Hey, I just read an article on PFT that states that the Seahawks are trying to trade Aaron Curry and Curry indicated that the Vikings are one of two teams interested.  Obviously, an OLB isn't going to solve our QB or O-line problems but this could be a good trade for the Vikings if the compensation isn't too high.  Curry was the fourth overall pick in the 2009 draft and is basically the prototype 4-3 OLB.  He's 6'2, 255, and runs a 4.56 forty.  In his career so far he showed a lot of promise in his rookie season but regressed last year and is noted as a guy that is always in position to make the big play but doesn't finish often enough.  Anyway, this guy is only entering his third year and has a boatload of talent so I'd like to see the Vikings pick him up if the price is right.  I'm thinking a 6th round pick would be enough for a deal to get done and would be a fair price to pay for a guy that was a top 4 pick three years ago.  I'd like to hear everybody's thoughts on whether this would be a risk worth taking or not.

Link to PFT article http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/27/aaron-curry-hints-hes-on-the-trading-block/

Note: Some of you are probably wondering what his contract status is and I couldn't find accurate details.  His rookie contract was a monstrous 6 yr. 60 million deal but he recently restructured to a 4yr. deal and gave up 5 million in guaranteed 2012 money which is now the last year of his deal.  From what I can tell he's due to make just over 5 million this year and roughly 760,000 in 2012 after the restructure.

Hey, I've got a ten team 2 player keeper league that  three guys were late scratches in.  I've got two to three spots open and they've got some pretty awesome keepers available.  It's a ten team PPR league with a roster of QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1WR/RB, K, and D.  One team has Cris Johnson, Calvin Johnson, and Jamaal Charles as possible keepers.  The second team has Arian Foster, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Larry Fitzgerald as keeper candidates and the last team has Aaron Rodgers, Steven Jackson,  and Brandon Marshall as options.  Anyway, if anybodies interested send me an e-mail and I'll send an invite.  Draft is scheduled for Tuesday night at 8:30 ET and this is an NFL.com league.

Alright, this is going to be a semi-rant from a generally optimistic guy.  First off I wasn't thrilled with our pick of Ponder in the first round.  I don't hate Ponder but I hate the lack of value we got out of that pick and I know I'm not the only one around here who thinks that way.  Not a  big deal because I really liked our second round pick of Kyle Rudolph and I was starting to feel much better about our draft.  The one thing bugging me was that the QB I thought was the best in the draft was sliding pretty far and I was ready to accept that maybe all those off-field issues were for real and Mallett really wasn't worth the risk in the first two rounds.  Started to feel more confident in our QB choice when a few things happened and brought me back to being pissed.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't be pissed off right now if any other team picked Mallett in the third round other than the Patriots.  Still you might say that the Patriots had tons of picks to waste so why not gamble?  Okay, I buy that, but then I hear Michael Lombardi state that Mallett was actually the top rated QB in the draft on the Patriots board. So my favorite QB in the draft is picked by a great team that already has Tom Brady by Bill Belicheck( generally considered a pretty smart coach) with what was coincidentally  the third round pick Childress gave him for Mr. Randy Moss.  This all brings me back to yet another reason for why I hate Brad Childress even if this series of events is only loosely connected to him! Okay, that's it for me bitching about the QB we could've had for a much cheaper cost with what turned out to be our own 3rd rounder that Chilly pissed away.  Ummmm..... end of rant.....Go Ponder ! : )

P.S. I kinda have the feeling that Belicheck has re-payed Childress, and by proxy Vikings fans, about a thousand fold over with the Moss trade and drafting of Mallet for Childress'  excessive bragging over stealing that injury prone TE off NE's practice squad a few years back.  Man, I hope Ponder is every bit as good as FSUViking thinks or this draft might frustrate me for a long time.

Maybe this should be posted as a fanshot but I thought at least some of you guys would get a kick out of this video.  It's a take on the Lebron "What should I do" ad only it's topic is Brett Favre.  I know most of us are sick of anything related to Favre's off-field issues but I thought this was pretty funny.

Warning: video is rated R4F for non-flattering Favre content : )

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POyFvDgV2cU

I decided to jump into the offseason speculation by looking at each position of the Vikings offense and seeing how it can be improved through free agency.  I started by listing everybody that was under contract for the Vikings this year and denoted their contract status for next year if they aren't under contract for 2011.  Then I looked at a list of 2011 free agents and compared the two lists position by position to see where the Vikings can improve with what's going to be available.  I gotta say that there is quality talent available at almost every offensive position this year and assuming a CBA gets done this is going to be a very interesting offseason.  This might be a little early for a free-agency post but I was bored so if you're in the mood for some offseason speculation check out the rest of my post after the jump.

Disclaimer: It's a little long and I'd recommend checking out these links to the free-agent list and Vikings roster information that I used.

Continue reading this post »

I just read that Frazier has fired three members of our coaching staff.  While it's never nice to see people get fired the coaches who got the axe are the offensive line coach, assistant offensive line coach, and the quarterbacks coach which make me pretty happy.  It's no secret that our offensive line was awful this year so I'm hoping that new coaches help improve the line play next year.  I'm also hoping that this is an early indication that the Vikings might be moving away from the zone-blocking scheme.  The next, and most important coaching staff decision for Frazier, is whether or not to keep Bevell as our offensive coordinator or move on to somebody new.  I'm hoping it's the latter as I think our offense needs a fresh approach.

Link to the Star Tribune story http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/112974029.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiU9PmP:QiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUz33Dii_9PmP:Qi_vckD8EQD_1cuU

I maybe venturing into Revenge4Favre's territory a bit here but this article on PFT seems like a dumb idea on Payton's part to me.  Yes, Favre is old but if there's one QB you don't give bulletin board material to it's Favre. This is the guy that thrives on being counted out and performs his best when he's hurting emotionally or physically.  I won't go into the history of Favre's big games when he couldn't possibly be expected to play well due to broken bones or the passing of family members because everybody knows about them.  What I will say is that Payton may have just given Favre and our team some quotes to fire the team up even more than they already are!

Here's the link:Payton's Speech

I've seen a lot of mixed reactions on how our draft was this year and wanted to take a look at the draft from another angle.  Before I get started on my premise I'll note that I voted our draft as a C+ on MB's post and at this time B is leading that poll by a small margin.  This may be a shot in the dark but I'm getting the feeling that which network you watched the draft on has an effect on how you think we did.  I'm not going to insert my opinions on the draft coverage in this post but I hope you will vote in my poll and see if there is a trend based on your network of choice.

Edit: After 101 votes - 25% that watched on NFLN liked our draft

                                       23% thought draft our draft was average

                                       22% that watched on ESPN liked our draft

                                       16% that watched on ESPN disliked our draft

                                       10% that watched on NFLN disliked our draft

It's hard to say that there is any effect on what people thought of our draft based on the network coverages.  There seems to be a larger disparity between the positive and negative thoughts for those that watched on NFLN than ESPN but I can't make a solid conclusion based on 101 votes.  Also many people mentioned in the comments that they watched on the internet and used multiple sources to form their opinion.  If there is a slight trend to be found so far it is that the NFLN showed our draft in a slightly more positive light than ESPN and that is marginally reflected in the poll results so far.  No big deal but I thought it might be interesting to see if there was any noticeable difference on our perception of the draft because of the media we watched.

Well the first two days of the NFL draft have been interesting for the Vikings.  We've only made two picks in getting Chris Cook and Toby Gerhart so far.  These picks are getting mixed reviews but one popular pre-draft position has not yet been addressed.  We need a fat man to help out our offensive line.  This would seem to be even more important now as the drafting of Gerhart signals a renewed commitment to the running game.  I think we just got a gift as the Jets have just released pro-bowl guard Alan Faneca mainly due to a high guaranteed salary.  He is aging but he is a great run-blocker and I believe he would really solidify our line and allow Hererra to provide quality depth.  We're built for a Super Bowl now and I think this could be one of those final pieces we need.  What do the rest of you think about chasing down a third ex-Jet?

We've all been involved in the QBOF and draft speculation for a while so I thought I might bring up a new topic while we wait for the draft.  Apparently Haynseworth is on the block and most of his crazy contract has already been swallowed up by the Redskins.  According to PFT his remaining contract is essentially a 3 year deal for 16 million with 9 being guaranteed.  The guy seems to have some McKinnie like attitude but he definitely has some talent.  Not sure what the price tag would be but it seems to be reduced with the Redskins switch to the 3-4 and his qualms about being forced into this scheme.  Just wanted to start a new conversation so what does everybody think?

So apparently there is discussion about trading Sage Rosenfels to the Oakland Raiders.  While this isn't as exciting as the recent McNabb speculation it does pose a lot of questions.  Does this mean Favre is definitely coming back?  Does this mean we are interested in McNabb?   Does this mean we have targeted a QB in the draft?

The one thing this does mean is that we have a plan in acquiring at least one new quarterback and shedding some salary in the process.  Also this could indicate a three team trade as the Raider's have been considered the team most interested in Mcnabb.  The funny thing is that this potential move leaves Tarvaris Jackson as the only sure thing at our QB position.  A fact that probably only pleases me, Medicineball, and a few others. 

Anyway, this is an interesting development and only adds to the questions about our QB situation.  Personally, getting a draft pick for Sage and shedding his salary seems like a no brainer no matter which direction we take for filling out our QB depth chart.

Thoughts?

I know the LT speculation has just started but Westbrook is probably even more plausible.  I know he's got the concussion issue but if he's past that problem he might be the perfect replacement for Chester.  As a third down pass catching back he has been one of the best in the league for years.  Add Chilly's familiarity with him as well as his love for ex-Philly players and I think this will happen.  Childress just has to go fishing with Reid and find out the inside story on the concussions, sign him to a friendly contract, and our backup running back position is filled and possibly upgraded.

Hey everyone.  I've been following this blog for a couple of years now and love the community.  First post for me as I'm not much of a commenter and everyone here does a great job.  Anyway just finished watching the Vikings game tonight and felt the need to endorse Jackson's place on this team.  I know it's preseason but he looked pretty good and I don't see any reason to trade him for a late round pick.  He's cheap, has athleticism, and has only improved with questionable coaching and receiver talent around him.  Obviously Favre is our starter as long as he's upright, but looking ahead to next year we need options at QB.  Rosenfel's isn't bad but is he going to suddenly become a quality starter now after being in the league for a while?  Maybe he will, but Jackson has shown talent and flashes of brilliance and still has a lot of upside.  I know upside just means unrealized potential but still he does have those flashes.  Anyway don't want to bore you guys but what's the downside of keeping this guy around?  At worst he takes a backup special teamer's spot on the roster and at best he sits on the bench and is still a viable option next year once Favre finishes his annual retirement dance.   By the way, entertaining game for preseason.  Loved the goaline stand at the end!