Is Sam Bradford Good Enough to Carry Vikings Without Adrian Peterson?

In the rich tradition of historical vikings, holmgangs were held to settle disputes. The party left standing after the battle was ruled just in his claim.  

For the Minnesota Vikings, they’re currently exercising their right to an holmgang against the rest of the NFL with Sam Bradford left standing to lead the way. In less than a month, the Vikings morphed from a Super Bowl contender led by Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson into Bradford’s team. 

Despite the adversity, the Vikings should remain legitimate playoff contenders and a potential dark-horse candidate to emerge out of the NFC. 

How the organization got here is rather amazing, though. 

The NFL held its collective breath on Aug. 30 when Bridgewater’s knee gave out and the quarterback collapsed on the field due to a non-contact injury. As the situation escalated, head coach Mike Zimmer cancelled the rest of practice with Bridgewater being raced to the hospital. 

A day later everyone learned the hard truth: The Vikings’ franchise quarterback suffered a dislocated knee, a torn ACL and other structural damage, per a team release. 

Three days later, general manager Rick Spielman struck a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire Bradford in exchange for next year’s first-round pick and a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2018 draft. 

The move reeked of desperation, but Spielman saw the potential in this year’s squad, per MMQB.com’s Peter King: 

I made a bunch of calls. I am not gonna mention teams. But there was blood in the water and teams knew it. The price was too high. I didn’t want to mortgage our future. Some teams asked for a first-round pick and a core young player. I can understand the pick. But we worked too hard over the past three years to put all that time and energy into drafting and developing a solid core of this team. I was taken aback who they were asking for. Players who’d been in the Pro Bowl. I mean, in the off-season you’ve got time. There’s not blood in the water in the off-season. But now there was.

The automatic reaction often becomes an overreaction. In this instance, Minnesota appeared to overpay for a marginal starting quarterback in order to keep its playoff hopes alive. 

But value becomes a sliding scale dependent on situation. 

Spielman envisioned how Bradford could fit into the Vikings’ system before he completed the transaction. 

“I watched every game Sam played last year, and the last three games, I thought he was playing as well as anyone I saw last year,” the general manager told King. “I don’t think he’s ever been on a team with a top-10 rushing offense. With 28 [Adrian Peterson] in our backfield, playing at a high level, with the defense we have, Sam’s not gonna have to throw it 35 or 40 times every game.”

Unfortunately, Bradford no longer has the luxury of turning around and handing the football to Peterson. The future Hall of Fame running back suffered an MCL tear during Sunday’s contest against the Green Bay Packers. 

Peterson will undergo surgery Thursday and his status for the rest of the season remains undetermined, according to Josina Anderson: 

#Vikings RB Adrian Peterson told me he’s …

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