New York Jets: The real reason Gang Green can’t trade Teddy Bridgewater yet
Most people believe the New York Jets will trade quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at some point during the preseason, and they must wait for a reason, the red jersey.
Just before the 2018 NFL Draft, the New York Jets traded their 2019 second round pick as a part of a deal that landed them former USC quarterback Sam Darnold.
With Darnold doing well in training camp and Bridgewater’s knee seemingly holding up through the rigors of practice, people are assessing that a Bridgewater trade could be later in the preseason if a quarterback goes down. However, there’s a deeper reason for the Jets waiting, the red jersey.
In training camp players who are returning from injury who they want to progress slower and quarterbacks wear a read jersey.
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The jersey indicates they are not to be hit. So, even if Bridgewater’s knee is holding up in practice, even teams that think they need a quarterback wouldn’t risk trading a valuable draft pick for him, because he hasn’t been hit yet.
Teams are going to wait to see him play in preseason games and actually take contact. So, even if the Jets wanted to put him on the trading block now, they probably wouldn’t get any offers.
While Bridgewater’s injury happened in practice and without contact, teams will still want to see him take hits. This is for two reasons: the first is the knee, and the second is that after two years off, they want to see if his body can take an NFL pounding.
Bridgewater has always been small and he has a relatively skinny frame. That combined with nearly two years off make teams reasonably leery.
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In the end, if the Jets intent is to trade Bridgewater, his knee will have to hold up in the preseason games, not just practice. If it does, they might just be able to recoup that second round pick they traded away.