The Facts: HC Matt Rhule said Wednesday during a video conference that it was the "best thing for our team" to move on from quarterback Cam Newton and move forward with Bridgewater. "I don't want to make it too much about Cam in a negative way, because I have so much respect for him and the player that he is and the player that he will definitely continue to be," Rhule said. "To me it was just, at the end of the day, you have to make decision about what are we going to do moving forward. We felt like this was the time to go in this direction and bring Teddy on. His relationship with (OC) Joe (Brady), knowing the offense, the things that he has done in this offense just made sense to us."

Diehards Line:Brady worked with Bridgewater during the 2018 season, when Bridgewater was in his first year as a backup for Drew Brees with the New Orleans Saints and Brady was an offensive assistant. The two kept in contact last year, when Brady moved on to become the passing coordinator at LSU, which won the national title with Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Bridgewater went 5-0 in 2019 while Brees recovered from an injury to his throwing hand. Getting Bridgewater at a time when the NFL is on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic made even more sense because of his relationship with Brady. "Cam Newton is a great quarterback and can play in any system," Rhule said. "In a year like this, especially where we are all kind of in our homes, Teddy is a guy who has been in this offense, knows this offense and had great familiarity with Joe. It just made sense to us. But it's not a comparison to me so much as it is sort of an opportunity for us and we took it." Hard to argue the point.