New Orleans Saints: 3 Reasons trade was best for Teddy Bridgewater

3. Darnold ruined chances of Bridgewater starting for long run

For years leading up to this season, the Jets were one of those teams in desperate need of finding a quarterback to build the franchise around after many seasons of just going with veterans as the short-term answer. When Bridgewater decided to sign with New York in the offseason, one of the main reasons why he was so interested was due to his chances of winning the starting role over Josh McCown or any other rookie quarterback the team may have selected in April, which ended up being Darnold.

Once the Jets agreed to a trade to move up in the first round of April’s draft, it became pretty clear that a future quarterback to possibly build the franchise around was going to come into play, and it did. No matter how much Bridgewater wanted to be the long-term answer in New York, the selection of Darnold in the draft made it pretty clear that even if he earned the starting role for the 2018 season, it would only be for the time being.

As great as it would have been for Bridgewater to be a mentor for Darnold over the next couple of years, the former Minnesota Vikings quarterback is at a stage in his career where he would prefer to start if given the opportunity. With Darnold now part of the Jets, that’s never going to happen, no matter how much of a case he made.