Theodore Edmond Bridgewater Jr. came into my life on May 8th 2014. Of course I had known about him before that, but I never gave him too much thought. He played at Louisville which was a school and conference I didn’t care much about and I never really figured he would end up on the Minnesota Vikings. Coming into the draft I knew we needed a quarterback, but I also knew the team I was dealing with and I figured it was more likely they dust off the corpse of Brad Johnson or Gus Frerotte than take a chance on a quarterback in the first round. When Minnesota’s pick came up at number 9 and Johnny Manziel was on the board I thought that was our chance (what an dummy I was), but then we took Anthony Barr. If I remember correctly the talking idiots on TV weren’t too thrilled about that selection (look at me now). So I thought that was it. Sure maybe we would still take a quarterback later in the draft but we would be getting a project car that needs a new transmission, not a fresh off the lot Corvette. We all know what happened next. When the 32nd pick came up, the Minnesota Vikings traded back into the first round and selected Teddy Bridgewater to be our quarterback of the future. I was pumped.
I was thrilled to have Teddy on the team but little did I know how much I would come to love him. He was awesome. He was fun, he was talented, and he brought an energy to the quarterback position we hadn’t seen in years. He was impossible not to like. The whole team seemed to love him and even Zimmer’s old, crotchety ass had a soft spot for him. Teddy seemed to get better every year and he looked ready to take the league by storm before his 2016 injury. He was the dude I wanted to lead the team into the future. I’ll never forget when I heard about his injury. I wore my Bridgewater jersey around the next day as a little show of support. That injury would end up affecting a lot of teams and a lot of quarterbacks directly and indirectly. Watching him step back on the field in 2017 to take meaningless snaps felt about as good as the Minneapolis Miracle.
This may come as a shock but I’m not a doctor (gasp!). I didn’t know the full extent of his injury and certainly didn’t know his long term prognosis, but I thought for sure the organization would bring him back in 2018, and when they didn’t I was rattled. It was brutal when he signed with the Jets, but at least it was the Jets. Pretty harmless overall. Then he got traded to Darth Vader’s team. He was now the backup QB for the evil empire. If this was middle earth, then he was teammates with Sauron. If we were in prison, he was QB for the guards. He was playing for Voldemort’s team now. You get the point. As long as he was the backup I could still wish for an 0-16 Saints team however. Or a 0-0 Saints team because the NFL decided to get rid of the franchise. Watching his awesome dance videos in the Saints locker locker room was hard. Watching him hand out bikes, and gifts, and cash from the back of a truck (dammit he’s awesome) was even harder because I couldn’t post the “That’s my quarterback” GIF. When he finally had to start for the Saints I was psyched that he was not only playing again, but he was winning.
Teddy’s a free agent once this NFL season ends, and he will get paid, which will be awesome to see even though its highly unlikely it will be the Vikings paying him. If I was the Vikings GM I would back up the Brinks truck for him. I’d back of a fleet of Brinks trucks. Teddy’s my favorite NFL player, and probably always will be. He deserves a statue in front of US Bank Stadium and an office in TCO Performance Center. The Vikings should always have salary cap available to sign Teddy just in case. His jersey should be retired when he retires. He should be in the Vikings Ring of Honor. He should retire a Viking when that sad day comes. If he ever starts a game against the Vikings, not in a Saints uniform, he should be allowed to win it, unless its the Super Bowl.
Teddy Bridgewater is the Vikings QB1 Emeritus.
mnvikesinfospot.data.blog 