Williamson: How the Bradford trade changed the Vikings' past, present, future

Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns, and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."

Through the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings looked like they had a stacked defense, a premier running back, while improving their offensive line and wide receivers after addressing both positions heavily in the draft and free agency. Teddy Bridgewater was a work in progress, but improving, and was quite impressive during the preseason.

Then, in late August, the 24-year-old signal caller suffered a catastrophic knee injury. Minnesota acted quickly and sent their 2017 first-round pick, which they surely saw as a late pick in the round, and a conditional mid-round selection to the Philadelphia Eagles for former first overall pick Sam Bradford. It's been about three months since that blockbuster, so let’s examine where the Vikings and Bradford are.

Past

This Vikings' bold trade paid immediate and very surprising dividends. Bradford, a quick study that has unfortunately had to change systems a ton over his career, led Minnesota to a 5-0 record to start the season without Adrian Peterson and with offensive linemen dropping left and right around him. Bradford was very impressive during this stretch. In fact, it may have been the best stretch of games during his seven NFL seasons, all things considered.

But the Vikings, as they've been all year, were also overly dependent on touchdowns coming from their defense and special teams, which is a formula that simply isn’t sustainable. Minnesota went on to drop the next four games with offensive coordinator Norv Turner resigning in early November. Stefon Diggs emerged as a star during that time, but there simply wasn’t enough around Bradford as the Vikings had zero running game and their pass protection was just hideous.

Present

The present with Bradford and the Vikings has been a little more bearable with Pat Shurmur as offensive coordinator. Unlike Turner’s heavy vertical passing game with deep drops for Bradford, Shurmur - who worked with Bradford in Philadelphia - has designed a much more quick-hitting offense. As many of the Thanksgiving viewing audience witnessed against the Detroit Lions, this passing game is now almost unbearably conservative. But the fact is that Minnesota’s pass protection really gives Shurmur no choice, and at least the Vikings are now moving the ball.

As mentioned previously, Bradford has played in many different systems. He's shown to be highly adaptable despite having little experience in any one scheme. While Bradford will never be fleet of foot, he's an exceptional thrower (as you'd expect for a first overall pick) and can thrive in a quick-hitting passing game or throwing more downfield, as Turner preferred. Bradford also played quite well in Chip Kelly’s system during the second half of the 2015 season.

Future

Bradford’s system flexibility is enticing for the future. At 6-5, Minnesota is fighting for their playoff lives in a less-than-stellar NFC North. With the exception of their upcoming Thursday night game at home against the Dallas Cowboys - when they'll be without their best remaining offensive lineman, Joe Berger - Minnesota’s remaining schedule isn’t overly daunting. Nine wins could propel the Vikings into the postseason. Ten wins almost assures Minnesota a playoff birth, and if they do reach the postseason, they'll host the first round game, possibly with Peterson back in the fold. So, despite some awful play at times this year, Minnesota still has life, though it's unlikely this team is actually a true contender.

What will be interesting is how the Vikings handle the quarterback position going forward. Unfortunately, Bridgewater’s injury might make that a moot point, but let’s hope that isn’t the case. Bradford has played well enough to remain the starter, and is more gifted and proven than Bridgewater. They are very different players, but Bradford deserves to keep the starting job - at least for the 2017 season. The real question is how much can the Vikings improve at offensive tackle in the offseason without a first-round pick. Still, in the end, what Minnesota gave up for Bradford is a very good deal for the club in the past, present, and future.