Teddy Bridgewater’s UFA Status Uncertain

The subject of Teddy Bridgewater‘s contract has emerged again, despite said contract having supposedly expired.

Bridgewater, Case Keenum and Sam Bradford would all be set to be unrestricted free agents, but in Bridgewater’s case, it’s still uncertain if he will hit the market. Bridgewater’s rookie deal could still toll because of the passer’s stay on the PUP list this season, in which case he would return to the Vikings on his 2017 salary of $1.354MM.

Article 20, Section 2 of the CBA indicates a player’s contract would toll if he’s on the PUP list as of the sixth regular-season game. With Bridgewater not coming off the PUP list until after the Vikings’ sixth game — since players placed on the PUP list must spend six weeks there — he would be trapped in that circumstance, if this is how this situation will be interpreted.

And the matters of who will determine this, and when a resolution will come, remain uncertain. Rick Spielman said (via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com) the NFL will make that decision, while NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said he wasn’t sure if the league or the Vikings would end up doing so.

“If it goes into that area, it’s not a Minnesota Viking (decision), that’s an NFL and player union that will have to decide that area,” Spielman said, via Cronin, adding he wasn’t sure if the Vikings would have to contact the NFL on this matter.

Word out of Minnesota during the 2017 offseason indicated Bridgewater’s camp and the NFLPA intended to fight that distinction if it was determined his contract would toll. Past cases of this have gone in favor of the player, with the NFL Management Council interpreting the CBA language as a player needing to miss his whole contract-year season for the deal to toll. Bridgewater returned to practice after the six-week PUP stay and was activated in November.

Smith said (via Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, on Twitter) the matter could come down to whether Bridgewater was medically cleared to return before Week 6. Bridgewater contended at the time he could have practiced before he was allowed to do so, specifying he could have done so “a couple weeks” (Twitter links via Goessling) before returning to the field.

Smith said the NFLPA will have access to the quarterback’s medical records, if this matter will come to that, and remain in touch with Bridgewater’s agent.

Despite having played in just one game since his gruesome injuries in August 2016, Bridgewater is one of several former starters expected to be available as UFAs in a complex quarterback market. Although it’s not known when his status will be determined, it will almost certainly come before the legal tampering period begins March 12. And the 25-year-old passer would stand to command a higher salary than what would come his way if this contract were to toll.