Just read an interesting article:  http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_13046891?source=rss

The last section on the offensive line caught my attention the most:

OFFENSIVE LINE JON COOPER VS. BRIAN DANIELS, CHRIS CLARK AND DREW RADOVICH

Former Oklahoma tackle Phil Loadholt was a second-round draft pick. But ex-Oklahoma center Jon Cooper, right, who went undrafted, was the Big 12 offensive lineman of the year in 2008. Neither of the linemen from last year's top-scoring offense have been a disappointment. Cooper has impressed the Vikings with his quickness and intelligence, and he will be watched closely Friday against the Colts. In addition to the starters, veterans Artis Hicks and Ryan Cook likely have spots locked up because of their versatility, which would leave one more spot. Daniels and Clark have potential, but Cooper really could help himself if he can swing to guard, as he did in his college career.

 I wasn't aware of Jon Cooper.  The Big 12 offensive lineman of the year and he went undrafted?  He won the honor in spite of playing with Loadholt who we took in the 2nd round.  Guys like this have a way of making a name for themselves in the league. 

Could we be looking at a future starter?  If he could quickly make the transition to guard and oust Herrera (who is a decent guard) we might be looking at a truly dominant line in 2011.  Everything I've read/seen so far (and I know it's early) point to Sullivan and Loadholt being ready for the regular season and Loadholt at least being an upgrade over last year.

This to me is really big news.  Every facet of our offense could benefit if early indications pan out.  Then we'd have the luxury of drafting a good left tackle and/or left guard to eventually replace Mac and Hutch who have quickly become the elder statesman of our line (and they aren't that old!).

The jury is still out and much must be proven.  Hopefully we've got a steal of an undrafted free agent on our hands. *

*Disclaimer.  All opinions expressed in this post are based on the premise that the Vikings beat writers know what they're talking about.

With all the drama and speculation surrounding the vikings this offseason, I thought I'd take a look at one of the major points of contention from last season: the season ending loss to the eagles in the playoffs. To me, this game epitomized the entire viking season last year. It had everything that went right and wrong for the vikings all year. I recently recorded the NFL Network replay of the game. Over the past couple of weeks I've watched the game several times in bits and pieces, trying to capture the entire game. During this time I've taken notes on different players and different plays that I think were key to the game. NFL network doesn't show every single play on their replays, so with the help of games stats from NFL.com I've been able to come up with this analysis of game. Hopefully this won't be too long winded and you'll bear with me through this. See you after the jump and I hope you can bear with me through all of this.

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The vikings team report from yahoo had this to say today:

Unhappy that contract negotiations with the Vikings broke down this spring, Antoine Winfield(notes) failed to take part in any of the team’s offseason practices. Officially, he missed the mandatory three-day minicamp so he could attend the funeral for the mother of a close friend.

 

So will the veteran cornerback show his unhappiness by staying away from training camp? That seems like a long shot. Winfield is heading into the final season of a six-year, $34.8 million deal and is scheduled to make $6 million in 2009.

 

“There is way too much time for me or Antoine to even think of anything like,” a holdout, agent Ashanti Webb said. “As of right now, that option has not been discussed at all. The thing that needs to be crystal clear is Antoine is not making any demands or threats or anything like that.”

Here's the link to the full story in addition to a complete unit-by-unit analysis of the entire team:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AgKjvLE_.xYaruymwf4LYECM2bYF?slug=teamreports-2009-nfl-min&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report

So at this point at least it looks both sides are playing nice.  Hopefully it will be resolved before we lose him.

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