Robert Saleh credits ‘underrated’ ex-Jets QB Teddy Bridgewater for Broncos’ hot start

Teddy Bridgewater wasn’t a Jet for long, but his brief time with the team put him on a path that now has him thriving as the Broncos’ starting quarterback.

The Jets signed Bridgewater to a cheap deal in March 2018. The contract gave him an opportunity to prove that he was healthy following a career-threatening knee injury that he suffered just before the 2016 season. Bridgewater did just that during the 2018 preseason, and the presence of fellow veteran Josh McCown and rookie Sam Darnold made the ex-Viking the perfect trade candidate for New York.

The Jets sent Bridgewater to New Orleans, where he played well when asked to fill in for Drew Brees for two seasons. He signed a sizeable deal with the Panthers and became a full-time starter again in 2020 while putting up modest numbers. But Carolina decided to trade for Darnold this past offseason, and Bridgewater was sent to Denver.

The 28-year-old has looked comfortable in his new digs, throwing for 592 yards and four touchdowns in his first two games as a Bronco, both wins. He has yet to turn the ball over and owns a 77.1 completion percentage and a 120.7 quarterback rating.

His early-season performance had Robert Saleh raving before New York’s Week 3 matchup against Denver.

“He is, to me, one of the more underrated starting quarterbacks in this league,” the Jets head coach said Thursday, per The Gazette. “Yes, he was a first-round pick and all that, and he had that terrible injury, but ever since then, the league has a tendency to kind of tag people with a stigma. But his release is super quick, he’s very accurate, he’s a tremendous decision-maker, he’s got mobility — I mean, he is everything you’d want out of a starting quarterback… He really is a fantastic quarterback and there’s a reason Denver being 2-0 and racking up over 400 yards per game on offense is not a fluke.”

Both of Denver’s wins have come against bad teams — the Jaguars and Giants — but Bridgewater has played clean football without limiting himself to a game manager’s style. He hasn’t used his mobility much, rushing for just 20 yards, but he also hasn’t had a need to given his precision passing.

We’ll see if those trends continue on Sunday when the Jets’ young defense plays a veteran quarterback for the first time this season.