After passing his physical, new Jets quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is expected to throw this spring. Bridgewater, a former first-round pick who signed a one-year deal with the club, remains on the comeback trail after suffering a major knee injury prior to the 2016 campaign and throwing a couple of balls in reserve duty for the Vikings last season.
"This is a chance to restart his career. He certainly gets a second chance," said former Jets QB Chad Pennington of Bridgewater joining the Green & White. "The biggest thing for Teddy is film. He has to get himself on film as a professional to show these other 31 teams that he can perform at a high level and his knee is fully recovered. He's going to get that opportunity with the Jets."
In addition to adding Bridgewater in free agency, the Green & White re-signed Josh McCown. Reunited with Jeremy Bates, McCown flourished while setting career highs with 2,926 passing yards and 18 touchdowns.
"First of all, I think the signing of Josh was instrumental in creating stability within the quarterback room like it did last season," Pennington said. "Number two, bringing in Bridgewater allows you the luxury of not playing a younger guy faster than what you'd like. I think the Jets are in a really good position knowing they have two men that can hold the fort down when football games make this team as productive as possible. And if they do draft a quarterback in the first round in this draft, they can feel good about not having to play him there too early."
Just a few weeks ago, Pennington spent time with both McCown and Bridgewater during a panel discussion with fans in Indianapolis.
"I felt like I got a really good feel for Teddy," he said. "I think he has a really good understanding of what the quarterback position is about and I think the Jets are in good hands to move forward in 2018. It also gives them options for what they want to do in the draft as well. That's why it's going to be really interesting at the end of April."
After completing 67.3% of his passes last season, McCown became the sixth different quarterback to be named the Curtis Martin Jets Team MVP and first since Pennington in 2002.
"When you think of a professional quarterback and what the term professional embodies, I think Josh McCown is the epitome of that," Pennington said. "You want your veteran to be able to lend a hand and lend their knowledge to the younger players. He understands that's a part of his legacy, part of his responsibility as a veteran player. He's been to many different teams and has many different experiences and I think he's at a point in his career where he wants to compete, win and be a part of a championship team, but he also knows he needs to leave something behind."
