If a “handful” of teams envision quarterback Teddy Bridgewater as a starter, an important caveat possibly applies. Assuming that, after free agency opens, a team without a No. 1 quarterback signs Bridgewater to a contract with terms that necessarily put him at the top of the depth chart, it’s possible that he’ll be supplanted by a first-round rookie once the draft arrives.
That would make him this year’s Mike Glennon, the presumptive starter in Chicago at $15 million a year, until the Bears moved from No. 3 to No. 2 in the draft and selected Mitchell Trubisky. While Glennon was indeed the Week One starter, it was only a matter of time until he ended up being sent to the bench for Trubisky.
Of course, any opportunity to play for Bridgewater would be better than none. Even if his stint at the top option is short-lived, whatever reps he receives as the top guy in the offseason, training camp, preseason, and regular season will help him convince others that maybe he should get a chance in 2019. For that reason, he should be inclined to sign a one-year contract only, ensuring that he’ll be able to hit the market again next year, if the team that signs him ends up drafting a rookie to take over.
Even with the possibility of being rendered irrelevant for a rookie, the handful of teams would seem to consist at the very most of the Jets, Browns, Broncos, and Cardinals. No one else would install him as the top guy. And, again, on each of those rosters, he’d be susceptible to being rendered irrelevant by a rookie.
