Purple Rumor Mill: Calais Campbell Sweepstakes, Teddy Bridgewater’s Comeback, the Flex Game for Vikings
VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s Vikings rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the December 21st edition.
Purple Rumor Mill: Calais Campbell Sweepstakes, Teddy Bridgewater’s Comeback, the Flex Game for Vikings
Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the purple team, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.
Here’s the first batch of the week. All past rumors can be read here.
Rumor: Calais Campbell could be released by the Dolphins to pursue a Super Bowl with a playoff team, and the Vikings should pounce if so.
Campbell has evidently been given word by the Dolphins that they’ll release him as a goodwill gesture to pursue a Super Bowl if Miami is eliminated from postseason contention.
It goes without saying that the Vikings should swoop on his availability if so.
Associated Press’ Alanis Thames wrote this week about Campbell’s budding free agency, “Campbell said Wednesday that he and the Dolphins could have conversations about releasing him so he can join a playoff contender if Miami (6-8) is eliminated from the postseason soon.”
Minnesota doesn’t really have severe weaknesses at Campbell spot(s) — Harrison Phillips, Jerry Tillery, Jonathan Bullard, and Jalen Redmond are playing well — but Campbell would represent a significant upgrade.
The Baltimore Ravens reportedly almost acquired Campbell at the NFL’s trade deadline seven weeks ago, but Miami inxayed the arrangement, telling Campbell it would release him if the playoffs became out of reach. Well, the Dolphins are about one loss away from that inevitability.
If Campbell is released, the only hurdle for the Vikings is the waiver process. He’d have to clear every team before Minnesota could add him to the roster. With a 12-2 record, the Vikings are near the bottom of the list.
Rumor: Teddy Bridgewater will return to the NFL.
Bridgewater teased the comeback last month before his high school squad won the Class 3A chip, and many wondered if he was offhandedly joking. Well, he wasn’t.
Asked about his comeback on The Insiders this week, Bridgewater replied, “That’s the plan. My team knows that’s the plan. We wanted to win a state championship and then coach goes back to the league, see what happens, and then come back February in the offseason, continue coaching high school football. We’ll see how it plays out.”
It’s unclear if an NFL market exists for Bridgewater, 32, but he’ll apparently find out in the next few weeks. Bridgewater can sign anywhere in the NFL.
If a playoff-bound team’s quarterback gets hurt, Bridgewater is now a contingency plan.
Rumor: Minnesota’s Week 17 game against the Green Bay Packers won’t be flexed.
This popular Vikings theory circulated on social media for about two weeks might have been wrong. Minnesota’s Week 17 contest at home against the Green Bay Packers was not flexed out of the early afternoon slot when the NFL made a flurry of Week 17 tweaks on Tuesday.
The NFL announced Tuesday morning, “The Week 17 Atlanta Falcons at Washington Commanders game will be played on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. The Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns matchup will move to 4:05 p.m. ET on CBS. The Indianapolis Colts at New York Giants game will be played at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX. NFL Network will feature a tripleheader on Saturday: Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots at 1:00 p.m. ET, Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30 p.m. ET and Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams at 8:00 p.m. ET.”
The league has until Tuesday, December 24th, to flex the game, but it did not do so during its first flurry of schedule announcements. Stay tuned. It’s still in the “noon window” for now.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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