PFT: Teddy Bridgewater contract tolling won’t be an issue

Since we haven’t talked enough about the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback situation lately, let’s talk some more about the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback situation!

According to Mike Florio over at Pro Football Talk, the camp of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater apparently doesn’t think that the potential “tolling” of Bridgewater’s contract is going to be an issue. It isn’t entirely clear what they mean by that, but that’s what Florio is reporting.

We’ve been over the issues concerning what Article 20, Section 2 of the current NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement says versus how the NFLPA could potentially interpret it, but it sounds as though the Vikings aren’t going to actively pursue the tolling of Bridgewater’s contract. . .at least, that’s what I’ve been told by people that know a lot more about this sort of thing than I do.

What isn’t clear is what they mean by this “not being an issue.” Does that mean that they think the contract isn’t going to toll and Bridgewater will become an unrestricted free agent? Does it mean that Bridgewater and the Vikings are going to work out some sort of deal before that to keep Bridgewater in the fold?

As Florio points out, if the league is going to make a decision on this, they need to make it in relatively short order. The start of NFL free agency is about three and a half weeks away, and Bridgewater and the Vikings need to know what his status is. If a decision does come down, there’s going to need to be enough time for any potential appeals that could be connected to it as well. If this spills over into the start of free agency, there are going to be quarterbacks moving to different places and Bridgewater is going to be sidelined due to the uncertainty of his status.

I would wager that the NFL and the NFLPA realize that, and that we’re probably going to get some sort of conclusion to this situation sooner rather than later. I certainly hope so, because then we can finally stop speculating about whether or not it will happen and move on to what it potentially means for both Teddy Bridgewater and the Minnesota Vikings.