Agent Denies Report That Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater Likely To Miss Entire 2017 Season

Update:

Kennard McGuire, the agent for Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater, tells ESPN’s Adam Schefter the report that his client is likely to miss the entire 2017 season has “zero substance and no credibility.”

“I would not overreact to a story that has zero substance and no credibility,” McGuire tells Schefter.

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A Vikings’ source told Jason Cole of B/R that QB Teddy Bridgewater is likely to miss the entire 2017 season, due to the significant knee injury he suffered right before the start of the 2016 season.

According to Cole, doctors have told the Vikings that the shortest recovery time for Bridgewater’s injury is 19 months. With this in mind, the best-case scenario is that Bridgewater will be fully healthy by March of next year.

A few weeks ago, Vikings HC Mike Zimmer admitted during an interview with ESPN that he isn’t sure when Bridgewater will be able to return from his knee injury.

“I don’t know when Teddy will be back,” Zimmer said, per Pro Football Talk.

Back in October, Adam Schefter reported that Bridgewater was making strides in his recovery from his knee injury and the team is pleased with his progress overall.

However, Schefter said that other doctors around the league know there are no guarantees Bridgewater will be able to return to the type of player he once was.

“If he didn’t make it back, it wouldn’t surprise me,” one doctor who has worked with NFL teams said told Schefter. “This is a bad injury, about the worst knee injury a player can have.”

Schefter pointed out that Bridgewater suffered the same injury that effectively ended 49ers RB Marcus Lattimore’s career.

The good news for Bridgewater is that he doesn’t play running back, he did not suffer nerve damage in his knee, he underwent successful surgery, and is still only 23 years old.

Even so, Schefter said that Bridgewater’s injury is “about the worse knee injury a player can have.‘”

“Teddy Bridgewater continues to rehab in Minnesota and he is making progress,” Schefter said, via CBSSports.com. “Nearly two months after he dislocated his knee, Bridgewater is making strides and Vikings’ officials are pleased with where he’s at. But other doctors around the league know there are no guarantees Bridgewater will be able to return to the type of quarterback he was, if he makes it back to the NFL at all.

“As one doctor who’s worked with NFL teams said this week, ‘If he didn’t make it back, it wouldn’t surprise me. This is a bad injury, about the worse knee injury a player can have.‘”

Clearly, the plan for Minnesota will be for Sam Bradford to open the season and likely serve as their quarterback in 2017 before reassessing Bridgewater.

Bridgewater, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Vikings back in 2014. He’s currently in the third year of his four-year, $6,849,502 rookie contract and stands to make a base salary of $1,042,682 for the 2016 season.

The Vikings placed on him injured reserve to open the season. The Vikings are still expected to exercise Bridgewater’s fifth-year option.

In 2015, Bridgewater appeared in all 16 games for the Vikings and threw for 3,231 yards while completing 65.3 percent of his passes to go along with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

We’ll have more regarding Bridgewater’s return as the news is available.