The Vikings were busy in the NFL draft once again, as “Trader” Rick Spielman swapped first round picks with Cleveland to select linebacker Anthony Barr (gaining an extra pick in the process), then traded two later round picks for Seattle’s number 32 (the last pick in the round) to select quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The Barr pick surprised me, as I thought middle linebacker would be a much higher priority, but you could make the case that Barr was the best athlete if not the best overall player available at that spot.

Linebacker Anthony Barr #11 of the UCLA Bruins sacks quarterback Jared Goff #16 of the California Golden Bears at the Rose Bowl on October 12, 2013 in Pasadena, California. Photo by Stephen Dunn, Getty Images.

Barr was one of the top linebacker prospects, despite only having played two years at that position. It’s expected that he’ll take Chad Greenway’s position on the strong side, while Greenway moves to one of the other linebacking spots.

Teddy Bridgewater of the Louisville Cardinals poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after he was picked #32 overall by the Minnesota Vikings during the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. Photo by Elsa, Getty Images.

For quite a long time in the run-up to the draft, Teddy Bridgewater was seen as not only the top quarterback prospect, but even as the top overall pick until he had a bad outing at his Pro Day, and then his stock began to drop. Each of the three top quarterbacks were linked to the Vikings in many mock drafts, but Bortles was off the board before the Vikings were on the clock, and Manziel was drafted (by Cleveland) in the second half of the round. I had thought the Vikings were more interested in Bridgewater, but many reported that the Vikings had attempted to get back into the first round to get Manziel, but that Cleveland’s extra first round pick meant they couldn’t top that offer without giving away too much. Personally, I doubt that as Manziel would have been the worst fit of the top three in Norv Turner’s offensive scheme — the skills Manziel offered were not the ones that Turner values the most in a quarterback.

One of the most impressive stats on Bridgewater is his performance against the blitz: a 70.1 percent completion rate averaging 11 yards per attempt, for 15 touchdowns and only 1 interception. That’s head-and-shoulders above the other “top two” quarterbacks. However, Rick Spielman said that there’s no expectation that he’ll start right away, and that he’ll be given time to develop behind Matt Cassel. The coaching staff will determine when he’s ready to step up.

Bridgewater is one of just four out of 102 early entrants to earn his degree. Got it in less than three years. That's impressive. #vikings

— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) May 9, 2014

Zimmer: we did the most in-depth study you could do. We talked about hand size, third down conversion, everything. I also loved the tape.

— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) May 9, 2014

Zimmer said the pro day taught Bridgewater something about staying true to himself. "He threw it all over the place" in workout.

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) May 9, 2014

"They were drooling when they came back," Zimmer on his coaches after private workout w/ Bridgewater http://t.co/60o0xFI9yf

— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) May 9, 2014

Update: Teddy Bridgewater gets the Arif Hasan stamp of approval (and I have huge respect for Arif’s football acumen and judgment — my opinion on Bridgewater was directly influenced by Arif’s pre-draft coverage).

Teddy Bridgewater is the best quarterback in the draft, and I’m not backing down from that. He has the best upside in the class, is the most refined quarterback and is elite both in terms of accuracy and field reads. […]

Those that argue that Teddy’s ceiling are limited are sometimes among the same group that celebrate him for being one of the only freshman in college football to completely run an offense, and a pro-style one to boot. Every piece of information we have on Teddy Bridgewater indicates he has high level cognition in a way that befits the quarterback position.

Which means his ceiling is closer to a passer like Peyton Manning than it is a different random unathletic quarterback. Sure, he doesn’t have Cam Newton’s body, but what great quarterbacks did?

I struggle to see how Bridgewater has “maxed out” as a passer. He could get better at every part of his game, and if he does that, he could be the best quarterback we’ve seen. Will he? Probably not. But it’s more likely than Clowney becoming Reggie White.

[…]

He was the only freshman in the country given full control to run any play, call any route or shift protections when he learned the Callahan West Coast in Louisville, and continued that mastery into his sophomore and junior years. Not only does he run a pro-style offense, he’s the only quarterback that runs a pro-style offense as if he was a pro quarterback.

Teddy adjusts throws to the situation and has some mechanical issues to resolve later in progressions, but generally has sound mechanics. Sometimes, when the play develops late, the weight transfer is not ideal but the ball zips out quickly anyway at intermediate distances at the near and far hashes. 90% of the time he’ll have proper mechanics both in the upper and lower half of his body and his release is quick and compact.

Bridgewater has some of the best pocket presence in the draft, and has a supernatural ability to sense pressure and respond to it. He hits his checkdowns appropriately, but rarely relies on them and can adjust his stature or pocket positioning as necessary. He responds to pressure in a variety of ways, sometimes rolling back, sometimes stepping up, sometimes sideslipping and sometimes escaping the pocket and much more often than not makes the correct decision while rarely turning his back to the defense.