Keenum’s departure only a surprise to those who weren’t paying attention

[purplefaithful]

Case Keenum was never going to return to the Minnesota Vikings.As much as that might have frustrated some, and as well as Keenum played last season, it should have come as a surprise to no one when reports surfaced early Tuesday morning that Keenum would sign with the Denver Broncos when free agency opens at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

As ESPN’s Kevin Seifert pointed out in a tweet on Tuesday morning, “the Vikings walked away from a player who produced one of the top five single-season QB performances in their history.”
No one will argue how well Keenum performed in leading the Vikings to a 13-3 regular-season record, the NFC North title and the conference title game. Keenum did it after taking over for the injured Sam Bradford in the second game of the season and playing for the paltry sum (at least for a quarterback) of $2 million on a one-year contract he signed to serve as a backup.
Keenum, who had never started more than nine games in a season, threw for 3,547 yards, completing 67.6 percent of his passes, with 22 touchdowns, seven interceptions and had a 98.3 rating in 15 games and 14 starts. Keenum’s most memorable moment came on his desperation heave to Stefon Diggs on the final play of the Vikings’ victory over the Saints in the divisional round.
And despite all of this you never got the feeling that Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was sold on Keenum’s ability to repeat that success. When it came to Keenum, the question was whether he had turned a corner and established himself as a potential star or was a backup having a career year.
It was clear Zimmer felt it was the latter.
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2018/0...attention/

[Guest]

The Vikings are still being linked to Kirk Cousins, who stands to get far more than Keenum will from Denver, and Zimmer also has concerns about that. The primary one being that Cousins’ three-year contract, which might be $27 million or more per season guaranteed, will make it difficult for the Vikings to improve their roster in other spots and retain some key pieces.

But the Vikings feel that Cousins would be a sure thing at quarterback and have the ability to get them to a Super Bowl. As for Keenum, there clearly was a feeling he was a one-season wonder and that season is now past.

[Guest]

I was on the Keenum bandwagon.  Seems as though he had built a chemistry with those around him...and chemistry is tough.  It's not just about timing, but also trust and heart.
The kid has moxie, and good sense of "feel" in and around the pocket.

each week we all held our collective breath, waiting for him to blow it...& it never happened.
NFCC you say? Well, the whole team crapped the bed in that one IMO.

i just have a sinking feeling Keenum is going to continue to improve, and prove that last year was NOT a fluke, and the Vikes will be snakebit once again.

[Guest]

Well VG, we all have our take on it...Bradford and Teddy too. I have no idea what Case's ceiling is. He helped us to 13/3, albeit with a great surround, which is what it takes to put up such a gaudy regular season record. 

I'm on record being a big fan of the kid during the regular season. I tuned-out what others were saying about a horseshoe up his arsz, not throwing receivers open etc...

But it was the last 6 quarters of the year that gave me my biggest pause on Case. 73 qbr the last two games when the competition got toughest.

Ultimately for me, I couldn't support him as much as Cousins moving forward. 

Like Teddy and Sam, I wish Case well. Living in Denver should be pretty sweet and The Broncos are an historically fun franchise. He should have a blast there. 

[Guest]

I wish people would stop saying that Keenum led us to a 13-3 record.  It's not so much the word, "leading" (although that has it's own problems)... as much as the factual false statement.  Case didn't start all 16 games last year, so he couldn't possibly have led us to a 13-3 record.  Of the games he actually started, I think he was 11-3.  But he did come in, in relief, and win a game for us (though not as a starter).  I don't know why it bugs me... but it does.