Yes, quarterback Sam Bradford has returned to the active roster for the Vikings. That doesn’t mean the Vikings are thinking about yanking Case Keenum on Sunday.
“Case is the guy,” said a source with knowledge of the situation, one day before the Vikings host the Saints in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Bradford definitely was the guy in Week One, shredding the Saints for the best game of his career on a Monday night. Two days later, Bradford popped up as a limited participant in practice with a knee injury, and he has played only once since then, in a Week Five game against the Bears where it was instantly obvious that he shouldn’t have been on the field.
So will he be back on the field on Sunday? It’s highly unlikely that it will happen for performance reasons. However, as one source pointed out, the NFL’s ever-expanding concussion policy has made the Vikings more careful about ensuring that they have competent options in the event that Keenum ends up in the locker room for a full-blown concussion evaluation.
The next question is whether the Vikings will put Keenum, Bradford, and Teddy Bridgewater on the active, 46-man roster on Sunday. A league source says that decision will be made on Sunday. If the decision to put Bradford on the 53-man roster was driven by the desire to have extra help available due to a potentially untimely concussion evaluation, it would make sense for tomorrow’s decision to be that all three quarterbacks will dress.