Vikings’ QB2 Signing Could Be a Heartfelt Reunion
The Vikings’ search for QB2 continues as we’ve gotten into early April, and it probably won’t end until after the 2025 NFL Draft concludes later this month to not mess with the compensatory pick formula for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Plenty of names are still out on the market for these Vikings. Joe Flacco, Ryan Tannehill, and Carson Wentz are the most frequently mentioned amongst the fanbase.
Other lesser-discussed names include the likes of C.J. Beathard, Desmond Ridder, Easton Stick, and Josh Johnson. Yeah, there’s a reason they’re “lesser-discussed.”
The proposition of one of the most often discussed all have their upsides; Tannehill has the usual veteran experience, Flacco has that experience as well as legitimate deep playoff (and Super Bowl MVP winning) experience, and Wentz remains a “what-if” amongst fans and league circles as he has for years. Man, he truly was special in that 2017 season, but it’s crazy to think that was almost a decade ago.
There is one man, however, who brings experience against all of the odds, has been a part of winning locker rooms, and probably still knows the city of Minneapolis quite well. That would be Mr. Theodore Edmond Bridgewater Jr.
We all know the story: the Vikings trade back into the first round of the 2014 draft and select Bridgewater at 32. He won the division in 2015, followed by the Blair Walsh miss and the awful leg injury.
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but it would be a full circle moment for Teddy and for Vikings fans everywhere to have the guy who was supposed to be “the” guy mentoring the new guy who is the next “the” guy in J.J. McCarthy.
Both experienced leg injuries early on in their careers, both excel and struggle in similar areas of the quarterback position, and both are two of the most mentally concrete humans on the face of the planet.
Bridgewater did retire a year ago, on February 2nd, 2024, after he announced in December of 2023 his plans to do so. “Teddy Two Gloves” went on to head coach for his alma mater, Miami Northwestern High School, where he won the Class 3A Florida High School Athletic Association State Championship. On both ends of his retirement, he spent the 2023 and late 2024 seasons with the Detroit Lions.
Other than the Lions, Bridgewater has spent time with the Jets, Saints, Panthers, Broncos, and Dolphins since the Vikings didn’t re-up his contract after the 2017 season since the Vikings decided to hitch their wagon to Kirk Cousins, giving him the first-ever fully guaranteed contract in NFL history.
Not only did Minnesota punt on Bridgewater, but they also let Case Keenum, who led the Vikings to a 13-3 record and NFC Championship appearance after the Minneapolis Miracle, walk along with Sam Bradford, whom the Vikings traded a first and fourth-round pick for from the Eagles after Bridgewater’s leg injury.
A lot has happened since Teddy was a Viking, and it’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 years since he donned the purple and 11 years since the Vikings made the call to trade up and select him in 2014. It may just be fan fiction, but having Teddy as a QB2 and mentor to McCarthy just feels right from a football sense, too.
Teddy has been around; he’s seen a lot and experienced something that McCarthy can somewhat relate to regarding the early-career knee injury.
Either way, Teddy will still be beloved by the purple faithful, and those same faithful believe wholeheartedly that J.J. McCarthy is the answer.
Now, re-live Teddy’s first walk back out onto the field in his U.S. Bank Stadium debut after he hadn’t played in nearly two years.
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