Jets trade Bridgewater to Saints for 3rd-round pick

With the likelihood growing stronger that the New York Jets have settled on first-round draft pick Sam Darnold as their starting quarterback, the team traded quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to the New Orleans Saints for a draft pick on Wednesday, according to ESPN. Michael Silver of the NFL Network reported the Saints gave up a third-round pick in the 2019 draft for Bridgewater.

Bridgewater signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Jets in the offseason, and he looked terrific in practice and the preseason after coming all the way back from a devastating knee injury in 2016. But Darnold developed rapidly through the offseason and training camp, to the point where he is expected to enter the season as the starter after getting the lion’s share of first-team reps in practice and games.

Josh McCown returned on a oneyear, $10 million deal after starting most of last season, and he was the presumptive starter coming into training camp. But he has played only one series in the preseason as the Jets attempted to get a more definitive look at Darnold. While Darnold looked comfortable in the offense, Bridgewater played well enough to become an attractive quarterback for a team in need of a starter or a backup.

General manager Mike Maccagnan hinted last week that one QB could go and Bridgewater, who was only signed through this year, seemed like the likely choice.

“We can very easily keep three quarterbacks and, if something were to arise, we can go to two,” Maccagnan told WFAN’s Boomer & Gio. “In terms of saying, ‘hey, we’re going to keep two or keep three,’ there’s nothing to stop us from keeping three. There’s nothing to stop us from keeping two. We feel very good about that quarterback room.”