Jimmy Garoppolo, Tom Savage Were Vikings’ Fall Back Options

May 9, 2014; Eden Prairie, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater addresses the media at Winter Park Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Albert Breer has gone deep inside the Vikings’ QB draft process and discovered many fascinating nuggets of information. Possibly the most fascinating is what the Vikings had as a back up plan in case their #1 and #2 plans fell through.

According to Breer – and this has been a matter of controversy among some fans ever since Jay Glazer’s report about the Vikings trying to trade up for Johnny Manziel – the Vikings had Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater in the same tier of their board, with Manziel just a hair ahead.

So, sorry Johnny Manziel trade deniers, the evidence keeps rolling in that Manziel was indeed the target when the Vikings tried to move up to #22.

Now the other side of the story. Per Breer, the Vikings had two more quarterbacks pegged as targets in the event they missed out on their top 2. The fall backs would have been Jimmy Garoppolo at #40 and Tom Savage in the third.

All four QBs on the Vikings’ board were extensively worked on by the team, particularly Bridgewater and Savage, who were both brought in for second private meetings. Bridgewater was brought to Winter Park mostly to do one last round of tests on his heart, which reportedly showed an abnormal heartbeat during an earlier exam.

Bridgewater was given a clean bill of health and the Vikings had no hesitation about drafting him. In fact, they traded up to make sure the pick happened (and to have that precious fifth year option that comes with first rounders).

Had some other team elected to pluck Bridgewater before the Vikings could get him, we would right now be talking about Jimmy Garoppolo as the future of the franchise. Or Tom Savage.

That’s a little scary. Bridgewater, I think, gives fans a much better feeling about the road ahead.

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