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IMO, for the same reason they never approached Sam about extension. teddy was always going to to be this teams qb long term if his rehab workd right. teddy is the leader of this team and the gm and coach intend for him to be here next year more after that. so long as teddy finishes rhe year healthy, he will sign extension with Vikings.
dude did most of his rehab in minnesota. star players dont typically do that. he is commited to VIkings and the decision makers and commited to him
Teddy not only did his rehab here, he was in the team meetings. He was getting his body and mind ready. I know there are unknowns with Teddy but that effort counts. Thielen said Teddy was still coaching him up even though he wasn't playing. And that's nothing against Sam or Case or even Kyle, but the connection is there. You even hear it from Zimmer in the presser. Watching Teddy on the sidelines with his teammates shows it. He was also talking with the current OL. That doesn't read like a guy that doesn't work or care. You have to have no passion not to be inspired by him.
I can't open the video now, but isn't tolling him or not completely dependent on whether he plays at all this year? Remarks after his first practice giddily pronounced Bridgewater very close to playing; I don't think they can toll his contract for a season in which he plays half the games. OTOH, they might put him back on IR and toll him.
Quote: @"Vikeking2" said:
IMO, for the same reason they never approached Sam about extension. teddy was always going to to be this teams qb long term if his rehab workd right. teddy is the leader of this team and the gm and coach intend for him to be here next year more after that. so long as teddy finishes rhe year healthy, he will sign extension with Vikings.
dude did most of his rehab in minnesota. star players dont typically do that. he is commited to VIkings and the decision makers and commited to him
That's a very optimistic view of all parties involved. I don't think Bradford's extension was dependent on Bridgewater as much as his own (Sam's) knee. As for Bridgewater, if the team was committed to him, why didn't they pick up his 5th-year option last spring? If he does play this season, and play well, that decision is going to be questioned repeatedly - probably by Bridgewater himself.
Let's say Bridgewater starts for the Vikings through the second half of this season and looks fully recovered and at least as good as he was at the end of 2015. He will be a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent in a league hungry for QBs. Suppose his hometown team, the Miami Dolphins, wake up from their Jay Cutler hangover and decide they trust apparently-recovered-Bridgewater more than will-he-recover-Tannehill.
Quote: @"Jor-El" said:
Let's say Bridgewater starts for the Vikings through the second half of this season and looks fully recovered and at least as good as he was at the end of 2015. He will be a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent in a league hungry for QBs. Suppose his hometown team, the Miami Dolphins, wake up from their Jay Cutler hangover and decide they trust apparently-recovered-Bridgewater more than will-he-recover-Tannehill.
Not tolling his contract would be a big favor to Teddy. It would be a move that tells Teddy they want him, they believe in him, they appreciate how hard he's worked and they're going to pay him. For him to then go money hunting would be pretty hard to fathom.
I think it basically comes down to this: if Teddy plays and looks good to go, they're going to extend him long before he sees the market. If he doesn't, then he goes on IR and the contract will toll anyway. But for reasons that neither Teddy or his agent could argue with.
Quote: @"Jor-El" said:
I can't open the video now, but isn't tolling him or not completely dependent on whether he plays at all this year? Remarks after his first practice giddily pronounced Bridgewater very close to playing; I don't think they can toll his contract for a season in which he plays half the games. OTOH, they might put him back on IR and toll him.
@"Vikeking2" said:
IMO, for the same reason they never approached Sam about extension. teddy was always going to to be this teams qb long term if his rehab workd right. teddy is the leader of this team and the gm and coach intend for him to be here next year more after that. so long as teddy finishes rhe year healthy, he will sign extension with Vikings.
dude did most of his rehab in minnesota. star players dont typically do that. he is commited to VIkings and the decision makers and commited to him
That's a very optimistic view of all parties involved. I don't think Bradford's extension was dependent on Bridgewater as much as his own (Sam's) knee. As for Bridgewater, if the team was committed to him, why didn't they pick up his 5th-year option last spring? If he does play this season, and play well, that decision is going to be questioned repeatedly - probably by Bridgewater himself.
Let's say Bridgewater starts for the Vikings through the second half of this season and looks fully recovered and at least as good as he was at the end of 2015. He will be a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent in a league hungry for QBs. Suppose his hometown team, the Miami Dolphins, wake up from their Jay Cutler hangover and decide they trust apparently-recovered-Bridgewater more than will-he-recover-Tannehill. The language in the CBA reads as if Bridgewater's contact is already available to toll (it states 6 weeks).
I would bet the Vikings didn't pick up the 5th year option because they didn't know if Bridgewater would recover fully (still don't fully know that) and if they picked it up, it could have been much like Floyd who is on his 5th year option right now which was picked up during injury and it isn't looking like he's going to play (NFL career might be over). The Vikings can sign Bridgewater at any time, no need to rush it until he's at least played a little.
Regardless of what the language of the CBA says, it’s bad
business to try and cheapskate the guy you want to be your starting QB. You don’t want to start a bad relationship
and then pay them a bunch of money to lock in that relationship.
Also, I think any contract we would negotiate with Teddy
would likely be cheaper or relatively close to the tolled contract value, just
due to his knee being semi-questionable.
Could be as simple as offering Teddy a fair contract, if his agent balks and trit's to hold out for a much bigher deal or hit FA...then toll him and look to trade his one year tolled contract and go looking in FA or the draft. If he will sign a fair extension. ...no need to toll, issue goes away.
All dependent on him showing well down the stretch this year.
Yeah, I think it is more of a bargaining chip at this point. Tolling without the intent of negotiating a long term deal would be bad business IMO, but using it to keep him around while the deal is worked out makes sense if they can't agree before free agency.
Quote: @"silverjoel" said:
@"Jor-El" said:
I can't open the video now, but isn't tolling him or not completely dependent on whether he plays at all this year? Remarks after his first practice giddily pronounced Bridgewater very close to playing; I don't think they can toll his contract for a season in which he plays half the games. OTOH, they might put him back on IR and toll him.
@"Vikeking2" said:
IMO, for the same reason they never approached Sam about extension. teddy was always going to to be this teams qb long term if his rehab workd right. teddy is the leader of this team and the gm and coach intend for him to be here next year more after that. so long as teddy finishes rhe year healthy, he will sign extension with Vikings.
dude did most of his rehab in minnesota. star players dont typically do that. he is commited to VIkings and the decision makers and commited to him
That's a very optimistic view of all parties involved. I don't think Bradford's extension was dependent on Bridgewater as much as his own (Sam's) knee. As for Bridgewater, if the team was committed to him, why didn't they pick up his 5th-year option last spring? If he does play this season, and play well, that decision is going to be questioned repeatedly - probably by Bridgewater himself.
Let's say Bridgewater starts for the Vikings through the second half of this season and looks fully recovered and at least as good as he was at the end of 2015. He will be a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent in a league hungry for QBs. Suppose his hometown team, the Miami Dolphins, wake up from their Jay Cutler hangover and decide they trust apparently-recovered-Bridgewater more than will-he-recover-Tannehill. The language in the CBA reads as if Bridgewater's contact is already available to toll (it states 6 weeks).
I would bet the Vikings didn't pick up the 5th year option because they didn't know if Bridgewater would recover fully (still don't fully know that) and if they picked it up, it could have been much like Floyd who is on his 5th year option right now which was picked up during injury and it isn't looking like he's going to play (NFL career might be over). The Vikings can sign Bridgewater at any time, no need to rush it until he's at least played a little.
Yes, the Vikings absolutely were covering their butts by not picking up the 5th year, and the tolling idea was them investigating the idea of keeping him 5 years but cheaply. No team has ever tried it and it would likely generate a mess of legal challenges.
Bridgewater might play well yet this year and may sign an extension to stay here; I sure hope the second happens if the first does. But there are many people making a bunch of assumptions that don't make sense: Teddy is "commited to VIkings and the decision makers and commited to him", essentially that the Vikings organization never doubted Bridgewater and always saw Bradford as nothing more than a rent-a-player. I don't think anything going on here is nearly that simple.
"The Vikings can sign Bridgewater at any time" - that is true, but if he is actually going to be a free agent in March, he can also bet on himself and say, "no thanks" to every contract offered - or at least any lowball offer. Medaille said, "I think any contract we would negotiate with Teddy would likely be cheaper or relatively close to the tolled contract value": so, a 1-year deal for $2.2M? That's what he is receiving for 2017 and would get in 2018 if tolled. That's the kind of deal we gave Keenum, and honestly would be a slap to any QB considered a likely starter. You could add injury escape clauses to his contract, but if Bridgewater gets significant and effective playing time this year, I can't see him signing for anything less what the Bears gave Mike Glennon - 3 years for $45M.
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