Whether they waited him out, or buckled to at least get closer to his asking price, Teddy Bridgewater is now a Detroit Lion. And as head coach Dan Campbell promised, Bridgewater's first practice with the team came on Monday.
Barring something unforeseen, Bridgewater is the Lions No. 2 quarterback this season. What will not be happening is Nate Sudfeld outright beating him out for the job, with or without accounting for Sudfeld's lackluster performance in the preseason opener. But Campbell is maintaining the facade of competition, as he stated undrafted rookie Adrian Martinez will lose practice reps to Bridgewater.
The NFL's new rule stating teams can dress a third quarterback for games and not have him count against the active roster opens up the idea the Lions could keep Sudfeld as that third signal caller on the 53-man roster.
Teddy Bridgewater is not creating a quarterback dilemma for the Lions
In correlation with his first practice, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press dove into the quarterback dilemma Bridgewater has created for the Lions.
Except, there is really no dilemma. Campbell did say they needed to see if Bridgewater's "still got it". But getting back into practice, and playing in the second preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, should go a long way to knock the rust off.
Not to jinx him, but unless he's injured Bridgewater is going to be Jared Goff's backup going into the season. Sudfeld, with his drop-off in performance, starting with the Lions merely having Bridgewater in for a visit last month, has shown he's not equipped to win the job in a "competition."
And in terms of the Lions keeping a third quarterback on the 53-man roster as an emergency option, if they go that direction, it (obviously?) does not have to be Sudfeld. Yes, available options now or closer to final roster cuts won't have his familiarity with the offense. But that's not a good enough reason to blindly keep him as the No. 3 quarterback if they do that, after he officially loses the competition with Bridgewater.
So the "quarterback dilemma" the Lions apparently have now that Bridgewater has arrived does not exist, unless something goes awry.