Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Vikings QB Sam Bradford is still experiencing knee pain and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be ready anytime soon.
According to Rapoport, there’s still no timeline for Bradford’s return to the Vikings.
As for Teddy Bridgewater, Rapoport says that he’s healthy enough for the Vikings to officially activate him off of the PUP list after their bye week and then have him compete for the starting job with Case Keenum. Rapoport adds that he wouldn’t be surprised if Bridgewater was under center for the Vikings at some point in the near future.
The Vikings have a three-week window to officially add Bridgewater to their active roster.
A few weeks ago, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported that Bradford’s knee is “much worse than people know.” According to Glazer, Bradford’s knee has so much wear and tear and cartilage issues built up over the years that caused constant pain and swelling.
As of now, Bradford doesn’t view this a career-ending situation, but Glazer says that if his knee continues to swell up and continues to cause him pain, “Bradford is going to have to look at that knee and make a decision on his career.”
Rapoport previously reported that Bradford is still an experiencing pain in his knee, which led to him traveling to New York this past week to begin Regenokine treatments in hopes of getting the inflammation out of his knee.
According to Rapoport, these treatments involve drawing Bradford’s blood, spinning it down and then reinjecting it into the knee over five or six days.
Bradford suffered a non-contact bone bruise in his left knee, which happens to be the same knee in which he twice has had ACL reconstruction surgery.
Bradford, 29, is a former first-round pick of the Rams back in 2010. He spent four years with the Rams before he was traded to the Eagles in 2015. After Teddy Bridgewater sustained a serious knee injury last year, the Eagles traded him to the Vikings for draft compensation.
Bradford is currently in the final year of his two-year, $36 million contract that included $36 million guaranteed and stands to make a base salary of $13 million for the 2017 season.
This season, Bradford has appeared in two games and thrown for 382 yards while completing 74.4 percent of his passes to go along with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Bridgewater, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Vikings back in 2014. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $6,849,502 rookie contract and stands to make a base salary of $1,354,023 for the 2017 season.
The Vikings declined to pick up Bridgewater’s fifth-year option that would have cost them $12,198,000 million for the 2018 season, but was guaranteed only for injury and wouldn’t have prevented them from working on a long-term extension over the next year.
As for Bridgewater’s contract, sources have told Rapoport a few weeks ago that it’s unlikely it will toll if the Vikings activate Bridgewater in the coming weeks, which means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2018.
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.
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