Minnesota Vikings make correct moves with Teddy and Bradford

The Minnesota Vikings put Teddy Bridgewater back on the active roster and placed Sam Bradford on IR. Altogether, the right moves for the team.

On Wednesday morning, the Minnesota Vikings announced what everyone was waiting for… Teddy Bridgewater is back and ready for action. The 24-year-old will make his miraculous return to the game field starting this Sunday against the Washington Redskins. Yet, the fantastic news comes with some bad news as Teddy takes the place of Sam Bradford, who was placed on IR.

While the news of Bradford being done for the year is disappointing, it’s the right move to make for the Vikings. For whatever reason, Bradford’s surgically repaired left knee is causing all kinds of problems for the quarterback. In all likelihood, we weren’t seeing coach Zimmer throw Bradford out there again unless he looked 100 percent. When he did so, the result was an utter disaster against the Chicago Bears in Week 5.

On side note, Zimmer noted in his presser there’s an open door come playoff time. Although, if this team makes the playoffs, they aren’t changing quarterbacks. Maybe that’s just my opinion, but it just doesn’t seem realistic.

If Minnesota hadn’t moved Bradford to IR, hoping for another miraculous knee recovery, they likely would have lost a player they’re quite find of. That is, rookie quarterback Kyle Sloter. Signed to the Vikings practice squad after spending time with the Denver Broncos, the University of Northern Colorado product showed promise in the preseason throwing for 413 yards and three touchdowns on 72.1 percent passing. As a result, he was paid far more than the minimum to join the practice squad and eventually made his way onto the active roster when Bradford went down.

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With Bridgewater on the verge of returning, the Vikings likely weren’t going to keep four quarterbacks on the active roster. So, by placing Bradford on IR, they save themselves from losing a young quarterback prospect to the open market. Given questions surrounding the long-term future at starting quarterback, hanging on to the 23-year-old is the correct move.

Additionally, this team had to bring back a healthy Bridgewater. Prior to going down with a catastrophic knee injury, he was viewed as the quarterback of the future for Minnesota. Sure, there’s no way of knowing how the injury impacts his status as such, but there’s only one way to find out. That is, to get him on the practice field and prepare him to potentially play some games down the stretch.

Of course, there’s a chance he doesn’t see game action. In fact, Mike Zimmer named Case Keenum the starter following the Bridgewater announcement. As the top quarterback, Keenum has led the team to a 5-2 record and basically, deserves the starting job until he shows otherwise. On the other hand, some argue that Keenum’s ceiling is no higher than what we’ve seen thus far. So, if the Vikings want to make a Super Bowl run, they may want to see what they have in Bridgewater.

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Regardless on what happens moving forward, placing Bradford on IR in order to activate Bridgewater was the correct move to make. Specifically, the Vikings get a chance to evaluate Teddy’s future, while continuing to develop Sloter. In addition, Bradford doesn’t have to rush his recovery and hurt the team in the process. In all, Minnesota made the moves they had to given the circumstances. Skol Vikes!