(Getty)
Teddy Bridgwater suffered a non-contact injury on Tuesday, causing an abrupt end to Vikings practice. According to reports Bridgewater stayed on the field holding his left knee, and exited in an ambulance as his teammates prayed.
Doesn’t sound good.
With the regular season rapidly approaching, the Vikings must now turn to journeyman Shaun Hill as their opening day starter. Hill started his NFL career with the Vikings, signing as an undrafted free agent in 2002. He’s taken snaps for five NFL teams, and appeared in three games for the Vikings in 2015.
Those three games matter. If Hill was in his first year in Minnesota, this would be a far more daunting task for the 36-year old. He struggled when he was needed to start 10 games for Detroit in 2010, and went 3-5 in eight starts as Rams quarterback in 2014. Both were in his first year with the team.
If you were counting on Teddy Bridgewater as your fantasy savior, you weren’t in a great position to begin with. But as far as efficiency is concerned, the Vikings aren’t losing to much when they switch to Hill. He’s always been an accurate passer, and has the ability to stretch the field with a decent deep ball. Where the Vikings will be different is in mobility, where Bridgwater had the slight advantage running the football.
Hill still has Adrian Peterson behind him, and a talented group of receivers. The loss of Bridgwater may be emotionally devastating, but Hill should be able to run the Vikings’ offense at an acceptable level.
I still wouldn’t draft him, but I wouldn’t draft Bridgewater. But if the matchups are right, it’s worth giving Hill a look on a week-to-week basis.
