Is the Jets’ quarterback situation as good as it looks?

For my money, there is no roster battle or training camp story more interesting this year than the New York Jets’ trio of quarterbacks.

At the top of the depth chart is Josh McCown, the Jets’ incumbent starter entering the 17th year of a career that really didn’t take off until 2013. He threw 18 touchdowns with nine interceptions in 2017 — enough for the Jets to bring him back on a one-year, $10 million deal.

Breathing down his neck are Teddy Bridgewater — a former first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings who had a strong start to his career before a knee injury in 2016 essentially cost him two full seasons — and Sam Darnold, the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

In the preseason opener, McCown mostly watched from the sideline while Bridgewater and Darnold continued to make their case for the job.

McCown played for just one series, and completed his only pass of the game for 4 yards. Bridgewater took the reins until the middle of the second quarter, finishing with seven completions on eight attempts for 85 yards and a touchdown. Then Darnold came in to finish the game with 13 completions on 18 attempts for 96 yards and a touchdown.

It was a good night for Jets passers against the Falcons and it’s a good sign for the team’s future. But how good of a situation is it really for the Jets?

If there’s a negative to the Jets’ passer situation it’s that the team is still probably going to finish around or below the league average when it comes to quarterback play. The likeliest starter is McCown, a player who has made a career out of being good, not great.

While his passer rating of 94.5 was 11th best among starters, McCown was 17th in yards per game and 22nd in touchdown passes. Basically, he won’t lose you a game on his own, but he’s not putting the team on his back either.

And that’s fine. On a Jets team that still needs to accumulate more talent before it’s a Super Bowl contender again, McCown is a good bridge.

The same can probably be said of Bridgewater, who topped out at 14 touchdowns in his two seasons as the Vikings’ starter. His ceiling is likely higher than McCown, but he’s similar in that Bridgewater’s best asset is his game management and efficiency.

The other alternative is Darnold, who is third on the depth chart for now, but is reportedly in striking distance of the top:

That’d be exciting for the Jets, and he may be their best shot at more than 20 touchdown passes. But Darnold is also a rookie and that usually means turnovers, especially considering it was something he struggled with at USC.

No matter who is under center, the Jets probably won’t have top 10 quarterback play. They probably won’t be in the bottom 10 either. They should expect to be right around the middle of the pack.

Here’s the part that’s exciting.

Darnold — for all his collegiate turnovers and raw, untamed ability — was a fantastic draft prospect. He’s 6’3, 221 pounds, capable of making all the throws you’d ask of an NFL passer, and thrives in chaos.

If there wasn’t already plenty of reason for the Jets to be optimistic, he dumped fuel on the fire Friday. His statistics may not have been that impressive, but even his incompletions showed promising signs.

Darnold showed all his best traits, particularly his ability to make plays when the play breaks down. His first touchdown in a Jets uniform came when he stepped up in the pocket and rolled right along the line of scrimmage before throwing a dart about 16 yards into the hands of Charles Johnson.

He may not start as a rookie, but Darnold has the requisite poise and calm of a star. There’s always the possibility that he’ll be a Blake Bortles-esque turnover machine, but for now there’s no reason not to feel like the Jets aren’t in good shape for the future.

It also helps that they may have a trade commodity on their hands.

Ideally, a team will have a good starting quarterback and a good backup. But three quality passers is a wealth of riches that goes beyond necessity. It makes much more sense to cash in one of those chips with a trade.

The most logical candidate for a trade is Bridgewater, but for that trade to make sense the Jets would need:

Few teams carry three quarterbacks in today’s NFL, so if Bridgewater struggled and didn’t look like a capable starter, he’d just wind up on the list of roster cuts at the end of preseason.

And if Darnold looked in desperate need of a redshirt year in the NFL before taking the field, it wouldn’t make sense to make him the only backup — one injury to a 39-year-old passer away from being forced into action.

Fortunately for the Jets, all three quarterbacks have exceeded expectations.

They could keep all three, but with McCown and Bridgewater both on one-year deals and Darnold likely to eventually take over the role for the foreseeable future, why not send Bridgewater to a quarterback-needy team?

His one-year, $6 million deal is a price tag every team could afford, but the Jets may have to wait for another team to have some bad fortune first. Regardless, as long as all three quarterbacks play like they did Friday, a trade is a viable option for New York.

The only Jets quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since the turn of the century was Brett Favre during his one-year stint in New York in 2008. The team has finished outside the top 10 in points scored in every season since.

Things may not turn around in 2018, but for the first time in a while, the Jets have legitimate reason to be excited about their quarterbacks. And the way things shake out for New York in the remainder of preseason could have a big impact on the rest of the league too.