Jets To Sign Teddy Bridgewater To One-Year Deal

The Jets will sign free agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to a one-year deal, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Bridgewater will earn approximately $5MM on his new pact, tweets Dianna Russini of ESPN.com, while the pact also contains incentives, per Ralph Vacchiano of SNY (Twitter link).

Earlier today, reports indicated that Bridgewater was working on a contract with the Jets, but he apparently had other options on the table. Since then, we’ve learned Gang Green has promised its starting job to fellow quarterback Josh McCown, so Bridgewater will presumably join New York as a backup. McCown, however, isn’t exactly a picture of health, so it won’t be surprising if Bridgewater sees significant playing time.

Bridgewater, of course, comes with significant health question marks of his own. The former first-round pick infamously suffered a gruesome knee injury prior to the 2016 campaign, and while he’s remarkably worked his way back into form, Bridgewater has attempted just two passes since 2015.

The Jets’ quarterback situation is extremely fluid, as they could still use the sixth overall pick on a young signal-caller. If they do, it’s possible Bridgewater is relegated to third-string duty. But if New York goes another direction in the first round, Bridgewater could see playing time as the season progresses, possibly setting himself up for a payday in 2019.

During his two years as the Vikings’ starting quarterback, Bridgewater was competent but not a world-beater. In 28 starts, Bridgewater completed 65% of his passes and averaged 3,075 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. While those are respectable numbers, they’re probably not enough for a club to not pursue an upgrade.

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