Before Matt Rhule had success in college, he had a stint with the New York Giants in the NFL. That allowed him to spend some time around Eli Manning. Rhule, the new head coach of the Carolina Panthers, revealed how Teddy Bridgewater reminds him of Manning.

While fielding questions during a Zoom conference call, Rhule dove into what has impressed him about Bridgewater already:

“They have meetings where he’ll run the meeting and he’ll run the protection meeting, and the level of — not even detail — but understanding and reasoning behind it is so high,” said Rhule, a former Giants offensive line coach.

During his time with the Giants, Rhule was dumbfounded by Manning's understanding of the game. And even though he's been with the team for just a few months, Rhule is noticing the same from Bridgewater:

“When I was with Eli Manning, I used to sit there and listen to everything he would say because he was so intelligent. … And to hear Teddy it reminded me of that. It punches you in the face with, ‘Wow, that’s really, really intelligent.’ You can see how all of a sudden people just stop and listen to him.”

Seeing that the Panthers gave Bridgewater a three-year, $63 million deal, they think highly of him. Despite the slew of changes Carolina underwent this offseason, there are lofty expectations for Bridgewater.

Bridgewater, a former first-round pick, has started in just six games over the past two seasons. Nevertheless, the efficient signal-caller is turning heads with his football intelligence on and off of the field.

So much so, that he is drawing comparisons to the youngest Manning brother.