Vikings Could Find Their Backup QB After All
Josh Frey
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The Denver Broncos made a bit of headline news yesterday afternoon after acquiring former Viking first round pick, Teddy Bridgewater, from the Carolina Panthers. Denver sent a sixth round pick in exchange for the journeyman QB, and they immediately restructured his deal to create cap space. Bridgewater’s final year of his deal is now gone, and he is only due $4.5 million in 2021.
So, what does this have to do with Minnesota? Well, this isn’t the most breaking QB news within the division given what’s going on in Green Bay. However, restructuring Bridgewater’s contract gives Denver the option to continue pursuing a QB in the draft, specifically Trey Lance or Justin Fields.
Because of this, there is really no need to keep Drew Lock around. He has gotten his shot as a starter over the past two seasons and has been lackluster in his performance. Because of that, there are new rumblings that Denver could ship Lock out if they pick a quarterback tonight. The two teams connected to such a trade at this point in time are the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers.
Lock is under contract through 2022, but he does not command much in terms of cap. He is due just $1.9 million in 2021 and $2.2 million in 2022. It’s been discussed at length over here at Uffda! Sports, but the Vikings could certainly use an improvement at backup quarterback. Kirk Cousins has (knock on wood) been very healthy to this point in his career, but it would be nice to have someone not named Sean Mannion backing him up in case this luck runs out.
Lock has shown flashes of talent, but it just hasn’t really worked out to this point in his career. In 18 career starts, he is 8-10 while throwing for 3953 yards, 23 TDs, and 18 INTs while completing 59.1% of his passes. Not the greatest numbers for a starter, but hey, you could do much worse with a backup. The Vikings typically have, and if their old buddy George Paton can cut them a deal, it may be time to make a move.