Sam Darnold traded to the Panthers; Washington wasn’t interested and won’t be calling about Teddy Bridgewater

Another big trade went down yesterday, and it will have some massive effects on several teams in this year’s draft. The Carolina Panthers pulled the trigger on a trade that sends a 6th round pick this year, along with 2nd and 4th round picks next year, to the New York Jets for QB Sam Darnold. They will be exercising his 5th-year option, giving Matt Rhule two years to figure out if Darnold was a good QB on a bad team, or a backup level QB that got way overdrafted.

The Panthers were very interested in trading for Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson, but he hasn’t been publicly on the trade block, he’s disgruntled, and he has mounting legal troubles that now involve a police investigation into his interactions with over a dozen women. The Panthers moved on from that potential mess, and locked down Darnold for a trio of picks.

Washington has been linked to a lot of quarterbacks since the end of the season, and have reportedly inquired about all of the QBs that have been traded this year, along with several others that are still on their teams. The signing of Ryan Fitzpatrick quieted down that rumor mill, and the general consensus is that if Washington adds another QB this year, it will be through the draft. They re-signed Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen, and have a developmental QB in Steven Montez who could see some different looks in camp.

Sam Darnold was definitely one of the QBs that Washington was linked to, despite Jets GM Joe Douglass trying to make it seem like he wasn’t available early in the process. JP Finlay says Washington’s interest in Darnold wasn’t really there, and Washington wasn’t looking for a reclamation project. They reportedly made a solid effort to get Matthew Stafford, an established vet who has produced on bad teams for a decade.

Another name that was thrown around for the Washington Football Team this year was Carolina Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater. He has links to Scott Turner from their time together with Minnesota Vikings. Bridgewater signed a 3-year, $63 million contract last season, but Carolina finished 5-11. He had a decent season on paper(completed 69.1% of his passes for 3,733 yards, 15 TDs, and 11 INTs. He also rushed for 279 yards and five TDs), but the Panthers were aggressively looking for a better option to replace him. His $23 million cap hit(the highest on the team) will force the Panthers to get the number lowered or off the books.

JP Finlay is here to kill that rumor too. Washington won’t be one of the teams calling to help the Panthers get out of that bad contract. Ryan Fitzpatrick enters training camp as QB1 according to Ron Rivera, and the team is excited about him and the trio of young QBs trying to take his starting job. This could all change if a QB the team likes starts to fall, and they look to move up to get their guy. Or if QB5/6 slips through the cracks and is available at #19. The bottom line is Washington has picked up their veteran QB this offseason, and it’s not expected they’ll grab another one. On to the draft!