddy Bridgewater," Simms said, "and I know even a few that have less than a second-round grade on him."

And if you view it through that prism, that he is simply one of the top 50 or so NFL prospects in his class, it would seem there is less to get worked up about. If you remove the idea that he has had a steep fall, you have a college quarterback who is about to realize his dream of playing in the NFL, most likely as a late-first or early-second round pick, and that's nothing to scoff at.

"My mom tells me that blessings are delayed, but never denied," Bridgewater said. "That's my mindset right now. At the end of the day, I'm gonna have a chance to go out and prove myself, whether it's in the first round or the seventh round."

Teddy said that after his difficult pro day, he had private workouts with the Vikings, Browns and Jaguars. He said they went well, but he has no idea where he will be picked. He still plans to sit in Radio City Music Hall during the first round, unafraid of the spotlight that follows a fall.

Away from the media blitz on Wednesday, Teddy's mother, Rose Murphy, was playing a few carnival-like games that had been set up next to the field. At one station, visitors could design their own penalty flag and then throw it through holes that designated certain penalties.

Murphy picked a pink flag and wrote on it with a black marker: "Congrats, Teddy! I love you."

Then she threw the flag and it landed in the hole for a roughing-the-passer penalty. Murphy excitedly explained to the people running the game that she had picked the perfect penalty, because her son is a passer, a quarterback. They sort of shrugged, unaware that her son was Teddy Bridgewater.

I asked Murphy, on the eve of the biggest day in her son's life, how he could prove doubters wrong and thrive in the NFL.

"He doesn't have to prove anything," she said. "He just needs to be who he is. Be Teddy, and have fun while you're doing it."

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at 502-582-4372 by email ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com and on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach