Dear Garrett Bradbury...my bad

[Montana Tom]

Dear Garrett Bradbury …

Sorry, man. Our bad.

Love, Vikings Nation.

Boy oh boy, if there’s one thing the NFL is really good at, it’s taking what appears to be a rock-solid narrative from one season and blowing it to smithereens a year later.

Twelve months ago, Bradbury was at the literal center of the primary reason Sam Darnold was exposed as a quarterback who supposedly couldn’t handle the big stage. A 14-win Vikings team lost the NFC’s No. 1 seed at Detroit and gave up a record-tying nine sacks for 82 yards while getting booted from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Rams eight days later.

Asked after the game whether fixing the offensive line was a priority, coach Kevin O’Connell not only nodded but upped the ante, saying, “We’ve got to find a way to solidify the interior of the pocket, starting first and foremost.”

Amen, K.O.! And good riddance to ya, Garrett!

Now, of course, in typical NFL up-is-down and down-is-up fashion, Darnold and Bradbury are ex-Vikings on their way to Santa Clara, Calif., for Super Bowl LX. One of them is going home with a ring.

Darnold led Seattle to the NFC title by matching likely MVP winner Matthew Stafford stride for stride — throwing for 346 yards, three touchdowns, no turnovers and a 127.8 passer rating — in a 31-27 win over Darnold’s no-longer-nemesis Rams on Sunday, Jan. 25. Bradbury, meanwhile, had one of his best games earlier in the day as the New England Patriots won the AFC title 10-7 in a snowstorm in Denver.

Not re-signing Darnold was a business decision on a player who had outplayed the Vikings’ salary cap capacity tenfold while also wilting in the big moment. It aligned with the commitment to a top 10 draft pick (J.J. McCarthy) and the need to spend mightily throughout the roster in free agency.

Bradbury, however, was purely a football decision.

“I had another year on my contract,” Bradbury said in August when the Patriots visited TCO Performance Center for joint practices. “I thought I was going to be back.”

Releasing Bradbury, whom the Vikings selected No. 18 overall in the 2019 NFL draft, was not met with any resistance among fans or media. This observer considered it long overdue. He was wrong. Now he doesn’t see an offseason need that’s any greater than center, the position Bradbury played with durability on O’Connell’s two playoff teams in 2022 and 2024.

These thoughts came to mind as Bradbury was leading the game’s best young quarterback, Drake Maye, into the end zone against the Broncos on a 6-yard touchdown run up the middle. The Patriots added a field goal later for a 10-7 lead before Mother Nature made it impossible for anyone else to score.

Bradbury looked good. Pro Football Focus agreed, giving him an overall grade of 78.8 and a run-blocking grade of 80.6.

Those were Bradbury’s highest grades since Week 9 of the 2024 season. That was the day he posted an overall mark of 80.0 and run-blocking grade of 84.8 as the Vikings beat Indianapolis.

Current Vikings center Ryan Kelly played that day for the Colts. He posted season-low grades of 50.1 overall, 49.8 for run blocking and 45.9 for pass blocking.

He also injured his knee, landed on injured reserve and missed the next five games. A foreshadowing the Vikings ignored.

And yet …

Like many, this observer took the cheese and loved the Kelly signing initially. He was bigger, stronger. He looked the part more so than Bradbury.

Then the season started. And we discovered that not only was Kelly older than Bradbury, he was also woefully less durable. Three concussions increased Kelly’s career total to six and were the leading cause of him missing nine games. A year after he missed seven games.

Kelly played 329 snaps. That’s 72% of the eight games he appeared in.

Bradbury played 1,072 regular-season snaps. That’s 98% of the 17 games he played. In those games, New England ranked No. 2 in points scored and No. 6 in rushing yards while being led by a 23-year-old quarterback who topped the NFL in completion percentage (72.0) and average yards per attempt (8.9).

And, oh yeah, Bradbury has allowed only one sack in 20 games this season. And, oh yeah, he also has started 51 straight games. And, oh yeah, he has also played every single one of New England’s 193 offensive snaps this postseason en route to Super Bowl LX.

So, again …

Dear Garrett …

STRIB

[pattersaur]

Wild that with all the coaches, front offices, teammates, and QBs during his time here, for whatever reason none of them made a difference for Bradbury really. Then he goes to New England and it all immediately clicks. Sigh.

Half-joking here but... What do we know about the Pats O-Line coach? Should the Vikes hire him?

[MaroonBells]

Vikings fell victim to the age-old, but rarely true, belief that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Bradbury was never as bad as most Viking fans thought he was. He was largely average, with moments of greatness and moments when he got his ass handed to him. But centers get beat. All the time. Even the best of them. 

But I’m not going to sit here and say that I saw it coming. At the end of last year, I was all for upgrading the center position. And make no mistake, Ryan Kelly WAS an upgrade. The fact that Bradbury is on a team going to the Super Bowl is irrelevant. Kelly’s overall PFF grade this year was 82.2. Bradburys was 59.8. That’s a big difference. Kelly’s problem was staying on the field.

And now here we sit, without Bradbury, still just 30, and without Kelly, who is likely retiring. If it weren’t for bad luck, the Vikings would have no luck at all.

[Kentis]

   

[JimmyinSD]

the move needed to be made, he had worked under 2 different coaching staffs and 3 different position coaches and never looked like he was the future of the position that he was drafted to be. if somebody else found a way to make him useful, good for them, for me, I am happy to have moved on even if our first attempt to replace him didnt work out, doesnt mean he would have been better if we had kept him here.

[pattersaur]

Vikings fell victim to the age-old, but rarely true, belief that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Bradbury was never as bad as most Viking fans thought he was. He was largely average, with moments of greatness and moments when he got his ass handed to him. But centers get beat. All the time. Even the best of them. 

But I’m not going to sit here and say that I saw it coming. At the end of last year, I was all for upgrading the center position. And make no mistake, Ryan Kelly WAS an upgrade. The fact that Bradbury is on a team going to the Super Bowl is irrelevant. Kelly’s overall PFF grade this year was 82.2. Bradburys was 59.8. That’s a big difference. Kelly’s problem was staying on the field.

And now here we sit, without Bradbury, still just 30, and without Kelly, who is likely retiring. If it weren’t for back luck, the Vikings would have no luck at all.

Kelly has millions of reasons to try and give it one more go. Vikes will save $8M by cutting him so that's what will happen. How much if any more money Kelly would receive from the Vikings in that event, I'm not sure. Looks like his dead cap is $3.4M.

[MaroonBells]

Kelly has millions of reasons to give it one more go.

He does indeed. But do those millions of reasons outweigh the one BIG reason he should retire?

[purplefaithful]

He does indeed. But do those millions of reasons outweigh the one BIG reason he should retire?

Even if he wanted to give it a go, NO WAY the Vikings can rely on him for 2026. 

no way

[Vikergirl]

He made it work elsewhere, it happens

[JimmyinSD]

I dont see how the Vikings can bring back a guy that has the recent concussion history he has and not be liable for future health issues.   They gave him a chance to prove he could stay healthy with the new helmet tech and the crazy large head thing and he couldn't do it.  Cut the ties and hope he has the brains left to call it a career.