Bradford Taking Ownership Role in Vikings Offense
Joe Johnson
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Despite coming off of a career best in yards thrown (3,877) and an NFL best in completion percentage (71.6%) and a Vikings record for passes completed (395) Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford has been mostly overlooked this pre-season. It’s not hard to see why, with the “return” of Teddy Bridgewater mostly overshadowing everything else in Vikings land, at least when it comes to media coverage. Because of that, there’s been an emergence of a narrative of Teddy vs. Bradford that has… Emerged in Vikings media and fan conversations, and it’s not hard to feel for Bradford who essentially came in under a no win situation and succeeded beyond his, the Vikings or fans wildest expectations last season. With all of that going on, it looks like Bradford is keeping his head down and is pushing forward as the franchise quarterback, even if it’s only for 2017.
According to Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer (And ESPN), Bradford is taking more of an ownership role of the Vikings offense. Considering the fact that he came in late last pre-season, it’s not hard to see how Bradford felt like an outsider for most of the 2016 season. Now that he’s had an entire off-season to acclimate to the team on every level, it makes sense that he’s finally making the offense his own. Having an offensive coordinator that’s been with him his entire career, in Pat Shurmur, can’t hurt, either.
That change has been noticeable. Just ask Vikings number two receiver Adam Thielen, who said the following (Again, according to ESPN):
“It has been huge, It is crazy because during the season, it was almost like he had been there all offseason, so for us now to have an offseason on top of that, what we did last year, it is great. Obviously him talking to us, telling us how he likes things done, how we like things done, kind of getting on the same page. That is what this is all about. I think we have gotten off to a great start.”
I wrote a piece yesterday that explained why the Vikings weren’t getting any respect in the national media. I think that with everything going on with Teddy’s situation, and with Peterson leaving for the New Orleans Saints, the fact that Bradford came in with basically the same amount of time as Josh Freeman and ended up absolutely torching the Green Bay Packers, gets overlooked. He essentially, and finally, came into his own as a quarterback who was thought to be one of the next elite QB’s in the league when he was drafted first overall by the St. Louis Rams. Now that he has stability around him in terms of Shurmur, an entire off-season with the same set of receivers and playbook and the ability to dump the ball off to running backs who can take it to the house every time they touch the ball, and you start to see why I’m openly excited about the Vikings prospects in 2017.
On top of that, it’s good to know that Bradford is establishing himself as the owner of this Vikings offense, as well. Regardless of what happens with Bridgewater, this has been an amazing performance (thus far) by Bradford and if nothing else he will end up with a large contract from an NFL team when Bridgewater returns. I tend to lean towards Bradford in the Teddy v. Bradford debate, mainly because of his ability to connect with receivers down the field. With the Vikings bringing in Michael Floyd this off-season, 2017 should be an even better season then the one that Bradford had in 2016. Regardless (Again), this offense belongs to Bradford at least for the time being, and that’s something that we as Vikings fans should be excited about.