Vikings OC: Bradford having full offseason will help passing game

It's no secret that the Minnesota Vikings' offense was facing an uphill battle throughout the 2016 season.

Though the addition of Sam Bradford provided an ideal replacement for an injured Teddy Bridgewater, the blockbuster trade coming so close to the season meant that he'd have to pick up the system on the fly.

As offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur recently explained looking ahead to the 2017 campaign, Bradford and the rest of the Vikings' passing game should benefit from a full slate of workouts in the offseason ahead.

"When he comes back (for the Vikings' offseason program in April), him having the ability to sit down with the players he’s going to play with through the offseason, we’ll do things that fit his eye, that fit with what we do," Shurmur said, according to Ben Goessling of ESPN.

"We’ll be able to practice that more. When he came in this year, everything was running parallel and real fast. He had to get up to speed with what we were doing, he had to quickly learn the players he was playing with. That connection between the quarterback and the skill players is extremely important, and that chemistry is built really in the offseason, when you get the chance to slow it down and run the individual routes that are within the concept, so he gets a feel for their body language and vice versa. That’s where you’re hopeful that you’re going to see a big jump in efficiency in terms of the passing game."

Minnesota will hold out hope that Bridgewater can make his return, thus creating a competition of sorts under center, but there still doesn't appear to be any sort of projected timeline for his devastating knee injury.

The coaching staff will currently move ahead preparing as if Bradford will start a second consecutive year, thus beginning to construct the offense around his strengths as a passer

Despite being rushed into the system ahead of his Week 2 debut, the 29-year-old actually put together the most productive season of his career in leading the Vikings to an 8-8 record.

Starting in 15 games, Bradford completed an NFL-record 71.6 percent of his passes for 3,877 yards, 20 touchdowns, and just five interceptions.