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Report: Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater likely to miss 2017 season

By Brad Berreman

Dec 1, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) during a game at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Cowboys defeated the Vikings 17-15. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 1, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) during a game at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Cowboys defeated the Vikings 17-15. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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The status of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is up in the air, but a report on Friday paints a particularly dire picture.

The Minnesota Vikings’ 2016 season started to go awry when quarterback Teddy Bridgewater went down with a significant knee injury just before Week 1. General manager Rick Spielman could not go with Shaun Hill as the starting quarterback, so he had no trade leverage upon surrendering a first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Sam Bradford.

As expected, just four months removed from the injury, Vikings’ head coach Mike Zimmer expressed uncertainty about Bridgewater’s status during an appearance on ESPN earlier this month. But a report on Friday will do nothing to convey optimism.

According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, citing sources within the Vikings, Bridgewater is likely to miss the entire 2017 season. Going further, Cole points to an 19-month recovery time for Bridgewater’s injury. Under that supposed “best-case scenario”, Bridgewater won’t be fully recovered until May 2018.

The Vikings have not said anything official since Bridgewater had surgery, which could be due to  lack of real information so early in the process or a level of concern about the injury. But Spielman seemed to plan for the prospect of Bridgewater being out into next season by trading for Bradford, who has another year left on his contract.

It seems certain Bridgewater never fully recovers from an injury that went beyond a typical ACL tear. Being a quarterback probably helps his future prospects, without the plant and cut demands of other positions, but Bridgewater will be a diminished player and there’s a small chance he never plays again.

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The Vikings can probably get by with Bradford as their starting quarterback next season, and his agent in sure to lobby for a contract extension after he survived this season behind a train-wreck offensive line. But once again, the Vikings don’t have a promising, healthy young quarterback in the fold.

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