Did Mike Zimmer throw shade at Case Keenum?

Case Keenum kept the ball rolling for the Minnesota Vikings in the 2017 season after Sam Bradford went down, but Mike Zimmer doesn’t know if he can keep it up.

After Sam Bradford went down with his knee injury early on in the 2017 season, many Minnesota Vikings fans questioned if they’d be able to keep up with the pace they had set. In stepped Case Keenum.

Keenum led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game, a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, just a week after the Minneapolis Miracle against the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional round. Fans flocked to Keenum after his success, and appreciated the effort he put in on the team’s long postseason run.

However, with Keenum, Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater all heading to free agency, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has a choice to make. On Thursday, Zimmer was asked about the decision, specifically answering a question about if Keenum’s sample size from 2017 was too small to truly evaluate.

It looks like Zimmer may have thrown some shade Keenum’s way with his response, wondering which Keenum they’d get if they were to bring him back as the team’s starter.

Zimmer’s quote may seem bad out of context, and some fans were upset at the quote without the full question and answer provided. Chad Graff, a reporter for The Athletic, then posted the full transcript, showing Zimmer’s response evaluating his options between Keenum and Bradford under center.

The team has a serious issue to solve over the next few months, with Keenum, Bradford and Bridgewater to evaluate. Add in the possibility for a big splash in free agency with rumors swirling around the team pursuing Kirk Cousins, and four options are now in play.

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Either way, it’d be interesting to see what Keenum thinks about the answer, and who he thinks he can be in the next year or two as a team’s starter.