The fact that Teddy Bridgewater’s contract option for 2018 wasn’t picked up by the Vikings doesn’t mean he’ll be done with the Vikings after next season.
“It doesn’t mean Teddy wouldn’t be a Minnesota Viking, it just means, where his health is at this point, we wouldn’t pick up his option,” General Manager Rick Spielman said on PFT Live Friday.
Had the Vikings picked up Bridgewater’s option they would have guaranteed him about $12 million no matter what, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Bridgewater’s contract is actually pretty sneaky. If he spends the entire 2017 season on the physically unable to perform list, the fourth year of his contract won’t count against him until 2018, Rapoport says. The contract option the Vikings passed on wouldn’t be valid until 2019.
“I love Teddy Bridgewater,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said Friday, mixing in a press conference between walk-throughs. “The guy is working his rear end off and continues to fight every single day. Everything about him, when he’s rehabbing and doing the work he has to do is the exact same way he approaches life, so. I’m excited.
“I’m probably more optimistic now about him potentially playing than I have at any point in time. But he still has a long way to go.”
https://twitter.com/teddyb_h2o/status/860534134359379968
Bridgewater suffered a dislocated knee and torn ACL while dropping back for a routine pass in practice last August.
