Teddy Bridgewater is a lot like Willie Beamen, says NFL coach

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I mean, aside from the fact they aren't alike on the field or off the field and one of them isn't a real person.

Drawing comparisons between NFL Draft hopefuls and current NFL players is often an effective way to get a point across. Being able to point at a current NFL player and use his tendencies, ceiling or athleticism as a point of comparison is a good starting point.

But who says that player actually has to, you know, exist in real life?

One NFL coach, from the AFC North, compared quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to fellow signal caller Willie Beamen, according to Matt Miller of NFL Draft Scout. Miller then followed it up with this Tweet:

Said coach RE: Bridgewater, "He's a dynamic playmaker, but is he the guy you want running your offense? They're very similar."

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) April 14, 2014

If you're unaware, that coach is comparing the Louisville product to a fictional character. Beamen is best known as the cocky, overconfident quarterback in charge of the Miami Sharks in the film Any Given Sunday. Beamen, a third-string quarterback at the start of the movie, gets by on raw athletic talent but can throw the ball rather well. Also, he loves him some Beaman. He's his own biggest fan.

It's, uh, a little unclear where the comparisons are, to be truthful. They both (again, provided that Beamen is actually real) are humanoid quarterbacks who throw footballs. But Bridgewater doesn't run the ball nearly as often as Beamen, and I'm not sure if he's ever even met Al Pacino. Oh, by the way, Al Pacino is in the movie and he mentors Beamen and stuff. It's pretty cool.

But Bridgewater doesn't appear to ooze overconfidence, and his teammates (and everyone around him) don't appear to hate him or anything like that. Actually, what this sounds like to me is pretty simple: we spend way, way too much time on this kind of thing. There's too much time between the start of free agency and the NFL Draft, and when that kind of time disparity exists this kind of thing happens. And now they've pushed the draft back to May!