Norv Turner: Teddy Bridgewater has tools to be 'top-flight quarterback'

MANKATO, Minn. -- Heading into his second season in the NFL, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater might not have shown enough to grace the top of anyone's preseason quarterback rankings yet. Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner doesn't particularly care.

Turner, who counts Troy Aikman, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers among his pupils, said he believes Bridgewater has the tools to be a "top-flight quarterback." The Vikings drafted Bridgewater with the 32nd overall pick last year, and the 22-year-old finished the 2014 season with the third-highest completion percentage by a rookie in NFL history.

"There is only four or five guys I would trust in evaluating quarterbacks because I don't think there are many guys that understand what you're trying to do at the position and understand the evaluation process," Turner said. "That really makes those evaluations less meaningful. The one evaluation we care about is ours, and I think based on where we got to last year and where we think we're going, I think we have a topflight quarterback."

ESPN's Ron Jaworski ranked Bridgewater the 27th-best starter in the league earlier this month, and ESPN NFL Insider Mike Sando surveyed 35 league personnel who had Bridgewater tied for 23rd. That survey labeled Bridgewater a Tier 3 quarterback who would need a strong supporting cast around him to win, and it put Bridgewater three spots behind fellow second-year quarterback Derek Carr.

"He's got great vision, he understands what we're trying to do, he's very disciplined and I think guys lose sight of that," Turner said. "You talked about quarterback rankings -- I think some of these guys go out and evaluate quarterbacks, if a guy can't throw a ball through the wall, his value goes down. Well, we don't like guys who throw it through a wall. We like guys who have a good feel for playing, and Teddy certainly does have a great feel for playing the game."