Clayton: Bridgewater among NFL’s “new faces in new places”

Wednesday turned out to be a big day for the naming of starting quarterbacks.

The Denver Broncos announced Teddy Bridgewater beat out Drew Lock for the starting job. In Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence will be the starter. We are still awaiting word who will start in Washington, San Francisco, New England and New Orleans. Jameis Winston should end up with the Saints starting job. Andy Dalton will start in Chicago. In Indianapolis, the Colts are hoping Carson Wentz can come back off his broken foot for the opener, but if not they have to decide between Jacob Eason and Sam Ehlinger.

It’s been an amazing year for quarterback change. If you include Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, 14 teams could be starting new quarterbacks. This should make for an interesting start to the season with so many new faces in new places.

It was a great battle in Denver for the starting job. Lock looked improved. He looked good throwing the play-action pass. He is more talented than Bridgewater, but Bridgewater is the safer quarterback. He minimized mistakes. He’s efficient. He’s a good leader. Vic Fangio must have felt Bridgewater gives the Broncos the best chance to get off to a fast start, which is vital for Fangio and the Broncos.

The Broncos are 0-7 in September games over the past two years. This September, they open against the New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets, who had combined records of 9-39 last season. You still get the feeling Lock might get on the field at some point, but at least Fangio didn’t linger on the decision for the start of the season. He felt more comfortable with Bridgewater.

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