Case Keenum is having the ultimate breakout, but we shouldn't be surprised

[purplefaithful]

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The man in the ski cap and hoodie was staring through a window at the new purple banner announcing the Minnesota Vikings' division crown. From behind, as he stood in a cafeteria, this average-size Joe could have passed for a food-service worker or a fan who had won a contest for a tour of the team facility. Case Keenum does not look like a quarterback drafted by an NFL team for a damn good reason: He wasn't.
It was a Tuesday, the players' off day following their division-clinching beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals in mid-December, and an operations crew had just hung the banner in the rafters two minutes earlier. Keenum doesn't believe in off days, so he was the first to see this tribute to the 2017 NFC North champs -- the last of its kind to hang over the indoor practice field in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, ID'd on the street corner by a tattered Viking ship encased in snow and ice. The team will pack everything later this winter and move to upgraded digs in Eagan, about 20 miles to the east. Nobody is sure whether Keenum will be along for the ride.
And that's fine and dandy for now. Keenum is not thinking about free agency -- whether he might head to another franchise in a package deal with offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, or if Minnesota could still prefer the returning Sam Bradford and/or the returned Teddy Bridgewater as its 2018 starter. Short term? Keenum is thinking about beating the New Orleans Saints in Sunday's divisional round matchup at U.S. Bank Stadium. Not-so-short term? Keenum is thinking about becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to lead a team onto its own field with a chance to win the Super Bowl.
"I don't think anybody wants to be sitting here in February and watch somebody else play in it," Keenum said. He retreated a bit from that statement, swearing that the team wasn't looking ahead at a magical shot to earn the franchise's first Super Bowl championship, in its own building, after four losses in the big game and no appearances since the 1976 season. Keenum apologized for the cliché, but said the Vikings were taking it day by day. If there's anyone who knows that NFL life is a day-to-day proposition, it's the quarterback of the NFC's No. 2 seed.


http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22013...-contender

[Guest]

It has grown increasingly difficult to discredit Keenum. A division champ at 29, he has moved beyond the phase of his career his old man described as, "Would you hurry up and fail so we can turn to someone else?"

He's going to be a no-questions-asked first-stringer somewhere in 2018, and he's going to get paid.

The exec who thought Keenum would get $20 million a year said he would still slightly prefer Cousins running his team, but all things being equal, he would take Keenum over Eli Manning if the New York Giants made their longtime starter available.

Until further notice, Keenum and the state of Minnesota are madly in love. Keenum and his wife, Kimberly, claim to have All-Pro neighbors. "Minnesota nice is a real thing," he said. Those neighbors have shoveled the couple's driveway and sidewalk to prevent the quarterback from potentially slipping on the ice. 
"Let's be honest," Kimberly said, "these Texans don't know what to do with all of this snow!"