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Jets Reportedly Called The Jaguars About Dante Fowler Jr: What Would It Take To Get A Deal Done?

Say what you want about Manish Mehta but he keeps breaking news about the Jets and what’s going on in the front office, so here we are yet again.

Reports are flying around this morning that the Jets reached out to Jacksonville about Dante Fowler Jr, the troubled former Florida Gator taken 3rd overall in 2015. Going off of all the Teddy Bridgewater discussion lately, the Jaguars were already on a lot of people’s radars and Dante Fowler Jr has been suggested as a potential return for a while, so this isn’t exactly surprising. That being said, the conversation now becomes this; what would it take for the Jets to get their hands on Fowler and is it possible and/or logical to send them Teddy Bridgewater straight up?

Fowler tore his ACL early in his rookie year and missed the entire season. Since recovering from that injury, he’s accumulated 12.0 sacks in the last 2 seasons, with 10.0 coming last year if you include the playoffs. He’s definitely trending upward, but it’s still tough to assess his value with all the question marks.

Based on that tweet, I don’t think the Jets would be getting a quality enough return to just send Teddy Bridgwater down to Florida in exchange for Fowler Jr. Sure, he’s a big name with a quality pass rushing pedigree and a former top-5 pick, but the production hasn’t been there. Teams don’t make trades in the NFL based off projections.

Now, if the Jaguars are as interested in Bridgewater as people seem to think, it definitely gives the Jets leverage to work out a deal. However, if I’m Mike Maccagnan and the Jags suggested Bridgewater for Fowler Jr. straight up, I’d laugh in their face. If Jacksonville is willing to throw in another late round pick to sweeten the deal, that’s another thing. But I don’t think Fowler is enough when the entire NFL knows it’s only a matter of time until a starting QB gets hurt and the Jets are suddenly sitting on the best available QB to make a deal. In that hypothetical (yet very very likely) situation, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Jets got a 3rd round pick or better back for Teddy. Is Dante Fowler, coming off an 8.0 sack regular season and multiple disciplinary issues worth a 3rd round pick? I don’t think so.

Sure, if we do end up with Dante Fowler Jr. and he continues to trend upward and hits double digit sacks, the deal would undoubtedly be a success. I think the Jets could pony up something like a 5th round pick for Fowler and still be able to sit on Bridgewater until a better offer appears. That’s the beauty of being in a position of leverage, especially with a highly sought after backup QB; we have plenty of options. Hopefully something materializes soon, because if the first 2 preseason games have shown us anything, it’s that we need a lot of help on the edge ASAP as possible.