The Teddy Bridgewater era in Carolina is shaping up to be a brief one.
Bridgewater, who signed a three-year, $63 million deal with the Panthers last offseason, reportedly has been granted permission to seek a trade out of Charlotte. This comes on the heels of Carolina acquiring Sam Darnold via trade with the New York Jets.
Most have projected Bridgewater’s next move to be to a team with whom he’d be an above-average backup. But if the veteran quarterback ends up where CBS’ Jason La Canfora expects him to, Bridgewater seemingly will have an opportunity to compete for a starting job this summer.
“It should be all about asset maximization, and while most in the football world are connecting Bridgewater to Denver – and league sources said the Broncos have interest (and I suspect that is where the former first-round pick ends up) – there is no sense being shortsighted about this and limiting the potential market of suitors for someone Carolina paid $24M for in 2020, and who is still just 28 years old and who is set to make $18M this season, with $10M of that already fully guaranteed,” La Canfora wrote.
The Broncos could use an upgrade over current starting quarterback Drew Lock. Ironically enough, Denver reportedly showed interest in Darnold before Carolina landed him in exchange for three total draft picks.
Denver owns the ninth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, and in most years, you’d be able to land one of the premier QB prospects at that spot. However, there’s a real chance all five of the top signal-caller options are selected within the top eight. The Broncos, of course, could try to move up, but that would come at a great cost.
Bridgewater wouldn’t light the world on fire in Denver. But at the bare minimum, he would be a step up — albeit not significant — from Lock and theoretically could allow the Broncos to be more creative with their offense.
