ESPN’s Darren Rovell wrote an interesting piece about a loss of value policy that Teddy Bridgewater purchased to cover him in case his draft status plummets. As we all know, according to the “experts”, Teddy’s draft status has done just that. Simple enough problem then, right? Wrong. Rovell’s headline grabbing article indicates that Teddy is in line to collect $5 million dollars if his stock falls. However, that is only half of the equation. It is an equation that hopefully Teddy will never solve.
As Rovell points out in his article, this policy is only collectable in case Bridgewater’s slide is due to injury or illness. Obviously, neither of these conditions appears to have been met. Nonetheless, Rovell details how the policy will pay for each draft position Bridgewater falls. With the news that the payout is “tax free” and all the details about the premium (estimated at roughly $20k), the article seemingly attempts to show this policy as some sort of “safety net” that Bridgewater is likely to use.
As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend.” Buried in the last paragraph of the article is this little nugget: “It is believed that no player who has bought loss-of-value insurance for the NFL draft has actually collected.” That’s right, not one, ever. With all of the conditions and terms found in insurance policies, and with the insurers natural tendency to DENY ALL CLAIMS, the only person who truly benefited from this policy was the agent who sold it. Now, if Teddy gets hit by a bus, or has some other calamity befall him, sure, he could stand to collect on his policy. However, like life insurance, there is a very undesirable condition precedent that must be met first.
Is this type of policy a good idea? I don’t know. Certainly, if Michael Bush would have had such a policy in place in 2006 he may have been able to collect. The interesting difference between Bush and Bridgewater is that Teddy’s coverage was reportedly purchased once his junior season was completed. It seems like an odd time to purchase a policy. What risk did Teddy have after the season? As for my opinion, just add this policy to the ever growing list of curious decisions made by Bridgewater’s handlers. It is easy to see why many are becoming more and more skeptical of Bridgewater’s agent. I hope Teddy was right about him, and wrong about the policy.
Keith Poynter
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