Teddy Bridgewater has had a bumpy ride on his way to the 2014 NFL Draft, but luckily for everybody involved he's less than three weeks away from finding out which NFL team he'll be going to.
One destination that he could wind up under center at is Jacksonville. Chad Henne was re-signed, but it's abundantly clear that he's not the long-term answer for the franchise and they'll likely be looking to draft the quarterback of the future this May. There's lots of speculation about the team taking Johnny Manziel with their first round selection at No. 3 overall, but it is Bridgewater who recently scheduled his second pre-draft visit with the team for Saturday.
While it's bound to increase speculation that the Louisville quarterback is on the team's radar very early in the draft, NFL Media analyst Charles Davis thinks that the Jaguars should consider grabbing their next signal-caller a bit later on the first night of the draft since Bridgewater's stock has fallen so much lately.
"It's an indication they are very interested in Teddy Bridgewater, they are checking everything about this guy. Remember that when we started this whole process, Teddy Bridgewater was the acknowledged number one quarterback," Davis said on NFL Network's "Path to the Draft". "To me, if I were Jacksonville, I would take one of these top position players -- whether it's Sammy Watkins or whether it's a Khalil Mack -- and then I'd come back and trade my first pick in the second round back into the first round and go get Teddy Bridgewater."
The Jaguars own the seventh pick of the second round and should have plenty to offer another team in a trade back up into the first round with at least one additional selection in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds.
The question could be how far would they have to trade back up to get Bridgewater? After Tennessee and the 11th overall pick, there are not a ton of quarterback-needy teams left in the draft. The Browns' second first-round selection is viewed by most as a likely spot where they could take a quarterback but they haven't been linked to Bridgewater as much as Johnny Manziel or Derek Carr.
If Jacksonville general manager David Caldwell wanted to leapfrog the Cleveland Browns, he could find a taker in the Green Bay Packers if the asking price (i.e. additional picks) is worth it. If the club is confident the Browns won't grab Bridgewater, the always-open-for-business New England Patriots pick at No. 29 overall and the Seattle Seahawks might be open to moving down a few spots and trading the final pick of the first round.
Moving back into the first would ensure the Jaguars would be ahead of teams like the Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the top of the second round.
"When you look at this group of quarterbacks, (Bridgewater) is the most pro-ready," analyst Curtis Conway said. "The one thing I like when evaluating a quarterback is how does he go through his progressions? You see a lot of mobile quarterbacks that run a lot. With Teddy, he's a guy that goes through his progressions and if nothing is there, he'll dump it off to the back."
Davis adds that if the team is really in love with the quarterback, they should go ahead and grab him with the third overall pick. That would inflate his value tremendously given how far Bridgewater has slid down draft boards, but it does make a lot of sense to trade back into the first round and get an impact player.
One other thing that might entice the team to go after Daniel Jeremiah's top-ranked quarterback in the draft? He's a Florida native and folks around the state are very aware of just how good he is.
Luckily, there's only a few more weeks until the speculation ends and we finally know where the oft-talked about Bridgewater lands.
Follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter @BryanDFischer.
