Teddy Bridgewater believes he will play at some point in 2017.
The Minnesota Vikings plan to ease him into practices.
Mike Zimmer said Thursday he needs to see that Bridgewater has mobility and can protect himself in the pocket and avoid defenders. Taking baby steps has been critical to his approach.
"It could be just completing a pass down the field or making a sudden movement in the pocket," Bridgewater said Thursday. "Just going to look for little things each day to do whatever I can to get back to who I was before and even better."
Bridgewater said he thought about his return to practice every day since he dislocated his left knee and tore his ACL and other ligaments nearly 14 months ago.
"I used it as motivation," Bridgewater said. "I use that to tell myself, hey, 'I'm one step closer.' Being out there, running out of that tunnel yesterday just did something to me, in a good way."