Teddy Bridgewater is pretty much exactly what you want in an ideal backup quarterback in today's NFL. He's got plenty of starting experience, he's a great leader, he makes smart decisions with the football when his number is called, and he adds tremendous value to a quarterback room with his understanding of the game.
He's probably proven himself to be way too good for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to cut after the 2025 preseason, regardless of Kyle Trask's previous draft status.
Bridgewater only completed six passes in the Buccaneers' preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but two of those passes went for touchdowns.
Teddy Bridgewater proves he's the top backup for Buccaneers
Bridgewater completed a beautiful third-down throw in the 1st quarter against the Steelers before hitting Bucky Irving on an absolute dime for a touchdown on 2nd-and-13. On the very next possession, he made a great throw on fourth down to Sterling Shepard. On 3rd-and-3 inside the red zone, Bridgewater then hit Emeka Egbuka for a 5-yard touchdown on a perfect touch throw to the back corner of the end zone.
On just six completions, you can see exactly why any decision by the front office and coaching staff on Bridgewater should be blatantly obvious. If there was any doubt about his immediate future with the team, those doubts should be erased with what he showed in the second week of the preseason.
Bridgewater is exactly the type of quarterback a team like the Buccaneers needs behind Baker Mayfield. Two seasons ago, 67 different quarterbacks started games for NFL teams. History would tell you that having a high-quality backup could be the difference between whether or not you can actually weather the storm of an 18-week season.
And of course, the player whose status is completely up in the air based on whether the Bucs decide to keep the veteran Bridgewater is former 2nd-round pick Kyle Trask, whose preseason performance against the Steelers left plenty to be desired. On 10 passing attempts, he completed just three passes for 19 yards.
Even with changing offensive schemes, you would expect a former 2nd-round pick like Trask to be much more efficient at operating an NFL offense against backups and practice squad hopefuls in preseason action. He has completed just 57.7 percent of his throws in two preseason games so far and hasn't proven himself to be capable of actually being a viable backup option to Baker Mayfield.