What’s happening with Teddy Bridgewater, in a 2-minute read

Teddy Bridgewater was once viewed as the franchise quarterback who was going to bring the Minnesota Vikings back to prominence. After a devastating knee injury, he was sidelined and has yet to take back his starting position.

Case Keenum has played incredibly well in his place and hasn’t given the Vikings any reason to replace him. He completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,547 yards, 22 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions during the Vikings’ 13-3 season in 2017.

Now Bridgewater is healthy again, and at 25 years old, his career isn’t over. Here’s what has gone on with the quarterback the past couple of years.

Bridgewater’s non-contact injury came during a preseason practice. The Vikings released the following statement when the injury happened:

Teddy Bridgewater suffered a non-contact injury today at practice. The injury was quickly identified as a dislocated knee. The injury was stabilized, and he was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment and evaluation. After undergoing an MRI, it was determined that Teddy suffered a complete tear to his ACL and other structural damage. Fortunately, there appears to be no nerve or arterial damage. Surgical repair will be scheduled within the next few days. Although the recovery time will be significant, we expect Teddy to make a full recovery.

“Let’s let the kid... let’s let him get healthy,” head coach Mike Zimmer said. “I love this kid. Our fans love this kid.”

Zimmer also spoke with confidence about his team after it happened.

”Everybody can count us out if they want,” he said. “I think that’d be the wrong thing to do.”

The Vikings, who had won the NFC North in 2015, went 8-8 with Sam Bradford under center and missed the playoffs.

More than a year after Bridgewater’s injury, Zimmer announced in mid-October that the quarterback would return to practice.

“It’s a great deal for Teddy, and we’ll take it one day at a time, just like we did for the past 14 months,” Zimmer said.

Bridgewater had been placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list prior to the 2017 season. The Vikings had the option to leave him on, but they chose to activate him.

After a 442-day absence, Bridgewater was in pads and a Vikings uniform on the sideline against Washington.

It was understandably an emotional moment for him:

The job wasn’t initially Keenum’s to take from Bridgewater. Bradford was going to continue to play in Bridgewater’s place. But because of Bradford’s own knee injury, Keenum played in 15 games during the regular season, including 14 starts.

Keenum was signed as a free agent in 2017 and has put together the best season of his career by leaps and bounds. He went 11-3 in his starts and also led the team to its first playoff win in eight years, thanks in part to Keenum connecting with Stefon Diggs for an unbelievable last-second touchdown against the Saints.

Bradford, who was activated earlier that week, was Keenum’s backup for the game. Bridgewater was a healthy scratch.

But Bridgewater did get to see some action this season, making an appearance late during the Vikings’ 34-7 win over the Bengals in Week 15.

Bridgewater got a raucous standing ovation upon entering the game:

His first pass was an interception after it went off his receiver’s hands, but it didn’t matter. The important part was that he finally made it back into a game.

This is the toughest question the Vikings will have to answer all offseason. While Keenum has had a great year, the Vikings likely don’t view him as a long-term solution for their team.

Bridgewater, on the other hand, is still young and showed a lot of promise in his second season as a starter in 2015. He’s set to become a free agent this offseason, along with both Keenum and Bradford.

There is no guaranteeing Bridgewater will be the same player, but he’s the one the Vikings spent a first-round pick on and will most likely not want to part with him. If they want to see what they have in Bridgewater, keeping Keenum around — or even Bradford — is going to be difficult.