Cleveland Browns: What about Teddy Bridgewater?

With all the talk about Kirk Cousins and A.J. McCarron at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, are we forgetting about Teddy Bridgewater as an option?

With news breaking Thursday that A.J. McCarron won his grievance to become a free agent, many started to connect the dots between him and the Cleveland Browns. That’s logical considering McCarron was traded from the Cincinnati Bengals to Cleveland at the trade deadline. That trade fell through thanks to some paperwork errors, but in the end it could save the Browns a second round pick if they lure him in via free agency.

While head coach Hue Jackson — who worked with McCarron while he was the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati — may be all to excited to get him, it may be harder than they thought. Rumors started before the grievance was through that the Denver Broncos could pursue McCarron and let’s be honest, their roster is much more appealing.

That doesn’t mean the team is resigned to either overpaying for another option like Kirk Cousins or being forced to spend the first overall pick on a quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft. That’s because there’s other options like Teddy Bridgewater, of the Minnesota Vikings.

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Bridgewater, like McCarron, had a brief scare that his contract could roll over thanks to an injury costing him a season, but in the end he too will be a free agent. With all that settled, could the former first-round pick be the answer for the Browns?

Pros and cons of signing Bridgewater

The biggest pro to going out and signing someone like Bridgewater is that he will come in rather low priced in comparison to players like Cousins and possibly even McCarron. The reason for that is that he hasn’t started a game since 2015, due to a devastating knee injury.

That however is also the con. That knee injury is the reason the Vikings traded for Sam Bradford in 2016 and then signed Case Keenum in 2017. There was concern that the quarterback would never play again, but did get on the field late in the 2017 season. He was 0-2 passing, but really just seeing him on the field was huge.

Now as a free agent, he could be ready to take his 17-11 career record to a new home.

Should they sign him?

This is a hard one. If Cleveland isn’t sold on the options in the draft and feels like 2017 rookie DeShone Kizer has a shot to be a starter, then Bridgewater makes sense. He could come over and either be an affordable stop gap solution, who does have potential to be the guy for them.

Next: Browns have another free agent option in A.J. McCarron

However, with there being other options out there, it only makes sense to try Teddy if they believe they could fall back on Kizer should it fail. In the end, it’s probably smarter to go for a proven vet with no injury history or draft the best option at No. 1.