'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

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'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by Cliff »

In case you were curious why so many here wanted Teddy.

https://www.vikings.com/news/teddy-brid ... -minnesota
Over the years, Rudolph has seen hundreds of players come and go in the locker room.

But along the way, there has been one who has stood out among the rest: Teddy Bridgewater.

"I'm pretty certain making this statement that in the 10 years I've been here, he has to be the most likeable player that we've had in the locker room," Rudolph said. "I mean you just talk to people in the front office, coaching staff, players that played with him, workers in the category, everyone loved Teddy. You loved his energy and positivity that he brought every day, his work ethic that he brought every day.
"I remember it all. I was just happy that I had him in my corner when I got here," said Cook, whose locker was next to Bridgewater's at Winter Park. "I was just so far away from home and I'd never been this far away. And just to have a guy in my corner that can relate to me and know what I've been through with some of the struggles and knowing the effect of being away from home, it was great for me to sit back and analyze Teddy's situation.

"He was going through his knee injury and his mind was in that recovery stage of getting back on the field. So I was just picking his brain and seeing how he went about his business, his recovery, just everything," Cook added. "He handed it to me, he put it all on a platter and just laid it on the line for me of how to be a pro, how to handle your business, how to go to meetings. Everything … the little details … Teddy gave it to me."
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by psjordan »

And there is the bane for Rick haters/lovers who boil player personnel decisions down to Rick only.

Rick drafted Teddy, Rick let Teddy go. Sigh.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

psjordan wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:31 am And there is the bane for Rick haters/lovers who boil player personnel decisions down to Rick only.

Rick drafted Teddy, Rick let Teddy go. Sigh.
Mike Zimmer has said it as well as anyone could say it. They let Teddy go because the medical staff didn't feel he would be able to do what he's doing now. They got it wrong, but it was an organizational decision, not just Rick Spielman.

It's impossible to know if the Vikings would be better off right now with Teddy Bridgewater at QB. One thing is for certain. We'd have more cap space. But there was no way to know back at the end of 2017 that Teddy would be able to handle things physically.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by RandyMoss84 »

J. Kapp 11 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:21 pm
psjordan wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:31 am And there is the bane for Rick haters/lovers who boil player personnel decisions down to Rick only.

Rick drafted Teddy, Rick let Teddy go. Sigh.
Mike Zimmer has said it as well as anyone could say it. They let Teddy go because the medical staff didn't feel he would be able to do what he's doing now. They got it wrong, but it was an organizational decision, not just Rick Spielman.

It's impossible to know if the Vikings would be better off right now with Teddy Bridgewater at QB. One thing is for certain. We'd have more cap space. But there was no way to know back at the end of 2017 that Teddy would be able to handle things physically.
We have a dumb medical staff but every time any quarterback leaves, fans always say "Bring back Keenum, bring back Favre, bring back Tarkenton !" It honestly have gotten old and tiring
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by Thaumaturgist »

RandyMoss84 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:34 pm
J. Kapp 11 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:21 pm
Mike Zimmer has said it as well as anyone could say it. They let Teddy go because the medical staff didn't feel he would be able to do what he's doing now. They got it wrong, but it was an organizational decision, not just Rick Spielman.

It's impossible to know if the Vikings would be better off right now with Teddy Bridgewater at QB. One thing is for certain. We'd have more cap space. But there was no way to know back at the end of 2017 that Teddy would be able to handle things physically.
We have a dumb medical staff but every time any quarterback leaves, fans always say "Bring back Keenum, bring back Favre, bring back Tarkenton !" It honestly have gotten old and tiring
Maybe it's because it's been so long since we've had an undeniable franchise QB.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by J. Kapp 11 »

RandyMoss84 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:34 pm
J. Kapp 11 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:21 pm
Mike Zimmer has said it as well as anyone could say it. They let Teddy go because the medical staff didn't feel he would be able to do what he's doing now. They got it wrong, but it was an organizational decision, not just Rick Spielman.

It's impossible to know if the Vikings would be better off right now with Teddy Bridgewater at QB. One thing is for certain. We'd have more cap space. But there was no way to know back at the end of 2017 that Teddy would be able to handle things physically.
We have a dumb medical staff but every time any quarterback leaves, fans always say "Bring back Keenum, bring back Favre, bring back Tarkenton !" It honestly have gotten old and tiring
So which is it?

Dumb medical staff? Or Bridgewater wasn't the answer anyway?

I'd tell you what I think gets old and tiring, but you wouldn't like it.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by RandyMoss84 »

J. Kapp 11 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:56 pm
RandyMoss84 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:34 pm

We have a dumb medical staff but every time any quarterback leaves, fans always say "Bring back Keenum, bring back Favre, bring back Tarkenton !" It honestly have gotten old and tiring
So which is it?

Dumb medical staff? Or Bridgewater wasn't the answer anyway?

I'd tell you what I think gets old and tiring, but you wouldn't like it.
Dumb medical staff, they should have waited and see if Bridgewater would recovery from the injury
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by S197 »

I don’t blame Rick for moving on, he almost lost a leg to a non-contact injury. They were in the running for a guy like Cousins who at the time was a potential franchise QB. And considering how far they went with Case, it was understandable that they thought Cousins was the piece to put them over the top.

What’s unconscionable is extending Cousins. Rather than admit a mistake, Rick double downed and now we’re in purgatory. At bare minimum if he wasn’t sure he could have let Cousins play out the last year of his 1st contract. You get another year to evaluate him and with the franchise tag, no chance of losing him.

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the Cousins debate. There is simply no way in hell he’s a $45 million QB but that’s what we’re going to pay for some inexplicable reason.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by CharVike »

S197 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 6:56 pm I don’t blame Rick for moving on, he almost lost a leg to a non-contact injury. They were in the running for a guy like Cousins who at the time was a potential franchise QB. And considering how far they went with Case, it was understandable that they thought Cousins was the piece to put them over the top.

What’s unconscionable is extending Cousins. Rather than admit a mistake, Rick double downed and now we’re in purgatory. At bare minimum if he wasn’t sure he could have let Cousins play out the last year of his 1st contract. You get another year to evaluate him and with the franchise tag, no chance of losing him.

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the Cousins debate. There is simply no way in hell he’s a $45 million QB but that’s what we’re going to pay for some inexplicable reason.
Going to means it hasn't happened yet. Right now Cousins is number 15 in QB CAP hit. Middle of the road hit. Cousins is better than middle of the road. IMO Rick made solid QB moves with all 3 of the guys mentioned. Last year Cousins marched a wildcard team on the road against a HOF franchise QB and beat his arse. No fan or the media gives him any credit for that. That's a hard task to accomplish. People expect a great QB for nothing. That only happens via the draft.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by Cliff »

I don't blame the Vikings for moving on considering what happened. Still, I think about what might have been had he not suffered that injury or they stuck with him.

Though I will say despite that injury he never remained unsigned. The Jets even got a 3rd rounder out of him from NO the season the Vikings let him walk.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by VikingLord »

I don't think there was ever a question about Bridgewater's talent or personality. He was a winner in college and when healthy he's been a winner in the pros too. As Kapp said, the question was about his health and ability to perform well after the injury, and I think the Vikings were cautious and did their due diligence in trying to answer that question before they moved on from Bridgewater. IIRC, after he got hurt they kept him under contract for a full year as they waited to see how he recovered. It just didn't work out.

For purposes of the upcoming game, however, I see Bridgewater as less dangerous than Cousins. Bridgewater is a good QB, but he's more like Andy Dalton - more of a game manager who makes good decisions for the most part and executes well, but he's not a guy who's going to drop dimes into the corner of the end zone. Not to say Cousins does that much either, but I think Cousins is capable of doing it while I'm still not convinced Bridgewater is.

The upcoming game likely won't come down to the play of either of them. To win, the Vikings need to unleash the "Cookin" and run the ball effectively, which opens up everything else on offense, while they need to limit the Panthers run game on 1st and 2nd downs. If Bridgewater finds himself in a lot of 3rd-and-3 or less situations, it's going to be a long day for the Vikings. If, OTOH, the Vikings can keep the Panthers in 3rd-and-7 or longer consistently, Vikings should win barring major catastrophes on special teams, turnovers or the refs.

It will be good to see Bridgewater, but between the two of them I'd still take Cousins.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by vikeinmontana »

Ah.....hindsight! Isn't it great?!

Can you imagine this board and our fanbase in general had we held on to Teddy and he never overcame his injury like he has? All we would hear is how stupid our front office is. How no player could ever be the same again after such a gruesome injury. Rick is a moron. Yada yada yada.

Sports, like all businesses in general, is about calculated risks. Do the potential rewards warrant the risks. Sometimes you'll swing and miss, sometimes you'll hit it out of the park. But one thing is for certain; there will ALWAYS be 50% of the people telling you how wrong and stupid you are. It's just our way. :lol:
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by S197 »

CharVike wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:44 pm
S197 wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 6:56 pm I don’t blame Rick for moving on, he almost lost a leg to a non-contact injury. They were in the running for a guy like Cousins who at the time was a potential franchise QB. And considering how far they went with Case, it was understandable that they thought Cousins was the piece to put them over the top.

What’s unconscionable is extending Cousins. Rather than admit a mistake, Rick double downed and now we’re in purgatory. At bare minimum if he wasn’t sure he could have let Cousins play out the last year of his 1st contract. You get another year to evaluate him and with the franchise tag, no chance of losing him.

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the Cousins debate. There is simply no way in hell he’s a $45 million QB but that’s what we’re going to pay for some inexplicable reason.
Going to means it hasn't happened yet. Right now Cousins is number 15 in QB CAP hit. Middle of the road hit. Cousins is better than middle of the road. IMO Rick made solid QB moves with all 3 of the guys mentioned. Last year Cousins marched a wildcard team on the road against a HOF franchise QB and beat his arse. No fan or the media gives him any credit for that. That's a hard task to accomplish. People expect a great QB for nothing. That only happens via the draft.
"Going to" is just semantics. That $45 million is guaranteed BEFORE the start of next year. If it doesn't happen and he's cut, then there's a $30 million cap hit in 2021 AND another $10 million in 2022. So it doesn't matter how you want to dice it, we're on the hook for $40 million for an average QB.

There is no out. The only hail mary of a chance that the Vikings have is a trade but who would take over that contract?
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by StumpHunter »

VikingLord wrote: Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:33 am I don't think there was ever a question about Bridgewater's talent or personality. He was a winner in college and when healthy he's been a winner in the pros too. As Kapp said, the question was about his health and ability to perform well after the injury, and I think the Vikings were cautious and did their due diligence in trying to answer that question before they moved on from Bridgewater. IIRC, after he got hurt they kept him under contract for a full year as they waited to see how he recovered. It just didn't work out.

For purposes of the upcoming game, however, I see Bridgewater as less dangerous than Cousins. Bridgewater is a good QB, but he's more like Andy Dalton - more of a game manager who makes good decisions for the most part and executes well, but he's not a guy who's going to drop dimes into the corner of the end zone. Not to say Cousins does that much either, but I think Cousins is capable of doing it while I'm still not convinced Bridgewater is.

The upcoming game likely won't come down to the play of either of them. To win, the Vikings need to unleash the "Cookin" and run the ball effectively, which opens up everything else on offense, while they need to limit the Panthers run game on 1st and 2nd downs. If Bridgewater finds himself in a lot of 3rd-and-3 or less situations, it's going to be a long day for the Vikings. If, OTOH, the Vikings can keep the Panthers in 3rd-and-7 or longer consistently, Vikings should win barring major catastrophes on special teams, turnovers or the refs.

It will be good to see Bridgewater, but between the two of them I'd still take Cousins.
Teddy is currently 4th in 3rd down conversions on pass plays.

On 3rd and long, his rank drops to 11th, but that is 10 spots higher than our guy.

His offense prior to last week when Walker started was 10th in scoring and #1 in yards per drive, which means that despite his team having a lousy run game, his passing game has his team moving the ball better than any team in the NFL. Better than our offense with the best RB in the NFL.

I would agree our offense is more difficult to plan for because of Cook, and the Panthers being a one dimensional offense, but on 3rd and long I take that offense over ours.
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Re: 'Hey, Teddy': Vikings Laud Bridgewater Before QB's Return to Play Minnesota

Post by CharVike »

S197 wrote: Fri Nov 27, 2020 4:03 pm
CharVike wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:44 pm
Going to means it hasn't happened yet. Right now Cousins is number 15 in QB CAP hit. Middle of the road hit. Cousins is better than middle of the road. IMO Rick made solid QB moves with all 3 of the guys mentioned. Last year Cousins marched a wildcard team on the road against a HOF franchise QB and beat his arse. No fan or the media gives him any credit for that. That's a hard task to accomplish. People expect a great QB for nothing. That only happens via the draft.
"Going to" is just semantics. That $45 million is guaranteed BEFORE the start of next year. If it doesn't happen and he's cut, then there's a $30 million cap hit in 2021 AND another $10 million in 2022. So it doesn't matter how you want to dice it, we're on the hook for $40 million for an average QB.

There is no out. The only hail mary of a chance that the Vikings have is a trade but who would take over that contract?
I agree with what you are pointing out and I didn't see a reason for the extension either. They will need to do another extension if they plan on keeping him. But the team needs to have a QB. I wanted Rick to pick Lock but he passed. Not saying Lock is a great QB but it would have given us a guy in the hole that could take over. The backup we have now is worthless. This lack of planning is what pisses me off the most. A team needs to spend the CAP. I also don't see a bunch of great players hitting FA every year to spend the CAP on. I see very few elite pass rushers in FA. Teams keep those guys. They all know pressure wins games. Without it you have very little chance. We kept our guy Hunter. You can say we lost Rhodes but he basically blew two years in a row. Now some site has him as the best in the game. He's a zone guy which IMO isn't the best. The best is a guy who can close down a side of the field as Rhodes did at one point. If we missed out on players that could push us over the top then yes it was very stupid. But I didn't see a shut down CB or elite pass rusher or safety that gets a ton of picks available. I'm not sure what we lost out on with the contract. But they will adjust as they move forward. Remember this team fills the stadium and for the Wilf's that's the bottom line. If they can't draw then big changes will be made.
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