WATCH: Teddy Bridgewater returns to practice for the Vikings

For the first time in almost a season and a half, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback participated in an actual organized practice with his teammates on Wednesday.

As the Minnesota Vikings prepare for their Week 7 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday, the team got a bit of a morale boost on Wednesday as a familiar face made his long-awaited return to the practice field.

Unable to participate in an official Vikings practice since August of 2016, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater jogged out onto the field on Wednesday like he has never missed a minute of the past season and a half. After being taken off the Physically Unable to Perform list by Minnesota on Monday, the quarterback is now able to take part in the team’s practice for at least the next three weeks.

Unsurprisingly, Bridgewater was seen out on the field wearing a pretty big brace on his surgically repaired knee. It remains unknown if this will be something permanent for the rest of the quarterback’s NFL career, but for now it seems like a smart precaution at the very least.

During Wednesday’s practice, Bridgewater apparently got a good amount of reps in with the Vikings’ first-team offense according to the Star Tribune’s Andrew Krammer.

Earlier in the week, reports came out that Minnesota intends to add the quarterback to the active roster sometime either this week or next week. Well according to Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer on Wednesday, it does not appear that Bridgewater will be activated before Sunday’s game against the Ravens.

"“Everybody feels really good for Teddy. He’s worked extremely hard to get to this point where he can get back out on the practice field. We still don’t know where it’s going to go or where that’s going to lead to. Minnesota Vikings The Viking Age 0d - 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history More headlines around FanSided: 1d - Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North 1d - Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take 1d - 6 Vikings who (maybe) won't make the 53-man roster in 2023 2d - Which teams could be drafting a quarterback next year? 2d - Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022 More News at The Viking Age But, I think everybody feels good for him because they know what kind of kid he is and how hard he has worked. He’s probably not going to play this week. We need to put the brakes on things a little bit.”"

Zimmer’s words on his returning quarterback should not be surprising for most. Bridgewater has missed a significant amount of time since his injury and he still has to adjust to having a different offensive coordinator since the last time he played in a game for the Vikings.

The good news is that there does not seem to be a mad rush to get the quarterback back out in an actual game by Minnesota. It has been a slow process up to this point and now would not be the time to try and hurry up his progress or make any rash decisions.

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So do not expect to see Bridgewater suit up in a Vikings uniform for a game just yet, but know that it might not be too much longer until that actually does happen again.