Welcome to the Tuesday edition of The Cooler. We're off to a bit of a late start today because of VOTING. Did you vote? Did you get your sticker? Do you wish every task you completed in life came with a sticker? Away we go:
*Former Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater looked sharp for the Jets in their preseason opener Friday, which was gratifying for anyone watching. It's been nearly two full years since his awful injury in the 2016 preseason altered the Vikings' QB landscape, and his performance Friday — including a TD pass and a field goal drive — was the most encouraging sign yet that he can still be a starting-caliber quarterback in the NFL.
Teddy's work naturally ramped up further discussions of his ultimate place on the Jets' roster as well. New York drafted Sam Darnold No. 3 overall and also has Josh McCown as a potential veteran starter. If Bridgewater is healthy, the Jets seem to have one too many options. The natural move would be to trade Teddy and play McCown until Darnold is ready.
The problem? There's not much leverage right now. As crass as it sounds, the Jets and Bridgewater need another team to enter crisis mode — much like the Vikings found themselves in two years ago after Bridgewater went down — but there haven't been any significant QB injuries early in the preseason. Other teams with QB question marks figure to at least ride out a couple more preseason games to see if their in-house options can cut it.
The best-case scenario for Teddy and the Jets is that he continues to sparkle in the preseason and a team with a genuine need for a starter emerges. Then the Jets could flip Bridgewater for a decent haul and Teddy could get a real chance for a fresh start.
*A few thousand Browns fans will get a free Bud Light when and if the team finally wins a game this season. If that's the going rate for a regular-season win, it kind of seems like every Vikings fan in the world should get a grain silo full of the beer of their choice if and when the Vikings ever win the Super Bowl.
*We not only had a position player pitch last night, but Reds second baseman Brandon Dixon struck out Cleveland's Jose Ramirez — and made him look completely silly in the process.
