Bridgewater to hit FA

[Elmgrovegnome]

Cousins (or Brees if he'd consider other teams) would be as close as you could get to a sure thing, but the Vikes don't have the cap space that some of the other QB needy teams have. If nobody gives them a contender's discount, they could find themselves unable to match offers for Cousins and unwilling to pay Case Keenum the amount he's getting.

Then it's plan B, or C... Looking at how quickly Wentz, Goff, and Watson were able to turn into competent QBs, the Vikes may decide going the cheap vet + rookie route makes sense for 2018 and gets them in much better shape cap-wise going forward.

They do have the money. The Vikings are 48 million under the cap. I keep reading that Cousins wants them and they want him. Supposedly Cousins wants a short contract too. That way he can cash in twice, which makes it easier to work out a deal without impacting future contracts of stars still in their rookie contracts. As for drafting a rookie, they will have to get pretty lucky to get a top quality QB for the future. Drafting at 32 in each round makes finding a good QB a little harder. Not that it is impossible though They could get lucky and everyone passes on a Wilson, Carr, or Garapolo, like in the past I guess but they could end up with another Bridgewater too.

 

[MadGoat]

They do have the money. The Vikings are 48 million under the cap. I keep reading that Cousins wants them and they want him. Supposedly Cousins wants a short contract too. That way he can cash in twice, which makes it easier to work out a deal without impacting future contracts of stars still in their rookie contracts. As for drafting a rookie, they will have to get pretty lucky to get a top quality QB for the future. Drafting at 32 in each round makes finding a good QB a little harder. Not that it is impossible though They could get lucky and everyone passes on a Wilson, Carr, or Garapolo, like in the past I guess but they could end up with another Bridgewater too.

48 million is peanuts compared to what the Jets (90 MM) and Browns (109 MM) have. As I mentioned, the Vikes need Cousins to take a discount.

If Cousins picks the Jets, which is probably the second most likely possibility, the Vikings are going to be left scrambling for a long-term QB solution. They may have to look to the draft if they don't want to pay Keenum. At least this year there are enough QBs that one could easily fall to the end of the first round, or they could try to move up into the mid-first for one as well.

 

[shaunpinney]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...he-deck-of-qbs-to-go-after-cousins/ar-BBJED2k

Opinion: Vikings clearing the deck of QBs to go after Cousins
Barry Petchesky

There’s an old, dumb, incorrect football saying that goes, “If you have two quarterbacks, you have none.” Well, the Vikings this season had three quarterbacks. And now, it appears, they actually do have none.

Free agency is two weeks away, and the deadline for placing franchise tags on players is one week away, and the Vikings have begun making decisions. NFL.com reported yesterday that Minnesota will not use the franchise tag on Case Keenum (who stepped in for the injured Sam Bradford, who took the place of the injured Teddy Bridgewater, who even when back to full health did not win the job back from Keenum, who led the team to the NFC title game. It was messy, but it worked somehow.) And now today, this:


View: https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/968460006457860096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadspin.com%2Fthe-vikings-are-clearing-the-deck-of-quarterbacks-to-go-1823352889

This is more complicated than merely not re-signing Bridgewater. Because of his long-term injury, the Vikings could have made a case—it was certainly not cut-and-dried—that his contract should have tolled, which would roll it over a full year and have him essentially play for free in 2018.

Bridgewater would have filed a grievance, and if an arbitrator had ruled in favor of the Vikings, Bridgewater would have remained under team control for one more year, but with obvious bad blood. That wouldn’t have been a good situation for anyone. Instead, the Vikings are making it known that they won’t attempt to toll his contract, and allow him to hit free agency.

So, Keenum is a free agent after the journeyman turned in a magical season that no front office in its right mind would count on him repeating. Bridgewater, five years younger but with uncertain health prospects, is a free agent. They’re not going to re-sign Sam Bradford.

The Vikings could bring back Keenum, at a cheaper rate than the franchise tag (probably around $23.5 million), or Bridgewater, but neither is Plan A for a starter.

That’d be Kirk Cousins, who’s going to be the focus of a bidding war, with the Jets, Broncos, Browns, and Cardinals definitely in the mix, likely along with others. But the Vikings have more than enough cap space to make Cousins the highest paid player of all time, which he likely will be, and they have an excellent defense and some great receivers, which might make them the most attractive landing spot. It’s an open secret that the Vikings are going to make “a strong push” for Cousins, and there’s reportedly mutual interest.

If Cousins goes elsewhere, the Vikings could make a run at Drew Brees, even though he’s expected to end up back with New Orleans. And after that, the pickings get slim. Nick Foles in a trade? Josh McCown?

If it comes down to it, a reunion with Keenum or Bridgewater might be the stopgap solution as the Vikings grab a quarterback in a draft that’s pretty deep with them. But right now it looks like Cousins or bust. And if the defense plays like it did last year, that could end up the difference between a Super Bowl and a wasted season.

I find it really bizarre that the Vikings are happy to cut ties with Keenum - the dude balled for them last year and he had excellent chemistry with his WRs - sure he's not a headline grabber, but he could easily win a SB for them. I think they'll be sorry if this is true