Over the next couple weeks, Zone Coverage will break down the Minnesota Vikings post-draft roster by position group.
Previous stories:
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends
Offensive line
Today’s Focus: Quarterbacks
With Kevin Stefanski supplanting Scott Turner as the team’s quarterback’s coach, Minnesota heads into a 2017 season ripe with quarterback subplots. Last year’s starter enters the final year of his contract, while the once-heralded franchise quarterback continues to battle back from a devastating knee injury. Here’s where it stands.
Departures: Shaun Hill (FA)
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Arrivals: Case Keenum, Wes Lunt
Already rostered: Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Bradford, Taylor Heinicke
THE LONG SHOT: Wes Lunt
The Vikings typically seem to bring an undrafted Big Ten arm into camp, so Lunt, coming from Illinois, fits the mold perfectly. Believe it or not, Wisconsin’s Joel Stave found himself taking first-team reps at one point last August thanks to multiple injuries, so anything is possible, but unless things go downhill quickly, Lunt will not last.
COMPETING: Case Keenum, Taylor Heinicke
Many know Keenum as the guy from “Hard Knocks” who has his wife quiz him on the playbook while they prepare dinner. Keenum will need plenty of assistance from those flash cards if he’s going to beat out Heinicke for the second-string job. Even though Keenum is the cliched veteran backup — taking that torch from Shaun Hill — the Vikings have stood by Heinicke even through a lengthy recovery from ankle surgery and seem to like his potential. The upside is certainly higher with the 24-year-old Heinicke than it is with 29-year-old Keenum, who is 9-15 as a starting quarterback. A good preseason could translate to a backup job for the younger passer.
RECOVERING: Teddy Bridgewater
A lot has been written on this site about Bridgewater’s recovery from a dislocated knee, but without any real timeline given by the team or Bridgewater himself, we are still left to speculate how serious the injury was, how speedy the recovery has been and whether the team envisions Bridgewater reclaiming his job someday. The most likely outcome continues to be a six-week stint on the Physically Unable to Perform list, followed by a five-week period where the team judges whether or not Bridgewater should be activated. All the while, the team may be battling with the NFLPA over the status of Bridgewater’s contract and whether it should “toll” to a fifth year and prevent him from entering free agency. This will get interesting.
STARTER UNTIL WE’RE TOLD OTHERWISE: Sam Bradford
The thickening plot surrounding Bridgewater has made Bradford’s future even murkier. As Bridgewater’s rehab seems to progress nicely, the clock winds down on Bradford’s contract, and the better Bridgewater looks, the less valuable Bradford becomes to the Vikings. Minnesota may not be eager to pay the soon-to-be-30-year-old Bradford $20 million per year, even after a solid 2016 season, and hamper their ability to retain Bridgewater. Minnesota’s decision makers have never been at such a fork in the road with the quarterback position. Their decisions over the next several months will alter the path of the franchise.
PREDICTION
Making the roster: Bradford, Heinicke, Keenum
PUP: Bridgewater
