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When the offseason started for the Minnesota Vikings (and 31 other less important NFL franchises), the popular question seemed to be whether the Vikings would be bringing back Case Keenum, Sam Bradford, or Teddy Bridgewater as a potential answer to their quarterback situation.
With one week to go in the Franchise and Transition tag period, the answer is starting to look more and more like “none of the above.”
The #Vikings are not expected to franchise tag QB Case Keenum and he’s slated to hit free agency, per sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking. Barring a change of heart, Minnesota joins the fray for a starting QB… and will make these next few weeks fascinating.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 26, 2018
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Vikings are not expected to use their Franchise Tag on Case Keenum and are going to let him hit the free agent market. . .presumably along with Bradford and Bridgewater (pending the resolution of Bridgewater’s contract issue).
I’m not sure what the Vikings not using the Franchise Tag on Keenum says about the Vikings potentially bringing him back. With a group of quarterback-needy teams out there this offseason, surely someone is going to offer Keenum the sort of long-term, big money deal that he’s looking for after his career-best season. Apparently the Vikings aren’t sure if he’s someone that’s worthy of such a deal, or you would think something could have been wrapped up by now.
Does this mean that the Vikings are going to go hard after Kirk Cousins? Do they know something about the Bridgewater contract situation that we don’t? Have they completely written Sam Bradford off at this point?
Frankly, I haven’t got the answers to any of these questions, and I’m guessing that nobody outside of Winter Park Eagan has them, either. But, whatever the answer might be, at the moment it doesn’t appear that the answer is Case Keenum.
The deadline for application of the Franchise Tag is a week from tomorrow, and the “legal tampering” period of free agency starts two weeks from today. Only then, it appears, will the drama finally come to an end.