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Much of the speculation surrounding the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback situation has centered around how the team views Teddy Bridgewater and his progress after the knee injury he suffered in August of 2016. He has seen almost no game action in the past two seasons, and nobody really knows at this point just how far he’s come or if he’s ready to be a full-time starter again.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, however, it sounds like there are some teams that are willing to take a chance on him.
Spotted last night in Indianapolis: Vikings free-agent QB Teddy Bridgewater, who was there to speak to children about playing football. At least a handful of teams expressed interest in Bridgewater last week as a potential starting QB, as he does have a market.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2018
Schefter is reporting that a “handful of teams” have expressed interest in Bridgewater to potentially be their starter at quarterback in 2018. While none of the teams have been named or anything, we can probably guess who most of them are.
This puts a bit of a damper on the speculation that the Vikings could sign another quarterback to be their starter, whether it’s Kirk Cousins or Case Keenum, and bring Bridgewater back to serve as the team’s backup. If what’s Schefter is saying is true, that doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that Bridgewater would be interested in.
Nor should it be.
Look, it would be nice to have Teddy Bridgewater as a potential backup if the Vikings do sign another quarterback. However, Bridgewater is a competitor, and if he gets offers from teams that want him to be their starter, and potentially pay him starter money, he’d be foolish not to take it. We can say that Bridgewater would be able to “compete” for the starting job in Minnesota, but let’s be honest. . .if the Vikings fork out the kind of money a Cousins contract is expected to fetch, or even if they sign Keenum for slightly less, neither of those guys are “competing” for jobs if they’re making that kind of money. Teddy Bridgewater knows that, because Teddy Bridgewater isn’t stupid.
If Teddy Bridgewater is going to “compete” for a starting job in Minnesota, his competition will be a rookie or a lower-level free agent. It would not be Case Keenum or Kirk Cousins.
From what Adam Schefter is saying, there are going to be teams in this free agent market that want to give Teddy Bridgewater an opportunity to start. Unless something drastically shifts over the course of the next week or so, that place isn’t going to be Minnesota.