The Minnesota Vikings still don't have a timeline for Teddy Bridgewater's potential return.
On Thursday, general manager Rick Spielman declined to say with 100 percent certainty the quarterback will ever play again.
"Everybody's hoping," Spielman said, per USA Today's Tom Pelissero.
The GM added that Bridgewater is still not doing any football activities. The 24-year-old suffered a gruesome knee injury in which he dislocated his knee and tore his ACL in practice in September.
The uncertainty about Bridgewater's ability to continue his career, let alone a return for 2017, was one reason why the Vikings shipped off a first-round pick to Philadelphia for Sam Bradford, who is under contract through next season.
Spielman's vague comments mesh with coach Mike Zimmer's assessment after the 2016 season.
"I'm worried about Teddy getting better," Zimmer said in January, via the Minnesota Star Tribune. "He comes in here every single day, busts his rear end and I just want him to get better right now, so we will worry about those things later."
Zimmer added that the nature of Bridgewater's injury adds to the uncertainty about when, or if ever, the QB could return.
"With this injury that he has, it's different with everyone," Zimmer said at the time. "They went back and, whoever has had this injury, they've studied it and the ones [who] have come back and how long it's taken to come back, how long it hasn't come back. But they're all different, there's no exact injury where they're all the same."
The Vikings won't put a timeline on Bridgewater's rehab, but it sounds more and more like a return won't happen in 2017, if ever.
