Just days away from the start of the NFL season, only one Minnesota Viking quarterback has his immediate future clearly planned out.
Teddy Bridgewater, who suffered a non-contact injury on Aug. 30, will undergo knee surgery on Thursday to repair a torn ACL and other structural damage within his left knee, according to Star Tribune writer Andrew Krammer.
So while Bridgewater has his situation sorted out, the Vikings are very much in a state of flux when it comes to their Week 1 starting quarterback.
On Sunday, Minnesota sent a 2017 first-round draft pick and a 2018 conditional fourth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Sam Bradford.
Bradford, who carries a $7 million cap hit in 2016 and a $17 million cap hit in 2017, was presumed to be the Eagles’ starting quarterback this season, allowing the team to ease 2016 second-overall pick Carson Wentz into the NFL.
Bradford is now expected to replace Bridgewater as Minnesota’s starting quarterback. The problem is Bradford hasn’t had much time to memorize the Vikings’ playbook. And, even though Bradford is a sixth-year NFL quarterback, he admits he may not be ready to play against Tennessee Titans. Nevertheless, he says he’s focused on playing this weekend.
“That’s the goal, is to progress to that point to where I feel comfortable enough to get out there and play if I’m needed to,” Bradford said following his second practice. “But I can’t tell you if that’s going to be the case or not.”
Bradford, who posted career-best numbers last season with 3,725 passing yards, has already been traded twice, forcing him to learn new playbooks. But with so little time, Bradford has been learning plays as quickly as possible, and that’s posing a challenge for the 28-year-old.
“Everything’s just sped up,” Bradford continued. “Obviously, normally when you learn a system, you start with the base things and kind of build on that. You talk about your variations off your base plays and you kind of take it step-by-step. Obviously, here, going into Week 1 of the regular season, all those variations are already in, so you don’t really have time to take it step-by-step. I mean, you just got to learn everything at once, and that’s how it’s got to be.”
Additionally, Bradford has to adjust to the speed and the size of his receiving corps, throwing another wrench in his preparations.
That’s why the Vikings may be forced to turn to Shaun Hill, a 15-year pro, who has just 34 career starts. In his most notable season, in 2010 with the Detroit Lions, Hill threw for 2,686 yards, 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 14 games.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer hasn’t yet stated who his Week 1 starting quarterback will be. But, given Bradford’s lack of certainty as to whether or not he will be completely ready for the first game of the season, it seems unlikely that the Vikings’ new multi-million dollar man will be the starter.
• Tommy Chalk can be reached at tchalk@washingtontimes.com.
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