Entering the 2018 NFL season, Minnesota Vikings have arguably the best quarterback situation in the league. Sam Bradford, Case Keenum, and Teddy Bridgewater are all healthy and on team’s roster. The problem? They will all become free agents soon and the Vikings can only keep one of them.
Vikings’ coach Mike Zimmer recently said that he is definitely considering all three guys, but is approaching the decision carefully.
“If you go with the right one and he does like you anticipate, then everything is good,” – said Zimmer. “If you pick the wrong one, it’s hard to win in this league without a quarterback. If you pick the wrong one, this whole thing can go downhill.“
“It’s important for myself and [general manager] Rick [Spielman] and the organization to pick the right guy that is going to help us continue to move forward” – he added. “If we don’t do that, then I’ll probably be fired.“
One of the major factors in Vikings’ decision will definitely be finances. The team isn’t about to give up $30 million or so for a quarterback, wanting to have space to further strengthen their roster. Also either one of Bradford, Keenum and Bridgewater have both its positives and negatives as Zimmer pointed out.
Sam Bradford is a proven quarterback who already passed for 3,877 yards and managed 20 touchdowns in 2016 for the Vikings. He also led the league in completion percentage in the same year. The downside is that he has a history of injuries, and inability to translate his good performances into wins.
After Bradford got injured in Week 2 of the past season, Case Keenum took over and went from a backup to a star of the team. He led the Vikings to NFC Championship Game, putting a strong season and achieving career-high passer rating (98.4). On the other side, there is a doubt he can replicate the success from 2017, given his below average performance before arriving in Minnesota.
Finally, there is Teddy Bridgewater, who supposed to be a franchise quarterback for Minnesota Vikings, who drafted him 32nd overall in 2014 NFL Draft. In his first two seasons, Bridgewater looked more than promising but then suffered an injury in August 2016 which kept him out for 19 months. Although he fully healed, there is a question whether he can get to his old form.
