Saints head coach Sean Payton said Thursday that Bridgewater is locked in as the team's top backup quarterback and would be first in line to start if Drew Brees were unavailable at any point this season, Luke Johnson of The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
Given that second-year signal-caller Taysom Hill is unproven at the NFL level outside of preseason action, there was never much doubt that Bridgewater would capture the top backup role after the Saints acquired him from the Jets on Aug. 29. It's more noteworthy, however, that Payton indicated Bridgewater entered Week 1 as the team's top backup, with the coach praising the 25-year-old for how quickly he picked up the playbook. Though Bridgewater has apparently impressed the Saints' staff in practices and in the film room, it's difficult to envision him logging meaningful snaps this season with Brees being one of the NFL's more durable starters over the last several years.