New York Jets: Teddy Bridgewater trade a win for both sides
No matter how you want to slice it, when the New York Jets traded Teddy Bridgewater to the New Orleans Saints, a lot of people won.
The New York Jets traded Teddy Bridgewater and their 2019 sixth-round draft pick to the New Orleans Saints for the Saints’ third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. This is one of those rare trades where everyone involved wins.
From a Saints perspective, they win because now they have their version of Nick Foles. The Saints are a playoff team, and Bridgewater is a viable NFL backup, just in case Drew Brees gets hurt. He also can give them an heir apparent to Brees for when he retires.
For the Jets, it’s a win from the top down. We already had a feeling Sam Darnold was going to start Week 1 in Detroit, and this all but cements that. From his perspective, this is great, because as the stats bear it out, quarterbacks drafted in the top three of the NFL Draft have done better overall when they start Week 1 as rookies as opposed to not.
From the standpoint of Todd Bowles, it makes his decision easy for Detroit, and moving forward in 2018. If Bridgewater were still there, it might cause an unnecessary distraction at the slightest hiccup from Darnold.
As for general manager Mike Maccagnan’s standpoint, it’s certainly another notch in his belt. Last season he parlayed Sheldon Richardson into Jermaine Kearse and Darnold. This year, he turned $1 million into a third-round pick, which might garner him another player or at least a young player from the top-96 of the NFL Draft.
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From Bridgewater’s perspective, he gets to sit behind Brees and not have to worry about being a distraction to the locker room. Everyone will know the pecking order there.
In the end, everyone involved (whether directly or indirectly) in this trade wins. Now it’s time for the Jets to consider all their options, and Maccagnan can work his magic yet again.