Drew Bledsoe Explains Why Today's College QBs Are More 'NFL Ready'
BOSTON (CBS) - With Johnny Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater visiting the Patriots on Wednesday, the talk of the town has centered on why head coach Bill Belichick invited both quarterbacks in for a workout.
Each NFL team is allowed 30 private workouts with draft prospects every year. The popular line of thinking is that teams would invite players that they are interested in drafting, but the Patriots don't always go with the popular line of thinking.
Former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe joined Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak on Thursday afternoon to provide some insight into the Patriots' reasoning on Manziel and Bridgewater.
"I think more than anything they probably just want to look these guys in the eye, to have them on campus, to see what they're all about," Bledsoe said. "We all see how well Tommy is playing, and I could see him playing for a lot more years, he's taking great care of himself and all of that. But at the same time, the organization always has to at least leave their options open down the road, if there's eventually that transition time. I know Belichick likes to have as much information as he possibly can."
Younger quarterbacks are taking the league by storm. The old line of thinking was you drafted a quarterback, developed him for a couple years and maybe down the road -- whether injury or otherwise -- the player gets his chance to play.
But quarterbacks nowadays are more "NFL ready," and Bledsoe sees video games like Madden as being a big tool in developing these young signal callers.
"You watch these football video games they're playing when they're little kids, they're pretty darn realistic man," Bledsoe said. "And these guys, all of the sudden, they're getting it from a really young age; they're kind of seeing some of those pictures. … Playing quarterback is a lot of repetition. You've got to see a lot of the same pictures over and over so you can make that decision without thinking about it."
With technology improving over the last few decades, film study has become easier for players in both the pros and at college.
"Film study is so much better and so much easier now. If we wanted to watch a breakdown of 3rd and 3 or 6, the video guy had to go put that all together and edit it and splice and it took him hours and hours and kept him up overnight," Bledsoe said. "Now it's a couple of mouse clicks or you scroll through on your iPad, on your phone and you can get those breakdowns. So I think these guys are able to study and learn a lot more in the film room now."
The Patriots Hall of Famer provided some great insight Thursday morning, and even shed some light on when Tom Brady succeeded him. Listen to the full interview below:
Drew Bledsoe Interview
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