Quarterback Thunderdome 2018: What should the Vikings do with Teddy Bridgewater?

The third of our three polls about the Minnesota Vikings’ current quarterback situation takes a look at the man that could be the biggest mystery of the three men involved, that being young Teddy Bridgewater.

We all know the story about what Bridgewater has gone through. In the 2016 preseason, he appeared to be poised to take a significant step forward in his development, but a week before the season opener he suffered a gruesome non-contact knee injury and has missed, essentially, all of the last two seasons.

It’s obvious that there are many people in the Minnesota Vikings organization. . .notably head coach Mike Zimmer (whose vote counts for something, you would think). . .that still love Teddy Bridgewater. The Twin Cities community really embraced him when he was drafted, and when he was thrown into the fire early after an injury to Matt Cassel.

In his first two seasons, Bridgewater didn’t put up huge numbers, particularly as far as touchdown passes are concerned. A lot of that had to do with the offense that he was a part of rather than the fact that he’s incapable of throwing the ball into the end zone. I’m not sure who cited it on social media, but in the 2015 season, Bridgewater was allowed to throw the ball on first-and-goal just six times all season. Five of those six passes resulted in touchdowns. So, it’s not that he can’t or won’t throw touchdown passes. He just genuinely didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities, in my opinion.

During his time as the starter, Bridgewater hasn’t been a part of an offense that was truly centered around his abilities. Norv Turner’s system was still, largely, centered around Adrian Peterson’s running ability and a “seven-step drop and chuck it long” passing game, neither of which serves Bridgewater’s skill set. He could, potentially, do big things in an offense that’s more centered around his abilities.

Of course, the biggest question in all of this. . .and one that nobody, apparently, has the answer to. . .is how far, exactly, Bridgewater has come since his knee blew up on him. While Zimmer was hesitant to commit to Case Keenum as his starter this year, Keenum continued to play just well enough this season that the Vikings still have no idea where Bridgewater actually is. Sure, he got a handful of plays at the end of a blowout victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, but that really wasn’t enough to show anything.

Bridgewater is the youngest of the three quarterbacks involved in this three-way dance the Vikings are currently in the middle of. You would have to assume that he would also be the most cost-effective option of the three to keep around because, honestly, how much in salary can he demand at this point? But, even after two seasons following his injury, do we really know where Bridgewater is in his return from injury?

That’s the big question, folks. So, this is where we can debate Teddy Bridgewater just like the other two quarterbacks in the other posts we’ve put together on this situation this morning.