Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater wasn’t happy with his rookie season. Coach Mike Zimmer will be happier if Teddy shows up with a few more pounds on his frame.
Via Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Zimmer thinks the biggest thing Bridgewater can do this offseason is get bigger.
"[H]e needs to add a little bit more strength, a little more weight on him,” Zimmer told Hartman. “He’s about 210 pounds, we’re trying to get him around 218, somewhere in that range. But he has to continue to develop with the receivers we have.”
Zimmer also hopes Bridgewater will devote time to preparing with his receivers.
“I know he’s spending some time with those guys,” Zimmer said. “I believe it’s this week he has a bunch of guys coming down to see him [in Miami]. That stuff I feel good about, the way he progressed throughout the season. We anticipate that he’ll continue to progress at that pace. He has to continue to make the right decisions and take the plays that are there for him. All of those things are going to lead to his development. The great thing about him is he wants to work and get better every day. I feel really good about him. He’s the quality of guy that we really want to have here.”
While Zimmer believes Bridgewater makes the players around him better, Zimmer also realizes the importance of putting better players around Bridgewater.
“Teddy makes a lot of people around him better,” Zimmer said. “The more weapons we can put around Teddy, the more explosive I think we’ll be offensively.”
That’s one of the main reasons the Vikings traded for receiver Mike Wallace.
“Mike is a guy I competed against for a number of years when he was in Pittsburgh, and he was a guy you always had to pay special attention to, a guy that can open up a lot of different areas,” Zimmer told Hartman. “If they’re not using two guys on him, then you have a chance to create some big, big plays in the passing game. He does a good job of running after the catch, does a good job on reverses, some of the screens he does, and getting in and out of breaks.”
The combination could be a potent one, regardless of whether Adrian Peterson, Matt Asiata, Jerick McKinnon, or Chuck Foreman is playing running back for the Vikings.