Bridgewater to join short list of starting QBs in Saints history

When Teddy Bridgewater starts at quarterback for the Saints Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, he will join a select group of quarterbacks to have started a game in the franchise’s 52-season history.

Bridgewater – acquired in a trade with the New York Jets in August – will become the 31st starting QB in franchise history, but only the seventh since 2000. In the last 19 seasons, Aaron Brooks and Drew Brees have started all but 16 regular-season games for New Orleans. The only other starters behind center since the turn of the century are Jeff Blake, Todd Bouman, Mark Brunell and Luke McCown.

Coincidentally, the only games Brees has not started since joining the Saints – including Sunday – have come against the Panthers.

The consistency of the starting quarterbacks since the turn of the century comes in sharp contrast to the final three years of the 1990s, when New Orleans trotted out six different starters under Mike Ditka.

Quarterbacks making their first start in a Saints uniform are 9-21. Archie Manning, in 1971, was the first quarterback to win his first start as a Saint. Brees is the most recent, in 2006.

The full list of starting quarterbacks in franchise history, with the number of career starts for the Saints, the year of their first start and the result of their first start.