Sam Bradford or Shaun Hill? Mike Zimmer won't name Week 1 starter yet

The initial plan after the Vikings traded for quarterback Sam Bradford on Saturday was to still start veteran Shaun Hill in Sunday’s season opener against the Tennessee Titans. But plans can change, which is why coach Mike Zimmer is choosing not to announce his starting QB right now.

“I don’t know yet,” Zimmer said this afternoon. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Plus, it doesn’t hurt to make the Titans prepare for two different passers.

Zimmer said he plans to divide the first-team reps between Bradford and Hill in practice this week. His first impressions of Bradford were positive.

“He throws the ball great. He’s been a starting quarterback and a No. 1 pick in the draft,” Zimmer said. “I said after Teddy [Bridgewater] got that hurt that we were going to try to figure out how to continue to win and play good. And we’re going to do everything we possibly can.”

He added: “Rick worked unbelievably hard on getting this deal done.”

Zimmer said Hill has handled the bold addition of Bradford well.

“He was disappointed at first,” Zimmer said. “But Shaun’s a great person and he came in and I talked to him before it was announced obviously. I talked to Teddy as well. He is a pro’s pro and that’s the way he took it.”

While it’s very difficult to imagine Bradford not becoming the starting quarterback sooner rather than later given the steep price the Vikings paid to acquire him from the Eagles, Zimmer declined today to say that Bradford would definitely take over as QB1 at some point this season.

“I don’t know. Things change. It’s hard to say,” the third-year coach said. “I didn’t think my quarterback was going to hurt his knee in a non-contact drill on Tuesday. So things change. We’ll just see how it goes.”