Much of the current chatter regarding Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater centers on the question of when he will be ready to play. Here’s the reality: He already is.
As repeatedly mentioned on each of the various PFT platforms in recent days, the nature and extent of Bridgewater’s knee injury means that clearance to practice equals clearance to play. So the real question is when will he play?
Bridgewater and the Vikings didn’t want to play him on Sunday in London, due in part to the fact that the fields there have a reputation (deservedly; Stefon Diggs already has fallen there) for slipperiness. (Yes, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer denied that on Monday. But Sunday has arrived, and Bridgewater isn’t active -- despite the fact that he’s good to go.)
The next question becomes whether he’ll be activated in two weeks, when the Vikings emerge from the bye to face Washington on the road. Since the window for moving him to the active roster or shutting him down will arrive in little more than a week, expect Bridgewater to be moved to the active roster soon, likely on the last day of the three-week window that opens when a player on PUP returns to practice.
Clearance to play from a health standpoint is a separate question from preparedness to perform in an offense that is different from the offense that Bridgewater commandeered in 2014 and 2015, with Norv Turner running the show. Pat Shurmur, one of the prime movers in the move that resulted in Sam Bradford coming to Minnesota after Bridgewater’s knee injury, now serves as the offensive coordinator. This means that Bridgewater won’t be able to simply pick up where he left off. Which means that Bridgewater actually playing will be about a lot more than his knee.
And so the Vikings will need to apply a sliding scale that balances Bridgewater against both Case Keenum and Sam Bradford, who continues to be out with a non-contact knee injury that he suffered way back in Week One. At that point, it could become a kn0w-it-when-you-see-it proposition, especially if the Vikings continue to see Case Keenum throwing interceptions like the one that ended the opening drive on Sunday against the lowly Browns.