New Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater -- taken with the last pick of the first round Thursday night -- was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat during his pre-draft physical at the NFL Scouting Combine.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday night, Bridgewater said the Vikings were the only team to check out the ailment. Bridgewater said "I was freaking out about it" when the issue first came up at the combine.
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"I just had an abnormal heartbeat," Bridgewater said during the call. "I think it was 1 percent, or one beat, less than the normal beat. So, I came back up to Minnesota, got the physical, got the EKG and everything, got tested and it came back positive."
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer also was on the call, and he told reporters that he asked Bridgewater for an update after the test in Minnesota.
"I said, 'How's your heart?' " Zimmer said. "He said, 'Well, they said it was too big.' "
Zimmer said any concern the Vikings had was alleviated by their follow-up exam. "It was nothing," he said. "It was a blip or something."
Bridgewater's stock took a hit during the run-up to the draft, with his now-infamous mediocre pro-day workout cited as the main reason. He is expected to compete with veterans Matt Cassel and Christian Ponder for the starting job. Ponder was the Vikings' first-round pick in 2011, but it's evident the team doesn't think he's the long-term answer.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
