All the pieces are in place for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to follow up his impressive rookie year with a breakout season. The Vikings traded for speedy wide receiver Mike Wallace, who should benefit from Bridgewater's accuracy on downfield throws. Tight end Kyle Rudolph is finally healthy and motivated to justify the five-year, $36 million contract Minnesota gave him last year. Mike Zimmer's defense is expected to take another step forward thanks to the ascending Anthony Barr. But most importantly, running back Adrian Peterson returns to the team after missing all but one game last season and his impact on Bridgewater should be considerable.
Sure, Minnesota could still use some improvements along the offensive line. But overall, this is a good situation for a young quarterback to be in. As a result, ESPN Senior NFL Writer Eric Karabell believes Bridgewater could breakout this season.
"Bridgewater wasn't asked to do a whole lot as a rookie, but he has the arm strength and accuracy to throw short or long and defenses will certainly need to prepare for the future Hall of Famer he will be handing the football off to as well," Karabell wrote. "I can't really see Bridgewater approaching 30 touchdown passes, not like [Sam] Bradford could, but there is upside for 4,000 passing yards."
Over the final five weeks of the regular season, the Vikings averaged 24 points and 342.5 yards per game. In the month of December, Bridgewater ranked first in the NFL in average yards-per-attempt (9.18), second in completion percentage (72.3) and fourth in passer rating (99.8). As a team, the Vikings ranked 12th in net yards and seventh in net passing over the final month.
Some of that was due to Charles Johnson's emergence as a dependable receiving option down the stretch. If he can continue to develop and Bridgewater can get more out of former first-rounder Cordarrelle Patterson, Minnesota could sport one of the most dangerous offenses in the league.
This is all best case scenario, of course. But there's no doubt that Bridgewater is in a good position going forward.
