5 creative Lions trade packages to find a viable backup QB with Teddy Bridgewater retiring

The Detroit Lions received sudden, unexpected news on Sunday when Teddy Bridgewater stepped away from the team, “with retirement likely” according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Bridgewater was slated to serve as Detroit’s QB2 behind Jared Goff this season. The Lions inked Joshua Dobbs to a one-year contract soon after the news broke, but it would behoove the front office to consider depth options beyond the undrafted free agent signing of Luke Altmyer. Let’s sift through a handful of potential trades.

Lions-Eagles trade for Tanner McKee

The Eagles clearly prefer Tanner McKee to Andy Dalton, but there’s reason to believe Philadelphia would trade the former for the right price. Jalen Hurts remains firmly entrenched as QB1 in Philly, despite all the noise around his performance last season. McKee has basically played zero meaningful snaps for the Eagles. He puts on a show every preseason and can pick up a win or two late in the year with a playoff spot already locked down. But he’s frightfully inexperienced for a 26-year-old who’s so highly regarded in league circles.

If Detroit opts to bet on the talent, swapping a fourth-round pick for a sixth-round pick could move the needle enough for Philadelphia, especially given Dalton’s track record and his potential fit in the new Sean Mannion offense.

McKee certainly has a rare “wow” factor for a backup QB when fans do get a glimpse of him. It’s hard to imagine him not trumping Dobbs if the Lions are unfortunate enough to lose Goff at any point. It’s also hard to imagine a much better setup for an “unproven” QB than this uber-talented Lions offense.

Lions-Raiders trade for Aidan O’Connell

There’s probably a contingent of the Raiders front office that would prefer to keep Aidan O’Connell and enter the season with three QB options — primarily because Fernando Mendoza isn’t actually established, at least not in the NFL, while Kirk Cousins is fragile at this stage of his career.

Cousins still showed some life down the stretch of last season and nobody rightfully believes Mendoza won’t have the QB1 job on lock by Week 8 or so, but O’Connell has started games — real games — in the past. He has 20 career touchdowns to only 11 interceptions; the Raiders are 7-10 when O’Connell starts. He can put some zip on his passes. He is better than your average third-stringer.

This is a chance for the Lions to buy low on a 27-year-old with actual talent, who could look substantially better once he’s removed from a toxic Raiders ecosystem and surrounded by actual weapons.

Lions-Saints trade for Spencer Rattler

The Saints went 1-7 with Spencer Rattler under center last season before Tyler Shough took over. But while Shough popped off and took command of the QB1 title in New Orleans, Rattler’s record feels a bit misleading. He was genuinely solid, completing 67.7 percent of his passes with eight touchdowns to five interceptions.

Rattler, still 25, is probably better value than any quarterback available in the fourth round, even in a deep 2027 draft class. There should be teams with far more significant QB needs sniffing around Rattler’s availability — especially after the Zach Wilson signing in New Orleans — but Detroit can view Rattler as both a short- and long-term investment.

Of all the QBs in this article, Rattler feels like the safest bet to keep Detroit competitive if Goff misses time. There’s still room to grow, but he’s a real athlete — a former top recruit who, despite a roller-coaster college career, displayed immense talent at Oklahoma and South Carolina. That manifested clearly in New Orleans, despite the lack of team success.

Lions-Panthers trade for Kenny Pickett

Kenny Pickett is quickly becoming a journeyman, but the former first-round pick is probably the “safest” backup QB theoretically on the market. In fact, Carolina probably prefers to keep Pickett in-house given the uncertainty around their starting quarterback, Bryce Young, and the recent injury to Haynes King. That said, a standout performance from King in the Hall of Fame Game quickly led Panthers fans to fire up the trade machine for Pickett.

It shouldn’t take too much to pry Pickett out of Carolina. The Panthers still have enough faith in Young to not consider Pickett an essential alternative. Plus, Carolina simply is not good enough to compete if Young is not up to snuff. Pickett has some pedigree, but he’s painfully reserved in his approach, with a noodle arm and a fear of throwing into traffic or stretching the field vertically.

That safe-not-sorry approach probably fares better in Detroit, where Jahmyr Gibbs can carry the offense on early downs and Amon-Ra St. Brown and a talented receiver room create after the catch and turn simple completions into more explosive gains.

Lions-Browns trade for Shedeur Sanders

Shedeur Sanders is technically still up for the starting job in Cleveland. If anything, he should be the clear leader in the clubhouse; every day of Browns training camp brings a new interception from Deshaun Watson, it seems. That said, Watson’s contract is a huge factor, and the Browns are going to have a hard time benching him outright because of it. Even if it’s the objective “right” choice.

It’s not like Sanders blew opponents away as a rookie either. He graded out as one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL after taking over for Dillon Gabriel. The sixth-round pick (whom many believed was a first- or second-round talent) should benefit from a better supporting cast and a new playcaller in Todd Monken, but it’s unclear if Sanders is even worth the media circus his name entails. That is not really on Sanders, who has handled the pressure and the outsized media presence in Cleveland well enough. But it’s nonetheless a factor for an established contender like the Lions, who don’t want to invite extra distractions into the locker room — especially not for a backup quarterback who may never see the field.

Sanders’ value is not very high, although this trade probably has to wait until the Browns officially name Watson QB1, assuming that’s how it plays out. Dillon Gabriel isn’t a starting QB but he can realistically hold down the backup role for a team with zero competitive expectations.