According to ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, Teddy Bridgewater may be able to parlay a 5-0 record at quarterback for the Saints in relief of Drew Brees last season into a $30 million-plus annual salary.
“Multiple teams expect Bridgewater to have a strong free agency market as a starting or bridge quarterback for a team in transition,” Fowler reported. “Widely expected to be on the move unless Drew Brees retires.”
Were Bridgewater to sign a $30-million contract, that’d mean a huge boost in salary as he only made $7.25 million to back up Brees in New Orleans.
Clearly, thanks to Bridgewater’s undefeated record as a starter last season, it was money well spent, but it seems a bit shocking another team would want to more than quadruple his salary as the Saints’ QB-friendly offense really only asked him to check the ball down to Alvin Kamara or Michael Thomas.
Were he to make $30 million, Bridgewater, who has a career passer rating of 88.3 with 38 touchdown passes and 25 interceptions, would have a higher average salary than Kirk Cousins ($28 million), Jimmy Garoppolo ($27.5 million) and Matthew Stafford ($27 million), and make the same amount of money as Matt Ryan.
Though the salary being associated with Bridgewater does seem a little bit ridiculous considering he’s only started 34 games and lost his only postseason start, the interest in the 27-year-old does make sense.
When asked if he had the choice of all the quarterbacks available this offseason if he was in charge of an average NFL team, one unnamed league executive told Sports Illustrated Bridgewater would be who he’d pick.
“QB isn’t a stopgap position,” the exec said. “The older bridge-the-gap types are short terms and when they leave you’re right back at square one again. Bridgewater would be my vet preference. Still ‘young’ and has won.”
In addition to Bridgewater, other free-agent QBs who could be on the market include Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Cam Newton, Case Keenum, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.
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