MINNEAPOLIS -- As Florida State quarterback (and possible No. 1 overall pick) James Winston prepares for his pro day on Tuesday, it's somewhat amusing now to think back to Teddy Bridgewater's day in front of scouts a year ago, and how much the Minnesota Vikings quarterback's draft stock was seemingly sent spiraling off course because of his accuracy issues that day.
The hand-wringing over Bridgewater's pro day might have helped the Vikings in the end, since the team was able to trade back into the first round and still find Bridgewater on the board at No. 32. The Vikings had their own concerns, but most of those were assuaged in a private workout Bridgewater did with offensive coordinator Norv Turner. And now, the Vikings' willingness to see past the pro day appears to have paid off.
"[The pro day] really didn't matter," coach Mike Zimmer said last week at the NFL owners meetings. "And that's the thing about scouting -- you think you've got the right guy and all this stuff, and you never really know. We didn't really know about Teddy or anybody else in the draft. I shouldn't say that like that, but you know what I mean; there's so many hits and misses in different areas. I just like the player. He might miss three throws a practice. His accuracy -- in games, but especially in practices -- is like, 'Oh my goodness.'"
Bridgewater connected on 68.3 percent of his passes after the Vikings' bye week, playing in five cold-weather games in that time and setting aside one of the big questions about him coming out of college. Bridgewater's 9 1/4-inch hands were scrutinized at length before the draft, but he appeared able to place the ball in cold weather. And after this season, when the Vikings move back indoors, Zimmer believes Bridgewater will be even deadlier.
"I'm excited to get him into the [new indoor stadium] -- we'll have eight games [there] and [one in] Detroit [every year]," Zimmer said. "I was curious about him at the end of the year, playing in some of these cold-weather games. ... Luckily, I had Norv to help with some of this stuff, because he was on Teddy's bandwagon for quite a while."
Zimmer's excitement about Bridgewater playing indoors would appear to be well-founded. According to ESPN Stats and Information, quarterbacks have completed 64.1 percent of their passes indoors since 2007, averaging 7.37 yards per attempt and a 60.0 QBR. All three of those metrics are up from the numbers quarterbacks have posted outdoors (a 61.6 completion percentage, 7.18 yards-per-attempt average and 56.6 QBR).
As well as Bridgewater played outside late last season, the Vikings always knew cold-weather questions about Bridgewater were going to be mitigated fairly quickly. Yes, the team will likely have a late-season trip to Green Bay or Chicago from time to time, but it won't happen every year; the Vikings have only played two games at Lambeau Field after Dec. 1 since 2006, and they've been to Soldier Field in December just once during that same stretch. As accurate as Bridgewater was late last season, and as much as he'll be playing indoors after this year, the cold-weather questions probably were overblown last year. Then again, during the pre-draft process with Bridgewater, plenty of things were.
"For him, at the end of the year, to come in and play with kind of a makeshift crew, if you will, and do the things that he did, I think everybody in the organization was impressed with him," Zimmer said.