NFL Sunday Playoffs Thread

Sure but what I'm saying is that if Keenum continues to do what he's been doing (he just beat Drew Brees), when all three are free agents, I bet the Vikings will let Bridgewater and Bradford go and will offer a good contract extension to Keenum. Especially if he wins the Super Bowl which is really not impossible at this point, with the home field advantage (provided that he achieves the first step of beating the Eagles).

So maybe I phrased it poorly; I should have said "with their future franchise quarterback" - while even if by some miracle Foles wins the Super Bowl, he will go back to being the back-up when Wentz gets healthy.

When you get headlines like this one, you earn a lot of clout:

www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/266670/case-keenum-stefon-diggs-play-one-of-greatest-in-nfl-playoff-history-2

The thing is, after 16 months of absence, and devastating injury, it's not even certain if Bridgewater will ever be the same (these things sometimes don't heal completely, and you end-up with an unstable knee, less balance, less speed, worse proprioception). Even before the injury, he had two good seasons but largely thanks to his defense and aggressive ground game. Now, he came back in garbage time, got his first snap in 16 months... and threw an interception.

I think the Vikings will experiment with him a bit more... and if it is rapidly visible that he's not the same, bye-bye, and the crown goes to the 2017 hero, Case Keenum, who had a regular season passing average of 98.3 which is rather good, and is not mistake-prone (22 TDs vs. 7 interceptions in the regular season). Keenum is only 29 years old so it's likely that they'd keep him for several years if he continues to do well.

Here is an opinion from a debate on ESPN that happened on December 1st, that is, before this additional success we saw yesterday:

"Domonique Foxworth, a former NFL player and current writer for The Undefeated. Here’s why he feels that the Vikings go with Keenum over Bridgewater: Keenum is my guess. But I am not confident. Both Keenum and Bridgewater will be free agents in 2018, so it'll be an interesting offseason in Minnesota. I'm betting that Keenum will be able to sustain this high level of production for the rest of the season, and I can't imagine a franchise moving on from a proven option at the most important position."

The "I'm not confident" part was before yesterday, and sure, it's because Mike Zimmer loves Bridgewater. But this love will sour rapidly if Bridgewater tries to come back and is a shadow of his former self and throws a lot of interceptions. Then you have the hero of 2017 watching from the sideline while the guy with the destroyed knee struggles? Unlikely. The NFL is a cold business, and if the king is dead, long live the new king.

Another factor is the status of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who apparently favors Keenum over Bridgewater. If he stays, it's more likely that Keenum gets the nod. If he leaves, then maybe Keenum will leave with him. Certainly there are many NFL teams in dire need of a QB, and if Keenum wins the Super Bowl or at least wins the NFC, there would be a lot of people willing to hire him.

But all things considered, my bet is that he'll stay in Minneapolis, and the other two will be the ones going away, while the team drafts a young quarterback to develop in the next several years, under Keenum.

It is likely that Keenum himself wants to stay there. Here is what he said:

“I’ve got an organization that believes in me, and a system that I can succeed in,” Keenum wrote in The Players’ Tribune. “I’ve got this great group of close-knit teammates, who have become this great group of close-knit friends. And I’m living in this amazing community — that loves, and lives, and breathes football.”

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Any opinion from Vikings fans who must know more about this than I do?