Sam Bradford is back practicing with the Vikings, but what does it mean?

The Minnesota Vikings quarterback returned to practice this week for the first time since going on injured reserve back in November.

For the past couple of weeks, there have been whispers of Sam Bradford returning to practice for the Minnesota Vikings after sitting out for the past two-plus months with a knee injury. Well, those whispers turned into actual dialogue when the quarterback took the practice field with his Vikings teammates on Tuesday.

After Minnesota’s practice on Wednesday, Bradford took some time to speak with the media and he described what his emotions have been like this week with him able to get back onto the practice field.

"“To be able to go out there yesterday and today and practice back-to-back days, I think that’s just kind of the next step.It’s positive, it’s encouraging for me to be able to go out there and do that, and I’m just kind of taking it one day at a time.”"

So what exactly does the quarterback practicing again mean for the Vikings and their upcoming playoff journey? Well, to be honest, not a whole lot.

It seems like Bradford’s time at practice this week was just another step in his injury rehab process. There is no reason yet to think that the quarterback will be activated and added to Minnesota’s playoff roster before next week’s divisional round matchup.

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Heading into the postseason, it should still expected that Case Keenum is the Vikings’ starting quarterback and Teddy Bridgewater is the backup. At best, Bradford is likely the team’s emergency signal caller right now if Keenum or Bridgewater gets hurt sometime in the near future.

But wouldn’t Bradford be a better backup option than Bridgewater? Nope, absolutely not.

Bradford has not been practicing for more than two months while Bridgewater has been on the practice field since the middle of October. Bradford may be up to date and familiar with Minnesota’s offense, but getting in more on-field reps and improving his timing with the team’s receivers is something that needs to happen before the Vikings even consider adding him to their active roster.

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For now, it looks like the focus for Bradford is him making sure that his knees will still allow him to have a career in the NFL rather than the quarterback trying to make a playoff roster.