Teddy Bridgewater Injury: Updates on Vikings Star's Ankle and Return

Updates from Sunday, Oct. 12

The Vikings confirm Teddy Bridgewater is active for Week 6:

Updates from Friday, Oct. 10

Matt Vensel of The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has the latest on Bridgewater:

Updates from Wednesday, Oct. 8 

Pro Football Talk provides comments from Teddy Bridgewater, who spoke about his Week 6 status: 

Updates from Tuesday, Oct. 7

Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press (St. Paul) reported what he saw from Teddy Bridgewater at Vikings practice:

Updates from Friday, Oct. 3

ESPN.com's Ben Goessling passes along Bridgewater's thoughts on his injury following the Vikings' blowout loss on Thursday night:

"

If the Minnesota Vikings had played the Green Bay Packers on Sunday instead of Thursday, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said, he would have been ready to come back from a sprained left ankle. ...

... The quarterback said he has 'no doubt at all' he will be healthy enough to start Oct. 12 against the Detroit Lions, and coach Mike Zimmer said the Vikings plan to start Bridgewater in that game.

"

Bridgewater also told reporters that the decision to sit hadn't been his, per Goessling:

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'It was a decision that Coach [Zimmer] made, and they felt it was best for the team and felt it was best for me,' Bridgewater said.

Bridgewater said he couldn't remember at what point during the day Zimmer made the decision to start Ponder instead of him, but the players didn't seem terribly surprised by the move after the Vikings spent the week preparing for Ponder to start.

"

Updates from Thursday, Oct. 2

Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has the latest on Bridgewater:

The Vikings confirmed that Teddy Bridgewater is inactive for Thursday's game vs. Green Bay:

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported Bridgewater's status and how close he was to playing:

Bleacher Report's Will Carroll broke down Bridgewater's status for Thursday night's game earlier in the day:

Updates from Wednesday, Oct. 1 

Chris Wesseling of Around the NFL provides an update on Teddy Bridgewater's status:

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"Teddy Bridgewater has been in the playbook hard all week. You have to have a few scenarios ready if he can't go," Zimmer said. "We will see how (he's) doing tomorrow. ... It's a long season so we don't want to put him at risk."

The Vikings hope Bridgewater can participate in Wednesday's jog through, but it sounds like we won't have a good read on his status until close to game time on Thursday.

"

Around the NFL provides more details on Bridgewater's status:

Updates from Tuesday, Sept. 30

Ben Goessling of ESPN has an update on Teddy Bridgewater's status:

Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press added more:

Updates from Monday, Sept. 29

Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press had more on Teddy Bridgewater's status from practice:

Ben Goessling of ESPN shared comments from head coach Mike Zimmer on Bridgewater's injured ankle:

Earlier, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the Minnesota Vikings will sign a quarterback to the practice squad following Bridgewater's ankle sprain:

Original Text

After making quarterback Teddy Bridgewater the 32nd overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings had high hopes. Those hopes have since been put on hold, however, in the wake of Bridgewater suffering an ankle injury in his first career NFL start against Atlanta.    

The Vikings confirmed Bridgewater's injury:

Bleacher Report NFL passed along an image of Bridgewater heading to the locker room on a cart:

Ben Goessling of ESPN shared more from the game on Bridgewater's condition:

"

Bridgewater is walking back on the field. Seems fine.

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) September 28, 2014"

Following his return to the sideline, KFAN 1003 provided an update following the x-ray:

Coach Mike Zimmer commented on the injury after the game via Goessling: 

It is unclear how serious Bridgewater's injury might potentially be, but Vikings fans and personnel have to be worried regardless since Bridgewater is viewed as a huge part of the team's present and future success.

Dave Siebert, M.D., of Bleacher Report provided his take on Bridgewater's ankle injury: 

Coming out of college, the Louisville product was initially considered a likely candidate to be taken No. 1 overall by the Houston Texans. Bridgewater's stock dropped due to a poor pro day performance, though, which caused him to slip to the very bottom of the first round.

That prompted the Vikes to trade back into the first round, select Bridgewater and anoint him the potential savior. Matt Cassel beat him out for the starting job prior to Week 1, but a foot injury thrust the rookie into the starting role beginning in Week 4, per ESPN's Adam Schefter:

Cassel's injury was so significant that he was placed on injured reserve, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today, which signaled the commencement of the Bridgewater era in Minnesota:

Leading up to the start of the 2014 season, Bridgewater received a great deal of praise from the Vikings organization. Perhaps his biggest supporter has been offensive coordinator Norv Turner. Per Louisville football's official Twitter account, Turner felt as though Bridgewater got acclimated to the NFL very quickly:

In fact, Turner went so far as to suggest that many teams missed out on an elite talent in the NFL draft. Turner believed that Bridgewater was a top prospect who slipped through the cracks, per Vikings.com, via NFL.com's Chris Wesseling.

"I think he probably should've gone in the first 10 picks," Turner said. "He probably should've gone at least in the first half of the first round, and then we're sitting there with an opportunity to get him when we did, it was a bonus to me."

Bridgewater has all the potential in the world, but his durability has actually been a concern since his time at Louisville.

Dealing with an injury is nothing new for Bridgewater as his late-season heroics for the Cardinals in 2012 came when he was banged up in a pretty significant way. Entering a game against Rutgers, which ultimately decided which team would represent the Big East in the BCS, Bridgewater nursed a broken non-throwing wrist as well as a sprained right ankle, per Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com.

Bridgewater was able to push through the pain as he led the Cardinals past the Scarlet Knights and into the Sugar Bowl. It remains to be seen if Bridgewater will be able to do something similar with the Vikings at the NFL level. He obviously has a pretty high pain threshold, but his current ailment could very well force him to miss some time.

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Despite Bridgewater's ability to play through injuries, he took a preventative step prior to the 2013 collegiate season. According to ESPN's Joe Schad, Bridgewater took out a $10 million insurance policy in the event that he suffers a career-ending injury. Bridgewater was able to remain healthy throughout the 2013 campaign, but his injury issues have come into focus once again.

Although possibly losing Bridgewater is less than ideal, Minnesota is equipped to deal with it. The Vikings have another veteran backup in Christian Ponder who can step in and win some games if called upon.

Losing the rookie for now isn't the end of the world as long as it doesn't have any long-term implications on his health and development over the long haul. There was a lot of excitement surrounding Bridgewater this season, so the Vikings faithful are most definitely pulling for a quick and speedy recovery.

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