When Teddy Met Daunte

EDIT: I was mistaken about the original picture. I originally and thought the picture from our story editor was another picture of Teddy Bridgewater and Daunte Culpepper. I was mistaken. But Bridgewater and Culpepper did meet this weekend. My apologies for the error. -Chris

We've talked a lot about Teddy Bridgewater's time at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere this weekend because. . .well, there really hasn't been a damn other thing to talk about over the past couple of days.

During one of the breaks at the Rookie Premiere, the NFLPA folks got a picture of the Minnesota Vikings' newest franchise quarterback talking to their most recent franchise quarterback, Daunte Culpepper.

...and it isn't just rooks at #RookiePremiere. @teddyb_h2o & @RealDculpepper / @BigGame81 @ScottieGraham @TreMason27 pic.twitter.com/DcHJEs9FBj

— photographer (@NFLPA_photos) May 31, 2014

(Bonus picture of Scottie Graham, which is cool.)

Anyone that's followed the site for any length of time has heard me mention on more than one occasion that Culpepper is my favorite Viking of my lifetime. (Adrian Peterson is rapidly gaining ground, but my first Vikings' jersey was a Culpepper jersey, and I'm pretty sure it's still hanging in the closet.) When the Vikings took Culpepper out of Central Florida in 1999, he was a completely different animal. Guy was about 6'5", 250 pounds (give or take), ran like a running back, and could throw the ball a mile. For my money, he's the best non-Tarkenton quarterback that's ever suited up for this franchise.

(And for the folks who want to live in the "Randy Moss made Daunte Culpepper" fantasy, read this article from Pro Football Reference about Culpepper's 2004, one of the greatest seasons any quarterback has ever put together.)

The way Culpepper's career in Minnesota ended was a gigantic mess, what with getting his knee shredded and the bizarreness with Brad Childress that followed, resulting in his getting traded to the Miami Dolphins. (Someone couldn't get along with Brad Childress? No. . .you're kidding.) But the guy provided enough positive memories for me as a Vikings fan where I'm certainly not going to bad-mouth him.

I'm sure the picture of Bridgewater and Culpepper together is going to trigger a barrage of "small hands" jokes and what have you, but I still think it's pretty awesome. And if Bridgewater can put together a couple of seasons like Culpepper did at his peak, we're going to be even happier with Bridgewater's selection than a lot of us already are.