Minnesota Vikings Must Prepare for Life After Teddy Bridgewater
By Zac Wassink
The Minnesota Vikings need to be ready for life after Teddy Bridgewater.
The National Football League, like life, isn’t fair.
In a fair world, Teddy Bridgewater would be preparing to serve as the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. Bridgewater played well in his first two seasons, and the hope as of only a week ago was that he would continue taking positive strides en route to possibly becoming an elite top-tier QB mentioned alongside names such as Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Eli Manning.
It’s not a fair world in the NFL, though, something Bridgewater and the Vikings know all too well these days.
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What exactly happened on August 30, 2016 may never be known to those of us who weren’t on the practice field. We know Bridgewater suffered a dislocated knee and torn ACL during what was, by all accounts, a routine team practice. Stories about the gruesome nature of the injury — Eric Crawford of WDRB.com reported one source told him Bridgewater’s knee was “dangling” — remain more myth than confirmed fact as of the posting of this piece.
Regardless, it seems Bridgewater has quite the recovery ahead of him between now and August 2017.
As one would hope and expect, Minnesota players and staffers have been nothing but supportive when publicly speaking about Bridgewater. Bridgewater, like any determined starting QB not yet in his physical prime, has vowed to return. The 23-year-old signal-caller may, however, not be ready to return to the field until next fall.
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The old cliche teaches us that the NFL is the ultimate “what have you done for me lately?” business in professional sports. A head coach with multiple Super Bowl championships on his resume can be fired after a few lackluster seasons. Players receive only so much money guaranteed per terms of contracts. Talent comes and goes every year.
Things changed for the Vikings in the blink of an eye on August 30. They now have to realize that for the good of the franchise.
Nobody, not the most optimistic doctor or fan, knows for certain what Bridgewater will be a year from now. Maybe he’ll be fine. Perhaps Bridgewater will complete a hero’s return to action and win Comeback Player of the Year honors for 2017. It would be an incredible story, one that could make Bridgewater one of the faces of the NFL moving forward.
What if that doesn’t happen? What then?
Injuries ruin careers in some cases. Robert Griffin III has yet to be the same player he was during his rookie season with the Washington Redskins. New York Giants fans are hoping wide receiver Victor Cruz can be even 85 percent of what he was before he suffered a serious knee injury during a game in August 2014. The list of similar cases goes on and on.
There is currently no scenario in September 2016 where those running the Vikings can dismiss the idea of selecting a QB in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
If the Vikings play terribly without Bridgewater in 2016, it should set all kinds of alarms off in the minds of the Minnesota coaching staff and front office. It would also net the Vikings a high draft pick, one that could be used to select a QB or that could be paired with other picks to move up in the draft order if necessary.
The possibility exists, however, that the Vikings will be decent and maybe even good with Bridgewater sidelined. Dynamic running back Adrian Peterson is, after all, still in the backfield, and Peterson has shown no signs of slowing down even though he is past his 30th birthday. The Minnesota offense is not one centered around Bridgewater chucking 50 passes for 400+ yards on Sunday afternoon.
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If Minnesota doesn’t miss Bridgewater, however, the question will have to be asked: Can the Vikings do better than a version of Bridgewater that may not be as good as he was in 2015?
Peterson, Minnesota’s best offensive play-maker, isn’t getting any younger. He is in the twilight of his career regardless of what he says or feels about the matter. That reality makes the Vikings a win-now team, one that needs better than an average QB or a QB who requires a long feeling-out process to return to full form, full health and full confidence as it pertains to his skills and the strength of a surgically-repaired knee.
There remain multiple variables affecting this equation heading into Week 1 of the 2016 campaign. Maybe Bridgewater will prove to be a medical miracle, return to the football field as early as July 2017 and look as good as new. Perhaps, on the other hand, the Vikings will be downright terrible without Bridgewater en route to finishing with the league’s worst record and the first overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Maybe highly-touted Clemson QB Deshaun Watson will fall right into Minnesota’s lap.
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Every successful NFL front office has one eye on the future as it takes care of business today. The Vikings must now be more focused on matters past 2016 than was the case one week ago.
It’s understandable nobody associated with the Vikings wants to think about life after Bridgewater. Bridgewater is a proven leader, proven winner and a QB seemingly on the rise; or at least he was seemingly on the rise at the start of August 30.
Teams move on. It happens, and it’s a necessary evil of the business. Nobody is saying the Vikings will part ways with Bridgewater at any point in 2017. It’s too early to even suggest that.
The Vikings must, however, be realistic and embrace the idea of a different starting QB for next season as a safety measure just in case Bridgewater is never again the same player.