The Minnesota Vikings have wasted no time in free agency, with an active first two days that has them having spent the most money in the league (subject to change, of course).
Perhaps the most interesting move came toward the end of Day 1, with a deal to sign former Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly. The subsequent signing of another former Colts offensive lineman on Tuesday, right guard Will Fries, made the move to sign Kelly make even more sense.
Upon the news of the four-time Pro Bowler Kelly signing with the Vikings, the natural follow-up question came quickly.
What about Garrett Bradbury? He has been Minnesota’s starting center since arriving as a first-round pick in 2019, even as he has seemed to be imminently replaceable throughout his tenure. He’s also entering the final year of his contract, so a plan to replace him was likely to be coming soon.
Soon has turned into right now, though Kelly does have durability concerns after missing seven games last season. But Kelly’s resume (four Pro Bowls, 121 starts, one second-team All-Pro nod) exceeds Bradbury’s.
And as Alec Lewis of The Athletic recently noted, in light of the Vikings moving to J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback, Kelly has experience working with a young quarterback from his time with Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis.
Trade speculation around Garrett Bradbury is automatic and obvious
Lewis also pointed out the natural questions about Bradbury’s future with the Vikings after the signing of Kelly. Keeping him as a backup is possible, and he did play guard in college at North Carolina State. But size issues Bradbury has at center would be further exacerbated at guard.
Minnesota currently only has four picks in this year’s draft, and if nothing else, Bradbury is now a tradeable asset to add a draft pick. During an appearance on SKOR North’s “Minnesota Sports with Mackey & Judd” on Tuesday, KSTP’s Darren Wolfson talked about that prospect.
“On Garrett Bradbury, I imagine now, they are going to try and trade him. His former college position coach [is] in Atlanta. The Falcons have this obvious need at the center position.
To me, what’s even more fascinating about the Bradbury situation [is that] his representation did the Kelly deal. So what do they know?”
Wolfson went on to speculate that Bradbury’s agent may know where he could be going in the wake of doing Kelly’s deal with the Vikings. Maybe to a place that will award him with a contract extension, and to a place he’d like to go to (like Atlanta, where his college offensive line coach, Dwayne Ledford, is the offensive line coach, and they lost their starting center in free agency?).
In any case, Bradbury’s future in Minnesota is up in the air more than it has ever been. He will be replaced as long as Kelly’s contract becomes official on Wednesday when the new league year begins. It’s just a matter of what happens next.
Releasing Bradbury is also a possibility for the Vikings, but one would think there should at least be some level of trade market for a perfectly average center with 88 career starts.
