10-11-2017, 11:50 AM
All of the uncertainty about the health of quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater means that long-term decisions about the Vikings' future at those positions are hardly cut-and-dried.
Sugarman said Tuesday that Bradford’s previous surgeries are “certainly a contributing factor” to his current issues, adding that “anyone that’s had two ACLs is probably at risk” for arthritis in the future. It means that while Bradford can avoid a protracted post-surgical rehab, he also is theoretically at risk of a flare-up any time he gets his knee in an awkward position, as Sugarman said he did in Week 1. There’s no quick (or permanent) fix, in other words, and knees generally don’t get stronger as people age.
Bradford started 29 of his teams’ next 32 games after his second ACL surgery — and one of the games he missed was the Vikings’ 2016 season opener, which came just eight days after they acquired Bradford. But his issues now could be the kind of thing that crop up in the future, and the Vikings will have to ask themselves how much they want to commit to a player that might not be available for a handful of games at any given time.
Then there’s the question of Teddy Bridgewater, who will be re-evaluated by Dr. Dan Cooper (the surgeon that performed his knee operation) next week and could return to practice shortly thereafter. The mere fact of Bridgewater returning to practice doesn’t necessarily mean the Vikings will activate him from the physically-unable-to-perform list; they have three weeks to make that decision once Bridgewater starts practicing. But if the 24-year-old is healthy enough to return this season, Bradford’s issues make it more feasible Bridgewater could get a chance to show why he should regain his job.
There are plenty of unanswered (and for now, possibly unanswerable) questions about Bridgewater’s long-term health, too, and it’s possible the right course of action for the Vikings is a quarterback with no history of knee issues, rather than one with two ACL operations and one with a knee dislocation in his past. ...
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-bradf...450398373/
Sugarman said Tuesday that Bradford’s previous surgeries are “certainly a contributing factor” to his current issues, adding that “anyone that’s had two ACLs is probably at risk” for arthritis in the future. It means that while Bradford can avoid a protracted post-surgical rehab, he also is theoretically at risk of a flare-up any time he gets his knee in an awkward position, as Sugarman said he did in Week 1. There’s no quick (or permanent) fix, in other words, and knees generally don’t get stronger as people age.
Bradford started 29 of his teams’ next 32 games after his second ACL surgery — and one of the games he missed was the Vikings’ 2016 season opener, which came just eight days after they acquired Bradford. But his issues now could be the kind of thing that crop up in the future, and the Vikings will have to ask themselves how much they want to commit to a player that might not be available for a handful of games at any given time.
Then there’s the question of Teddy Bridgewater, who will be re-evaluated by Dr. Dan Cooper (the surgeon that performed his knee operation) next week and could return to practice shortly thereafter. The mere fact of Bridgewater returning to practice doesn’t necessarily mean the Vikings will activate him from the physically-unable-to-perform list; they have three weeks to make that decision once Bridgewater starts practicing. But if the 24-year-old is healthy enough to return this season, Bradford’s issues make it more feasible Bridgewater could get a chance to show why he should regain his job.
There are plenty of unanswered (and for now, possibly unanswerable) questions about Bridgewater’s long-term health, too, and it’s possible the right course of action for the Vikings is a quarterback with no history of knee issues, rather than one with two ACL operations and one with a knee dislocation in his past. ...
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-bradf...450398373/