Reports: Vikings decline Teddy Bridgewater's fifth-year option
The Vikings will not exercise their fifth-year option on injured quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, according to multiple reports. USA Today’s Tom Pelissero was first to report the news.
The deadline to pick up Bridgewater’s 2018 option, which is worth up to $12 million, is Wednesday.
Bridgewater suffered a serious leg injury—a torn ACL, dislocated knee and other structural damage—during practice last August. He is expected to start the season on the physically unable to perform list but there has been concern that he may not be able to play at all in 2017. The decision not to pick up Bridgewater’s 2018 option is not the result of new information about his injury, however, Pelissero reports.
If the Vikings had picked up Bridgewater’s option, it would have guaranteed his salary for injury. There is also the possibility that Bridgewater’s contract could be automatically extended if he does not play this season.
The Vikings traded for Sam Bradford after Bridgewater’s injury and Bradford is also in the last year of his contract.
