INDIANAPOLIS – Perhaps no team arrived at the NFL scouting combine facing more questions at quarterback than the Minnesota Vikings.
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said Wednesday that the Vikings are still deciding what the team will do at the position, with three quarterbacks from the 2017 roster (Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford) poised to become free agents in March.
“Just to be clear, there have been no decisions made – I know there have been a thousand reports out there – on how we're going to move forward,” Spielman said. “We will continue to evolve this process. I'll go through the meetings this week with the agents, when we get back we'll circle back around and finalize a game plan as we go forward.”
NFL Media reported Tuesday that the Vikings were not expected to use the franchise tag on Keenum, who replaced the injured Bradford as starter and led Minnesota to the NFC Championship Game. The Vikings have until March 6 to use the tag, though they could also negotiate a new contract with Keenum and his agent before free agency begins on March 14.
Spielman said the Vikings are awaiting a final ruling from the NFL on Bridgewater’s contract status, but expected that his contract from 2017, when he spent the first half of the season on the physically unable to perform list, would not toll, making the quarterback a free agent.
All of those questions, especially for a team with a championship-caliber defensive roster, make the Vikings one of the most interesting teams this offseason, and a potential landing spot for top free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins is expected to have plenty of suitors and draw a salary of potentially more than $30 million per year, and told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month before the Super Bowl that he wants pick a team that is set up to win consistently.
“As a philosophy we're always going to continue to build through the draft but if there are unique situations in free agency that we think we can address, we will always use that as a supplement,” Spielman said.
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