Teddy Bridgewater trade to Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes sense
The New York Jets took a shot on Teddy Bridgewater in 2018 free agency, but a trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes some sense…
The New York Jets signed Teddy Bridgewater to a one-year, $6 million contract with just $1 million in guaranteed money.
The contract is incentive-laden due to Bridgewater spending the majority of the past two years recovering from a nasty knee injury while he was with the Minnesota Vikings.
After signing Bridgewater and re-signing Josh McCown in free agency (one year, $10 million), the Jets traded up in the 2018 NFL Draft to select quarterback Sam Darnold out of USC.
Reports out of Jets camp indicate that Darnold is looking like a potential opening-day starter, meaning Bridgewater’s presence on the roster is superfluous.
The contract Bridgewater signed is working in the Jets’ favor, as any team with a quarterback need at this point in the offseason would probably gladly take a risk on him for a mid-round pick.
One such team could be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as speculated by Michael Lombardi, a longtime NFL executive…
If I'm the Bucs, I call the Jets and see if I can trade for Teddy Bridgewater and put real competition behind Winston. Winston is more hype than producer.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) July 3, 2018
This type of a trade may be unlikely to happen and the Bucs will more likely just ride things out while Jameis Winston is suspended with Ryan Fitzpatrick, and take their chances with whatever happens there.
But this trade makes a ton of sense for both sides on paper and would potentially give Bridgewater the best chance to prove himself on the field in regular season play.
The bigger issue here is the long-term situation with Jameis Winston. His recent sexual assault case resulted in a three-game suspension from the NFL after he negotiated it down, but it is far from the first issue Winston has had dating back to his days at Florida State.
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Though Winston understands the game of football really well and is very good when focused on it, he has been a distraction off the field for both the Florida State program and now the Buccaneers.
Bridgewater could audition for a potential long-term role with the team if this trade were to ever go down.
The closer we get to training camp, the more likely we are to see teams make moves in general, so perhaps this one just needs some time.