If Vikings quarterback Case Keenum continues to play the way he has, he’ll be in for a big payday with his next contract.
Keenum, 29, playing for $2 million this season, can become a free agent after the season. It’s a sure bet, however, that the Vikings won’t allow him to hit the open market.
Vikings fans, at least at this juncture, would revolt if the team were not to re-sign Keenum, who has basically saved the season after starter Sam Bradford’s disabling knee injury and Teddy Bridgewater’s long recovery from knee surgery.
Although Bridgewater, 25, now is on the active roster, the Vikings honestly still don’t know how he’ll perform after a 15-month absence from game action.
For caution’s sake, though, the Vikings still have five games remaining in the regular season, and that’s why the team — and Keenum — are expected to wait until the end rather than consider a new deal now.
Last March, the Chicago Bears signed QB Mike Glennon to a $45 million, three-year contract. Then Glennon lost his starting job to rookie Mitch Trubisky.
It’s obvious that Bradford, the Vikings’ $18 million QB at the start of the season, won’t be returning. Bridgewater, also a free agent at season’s end, with the emergence of Keenum could be allowed to sign elsewhere. If so, the Vikings in the offseason would need to sign a veteran backup for Keenum while continuing to develop Kyle Sloter.
That the Vikings already have won nine games means they probably won’t draft high enough next spring to get one of the top-rated college QBs.
Again, so much remains predicated on Keenum’s play the rest of the season. It probably won’t be necessary, but the Vikings, if needed, still could use the franchise tag on Keenum, preventing him
from entering free agency.
Keenum got a rousing ovation when shown on the jumbotron behind the Timberwolves’ bench at Friday night’s game against Miami at Target Center. The same for star wideout Adam Thielen.
The Vikings’ 30-23 Thanksgiving Day victory in Detroit clearly was their most important of the season. Had Minnesota lost, it would have had just a one-game division lead over Detroit, having lost the tiebreaker because the Lions would have swept their two games.
And the Lions have an easier schedule than the Vikings in their last five games.
Although the season began horribly for the Vikings with the knee injuries to Bradford and running back Dalvin Cook, the Vikings then caught two breaks — Keenum’s play and the injury to Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.
In Vikings history, the team has played seven games on Thanksgiving Day. Twice when they have lost those games (to Detroit in 1995 and 2016), the Vikings did not make the playoffs.
But in each season when the Vikings won games on Thanksgiving, they made the playoffs (1969 under Bud Grant, 1987 and 1988 under Jerry Burns and 1998 and 2000 under Dennis Green).
Following the victory in Detroit, the Vikings have 14-to-1 odds to win the Super Bowl on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis, according to Bovada-Las Vegas.
With better odds, though, is New England at 11-4, followed by Philadelphia (15-to-4), Pittsburgh (5-to-1) and New Orleans (15-to-2). The Packers, without Rodgers, are 125-to-1.
Mike Grant on Friday coached Eden Prairie to its 11th state large-school football championship. Grant’s father Bud, former St. John’s coach John Gagliardi and former Stillwater coach George Thole — all Minnesota football coaching icons — along with Mike have combined to win 1,390 of their 1,854 games.
Grant’s 26-year record at Eden Prairie against 47 different schools is 288-27-0 (91 percent). His teams have scored 10,033 points while allowing just 3,301.
Word is Eden Prairie will be just as powerful next year as this season.
Vikings running back Latavius Murray should be credited with the idea for the team’s “Duck, Duck, Goose/Gray Duck” celebratory post-TD routine earlier this season, tight end Kyle Rudolph told Sports Illustrated last week.
Barry Alvarez, 70, credited with Wisconsin’s turnaround into a national football power and now athletics director for the Badgers, accompanied the 11-0 team to Minneapolis for Saturday’s victory over the Gophers.
Can the Gophers ever achieve the Badgers’ status?
“I don’t see why not — they have everything they need to be successful, a great community, great school, so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t,” Alvarez said.
What about the beautiful 50,805-seat TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis?
Alvarez paused.
“I like 100-year-old stadiums,” he said.
Camp Randall Stadium in Madison has been Wisconsin’s home for football since 1895, and now has a capacity of 80,321.
Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle said he’s pleased with first-year football coach P.J. Fleck, who last week received a one-year contract extension that pushes his deal into 2023, albeit with no new pay increase on his $3.5 million annual salary.
“Obviously, you want more wins — everybody wants more wins — but we feel like we’re putting in a good foundation in building this long-term,” Coyle said. “If you look at what we’ve done off the field — we had our highest grade-point average as a team. We’ve got a nationally-ranked recruiting class that hopefully we can lock in on Dec. 20. I’m very thankful for his hard work and what he’s done.”
Can Minnesota build what Wisconsin has in football?
“I have a lot of respect for Wisconsin — I talked to (then) coach Alvarez when I first got to the Big Ten,” Coyle said. “When I was growing up, you remember when Wisconsin really struggled. And (Alvarez) got there, and they really flipped a switch. They made a commitment — they had alignment from everybody involved.
“And we’re trying to create that alignment here at Minnesota to get everybody on board and involved with all of our sports. But if we can get football going in the right direction, it’ll help all 25 programs here at Minnesota.”
Former St. Agnes star Tim Tibesar is outside linebackers coach for the Badgers.
Vikings director of college scouting Scott Studwell attended Saturday’s Gophers-Badgers game.
UCLA interim head coach Jedd Fisch last week named ex-Gopher Adam Weber QB coach for the Bruins.
Steve Walsh, the former NFL quarterback from St. Paul, is an assistant to ex-Gophers QB Marc Trestman, who on Sunday coaches the Toronto Argonauts against the Calgary Stampeders for the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup championship.
The real good news for Twins fans is that Cory Provus’ broadcasting status will remain the same with the club’s switch from Go 96.3-FM back to WCCO-AM next season. Provus is peerless as a play-by-play voice.
“I’ve been so fortunate in my career that I got to work for tradition-rich stations like WGN when I was with the Cubs, WTMJ with the Brewers, and now I get a chance to join WCCO,” Provus said. “That’s where Herb (Carneal) and Halsey (Hall) and John (Gordon) and Danny (Gladden) and so many more … that’s how people became Twins fans, long before the games were on television, they heard every single game on the Good Neighbor.
“So this is really cool for me to be a part of this family that’s been enriched in people’s lives that have grown up as Twins fans since the early ‘60s.”
It’s unclear, with the Twins now on WCCO-AM, whether the station will continue to broadcast University of St. Thomas football games.
Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau, on what it takes to succeed in the NBA, considering the grinding schedule: “You have to have a toughness about you.”
Thibodeau was asked if his team is tough enough.
“You’re always working on it,” he said. “To me, it’s the mental toughness. We’ve had a lot of those one in, one out-type deals. You go into a game and you’ve got to find a way to win it, whatever it takes down the stretch … to get a rebound, to block out, to put your body on somebody. Those are things we can get better at.”
Kris Humphries, 32, the former Gopher who has played 13 seasons in the NBA, wasn’t signed this year, but he is working out in Los Angeles after several NBA teams have indicated they might call him when it’s time for roster moves.
The 2003 Mr. Basketball Minnesota from Hopkins last season averaged 4.6 points and 3.7 rebounds for the Atlanta Hawks.
Humphries has made more than $62 million in salary during his NBA career. He and his father William, the former Gophers football lineman, are partners in six Five Guys burger franchises and plan to add three more in Wisconsin within six months.
Humphries also has major real estate holdings in Minnesota and sold his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., for millions.
Spencer Tollackson, the 2004 Mr. Basketball Minnesota out of Chaska, besides doing radio analysis of Gophers games, works in software data security for New York-based Varonis.
Royce White, 26, the 2009 Mr. Basketball Minnesota out of Hopkins, is averaging 14 points and 9.0 rebounds for the London Lightning in the Canadian National Basketball League.
Jim Larranaga, 68, who brings his No. 11-ranked Miami basketball team to Williams Arena on Wednesday, is a Providence College grad, the same as Richard Pitino, 35, coach of the No. 14 Gophers. Only obstructed seats remain for Wednesday’s matchup.
White Bear Lake’s Sean McCoshen, 57, a nine-handicap golfer, had never scored a hole-in-one until last week. Playing 27 holes at Tanners Brook in Forest Lake, he knocked a gap wedge into the cup on the No. 17 hole, playing 115 yards. He then started on hole No. 10 for his second nine and again aced the same No. 17 with the same gap wedge.
McCoshen used the same ball for both aces. But when he got to No. 18, he hit the treasured ball into deep grass near the green, searched for it and couldn’t find it. He has looked a couple of times since then for the trophy ball, but still hasn’t been able to find it.
DON’T PRINT THAT
If the Vikings’ offense continues the way it has, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur seems a cinch to get a head coaching job in the NFL next year. Shurmur, 52, was head coach of the Cleveland Browns for two seasons (2011-12), but nobody has succeeded with that dysfunctional organization.
It turns out the Vikings were smart to re-sign wideout Adam Thielen to a $17 million, three-year contract last March. Had Thielen waited, a new deal would have been worth substantially more.
Is Thielen comfortable or uncomfortable with his new-found attention?
“It’s no different — I’m just playing football and trying to handle business like I always have,” he said.
The recent Vikings game against the Los Angeles Rams in Minneapolis was huge for on-street ticket sellers, who were getting between $200 and $250 just to get in.
You could get into Friday night’s Timberwolves-Miami game in Minneapolis for $35 and $40 on the street.
John Green went from tiny Houston (Minn.) High School to UCLA, where he became a first-team All-America basketball guard playing for legendary coach John Wooden. Green, who still resides in Houston, became disgusted when he learned that UCLA players Cody Riley, LiAngelo Ball and Jalen Hill had been arrested for shoplifting during their team’s recent trip to China.
“I have talked with a couple of old teammates to find out the feeling in and around UCLA for the three basketball players (I refuse to use their names again) who were caught in China shoplifting, and they agree with me that they should be permanently suspended from basketball and the University,” Green wrote me in an email.
“How embarrassing to have to answer questions about the situation. Listening to them read their comments written by someone else was a joke. They shamed the basketball program and the University. I can’t think of any reason why they might be reinstated down the road.”
Entering Saturday evening’s game in St. Louis, the Blues, under the coach the Wild fired, Mike Yeo, were in first place in the NHL’s Central Division with a 16-6 record and 33 points. The Wild, under Yeo’s successor, Bruce Boudreau, were tied for fifth with a 11-8 record and 25 points.
On the same day that Gophers QB Demry Croft completed two passes for 43 yards in the 39-0 shutout loss at Northwestern a week ago, Gophers QB transfer Chris Streveler completed 27 of 39 passes for 286 yards to increase his single-season school passing record of 3,236 yards for South Dakota in a 31-28 loss to South Dakota State.
Don’t be surprised if ex-Wild forward Mark Parrish, the boys hockey coach at Orono High School, takes a broadcast analyst job with the New York Islanders.
Plans are for former Philadelphia Phillies minor leaguer Buzz Hannahan to join new Cretin-Derham Hall baseball coach Tony Cicalello as an assistant, and for Hannahan’s brother Jack, the former major leaguer, to assist with the Raiders’ freshman team.
New baseball coach at St. Thomas Academy will be Ryan Flanagan, who was coach at Roseville Area High and played at the University of St. Thomas and Totino-Grace.
In order to save money, the Gophers men’s and women’s basketball teams shared a charter flight to Providence and Rhode Island, respectively, for their games two weeks ago. The men’s team sat on one side of the aisle, the women’s on the other.
The Alabama A&M men’s basketball team the Gophers bounced 100-57 last week was ranked No. 351 of the NCAA’s 351 Division I teams.
The Timberwolves’ Jamal Crawford says, without question, that teammate Jimmy Butler “is the best player on the team.” Butler is also the highest-paid this season at $19.3 million.
By the way, the Wolves are still paying departed Nikola Pekovic $11.6 million this season.
OVERHEARD
NBC Sports’ NFL analyst Tony Dungy, on Case Keenum having to keep answering questions about being the Vikings’ starter: “He shouldn’t have to answer that question. His coach should say ‘Case Keenum is our quarterback.’ ”
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