Teddy Bridgewater thinks his Cleveland comments were misinterpreted.
Teddy Bridgewater thinks his Cleveland comments were misinterpreted. (USATSI)

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The Vikings ultimately selected Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, but it looked like a decent possibility Bridgewater could end up in Cleveland for a while.

Shortly after the draft, Bridgewater drew the ire of Browns fans when he called Cleveland "not the place where I wanted to be." Bridgewater backed off those comments to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer recently, saying his comments were "misinterpreted."

"I think it was misinterpreted," Bridgewater said. "What I was saying was I had a strong feeling about the Minnesota Vikings. I was able to meet with them five or six times in the pre-draft visits. I just had a pretty solid feeling about the Minnesota Vikings, but, you know, I try to put the pre-draft stuff behind and try to just focus on my career with the Minnesota Vikings."

The perceived rip on Cleveland was surprising primarily because of Bridgewater's low-key nature. For him to randomly bash Cleveland, well, it felt weird.

And the Browns, Bridgewater said, didn't know of his feelings towards the city or (more accurately?) his preference for Minnesota.

"I don't think [they knew]," he said. "It's in the past, now. We're out here at the Play 60 for the kids and trying to have a good time and teaching the kids the fundamentals of football, so I'm focused on that."

That's the thing: if you're Bridgewater, you probably feel a little bad for how you phrased a discussion of Cleveland. But you're not playing there and you don't get the Browns on the schedule in 2014.

The only people to worry about impressing? Norv Turner and the coaching staff. Bridgewater's doing just fine with that, regardless of how he feels about Cleveland.