Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater Could Return In Week 10

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the earliest target for Teddy Bridgewater to return is in Week 10 following the team’s bye week.

According to Rapoport, it’s possible the Vikings could have a situation at that point where Bridgewater, Case Keenum, and Sam Bradford are all healthy and ready to play against the Redskins.

On Thursday, Bridgewater told reporters that he believes he’ll play at some point this season.

“I definitely believe I’ll play this year,” Bridgewater said, per Tom Pelissero.

Bridgewater mentioned that he “didn’t feel rusty at all” during Wednesday’s practice and he’s confident in his knee moving forward.

“I’m very confident. I wouldn’t go out on that practice field if I wasn’t,” Bridgewater said, per Pelissero.

Bridgewater admitted that he was probably ready to practice awhile ago, but they wanted to be smart about his return.

Earlier in the week, Bridgewater received medical clearance to practice by the doctor who performed the surgery on his dislocated knee.

The Vikings have a three-week window to officially add him to their active roster.

As for Bridgewater’s contract, sources have told Rapoport last weekend 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.

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.

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.