Sam Bradford expected to begin the 2018 season as a starter

The former Minnesota Vikings quarterback is expected to open the 2018 NFL season in the starting lineup for the Arizona Cardinals over rookie Josh Rosen.

Sam Bradford’s last snap with the Minnesota Vikings is probably is not something he would like to remember. After missing three of the first four weeks in 2017 with an injured knee, Bradford attempted to give it go for the Vikings’ Monday night matchup against the Chicago Bears in Week 5.

His knee was still clearly an issue as he completed just five of his 11 passes for 36 yards and Minnesota eventually replaced him with Case Keenum before the end of the first half.

That night in Chicago ended up being the last time Bradford took a snap under center for the Vikings in 2017. After signing with the Arizona Cardinals this offseason, that game against the Bears will likely go down as his last with actual playing time for Minnesota.

Minnesota Vikings

Despite adding Bradford this year, the Cardinals still went out and selected UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen in the first round of last April’s NFL Draft.

With the status of Bradford’s knee still in question, there was some thought that Rosen could open the 2018 season as Arizona’s starting quarterback. But that does not appear to be the case.

Bradford is expected to be the Cardinals’ Week 1 starter when the team opens the 2018 season against the Washington Redskins according to azcardinals.com’s Darren Urban.

Rosen has looked good in OTAs and minicamp according to Urban, but he does not believe it is enough to convince Arizona to open the year with the rookie as their starting quarterback.

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If Bradford ends up as the Cardinals’ choice for Week 1, it will be the fourth different team to have the quarterback as their opening game starter since 2013.