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Vikings’ Top Priority?
Leading up to the NFL Draft, Sporting News writers will debate one key belief for each team.
Today’s belief: The Vikings’ top priority in this draft is to find a quarterback.
Skeptic: Clifton Brown
Why we don’t believe: There isn’t a quarterback in this draft that doesn’t have major questions marks. And the best two, Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert, will be gone when the Vikings pick No. 12. The Vikings will be seriously tempted to reach for a quarterback at some point in this draft. They should resist that notion and focus on bringing in a veteran once the lockout ends.
What we believe instead: The Vikings need a defensive end, especially since Ray Edwards may depart in free agency. Plenty of good ones could be available at No. 12, including Da’Quan Bowers of Clemson, Cameron Jordan of California, J.J. Watt of Wisconsin and Muhammad Wilkerson of Temple. Concerns about Bowers’ knee have raised concerns, but he has tremendous talent and could be a steal for the Vikings.
What else we believe: Cornerback is also a position of need for the Vikings. Cedric Griffin is coming off knee surgery and Antoine Winfield turns 34 in June. In a draft short on quality cover guys, the Vikings have to consider Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara at No. 12 if he is still available.
Believer: Dennis Dillon
Why we believe: Brett Favre isn’t coming back (really). Tarvaris Jackson hasn’t shown enough in five seasons to make the Vikings think he is their man. Joe Webb, who played in five games and started two as a rookie last year, is a converted wide receiver. Then there is Rhett Bomar. There’s not a potential No. 1 quarterback to be found on the roster, which is why the Vikings must find one in the draft. It would be risky business for Minnesota to wait until the lockout ends — who knows when that will be? — and try to trade for Philadelphia’s Kevin Kolb or sign a veteran free agent. Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert, the top two quarterbacks in the draft, will be off the board by the time the Vikings select in the first round. If the team elects not to trade up to try and take one of them, it should be able to find a quarterback (Ryan Mallett, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton, Colin Kaepernick) in the second round.
All Good Things Must Come To An End
All good things must come to an end. Then there was Brett Favre’s streak, which was a good thing that should have ended before Monday night.
After 297 consecutive starts, the NFL
‘s only living grandfather did not trot onto the field and take the opening snap. As weary as we are of all things Brett, it was sad to see the streak end.
It was even sadder that it didn’t end 13 games ago. That would have been the NFC Championship Game. Minnesota lost to New Orleans, thanks in no small part to a late Favre interception. But he’d long since proved the critics of his Vikings comeback were wrong.
This year he’s proved them right. It’s been the worst sequel since “Weekend at Bernie’s II,” which was tired from opening credits.
Would the corpse return from Mississippi? Would he text Jenn Sterger in the huddle? Would Brad Childress even know if he did?
Hey, was that Randy Moss throwing food in the corner?
Would the streak survive a fractured ankle, a shattered coach and the NFL’s sexual-harassment policy?
Read More >>
1 Down, 1 to go
Brett Favre said Sunday that he needed to go home and “reevaluate” this season and, presumably, whether he wanted to finish it. By firing NFL coach Brad Childress on Monday, the Vikings showed they’re way ahead of Favre on this one.
This is rock-bottom time for the Vikings. Thanks in large part to Favre’s final magic act, they came within a tiny gray whisker of the Super Bowl last season. They thought, if they brought the league’s most famous active grandfather back for one more year, they could make another run at it. But Favre didn’t bring the magic with him this time. Now Childress is gone, the team is 3-7 and Favre will be about as useful in Minnesota this December and January as a beach umbrella.
There’s a lot of evaluating the Vikings themselves need to do over what remains of this season, and there’s no good reason for Favre to stick around for any of it. Given the place in which they suddenly find themselves as a franchise, the Vikings ought to send Favre packing right along with Childress.
The first question Leslie Frazier took as interim head coach of the Vikings was about who would be his starting quarterback Sunday against the Redskins. His answer was, “Brett Favre. No hesitation.” Frazier called Favre a leader, and said the most important thing for his team to do was to find ways to support Favre.
Read More >>
Say Your Goodbyes
Brett Favre walked off the field after one of the most embarrassing losses of his NFL career, 31-3 to Green Bay of all teams, and knew his hopes for a grand finale were gone. Stomped on, actually. 
He talked about his long career, his satisfaction with what he had accomplished.
He said he would go home and “re-evaluate.”
I don’t think he’s coming back. Brett Favre is done.
It sure sounded like it Sunday. This career has no happy way out. Favre has a pending suspension coming from his sexting scandal. Minnesota is going nowhere. He is beat up and beaten down. And even if he does come back to this 3-7 team, this was his last game as a relevant quarterback.
If he’s going to come back, then he’s going to have to talk himself into it.
When he left Sunday, it was for good. That was not “see you later.”
It was goodbye. Read More >>
Brett Favre is Going Out, Hard
As the cart rolled toward the Gillette Stadium tunnel, Brett Favre was stretched out and tended to by trainers. It wasn’t his elbow this time. Not the fractures in his his foot or heel, either. No, it was a nasty, bloody gash to his a chin, courtesy of a New England defensive end Myron Pryor.
Something that happens every Sunday of the NFL season happened to Brett Favre for the first time in 20 years playing this game. It was so historic, momentous and emotional that Patriots fans actually booed the battered quarterback as he was taken away.
That’s when a moment of clarity struck the 41-year-old grandfather who just can’t leave the game he loves.
“I thought to myself for a brief second, ‘What in the world am I doing?’ ” Favre said Sunday.
Funny. That’s what most of us have been thinking on Favre’s behalf the last few weeks Read More >>
Brett Favre Told Vikings Making a Decision
Brett Favre has reportedly told the Minnesota Vikings he will not play in 2010, and instead will retire after 19 seasons in the NFL.
Favre began telling Vikings officials on Monday night that he won’t play for the team this year. Favre apparently doesn’t think his surgically repaired ankle is sufficiently healthy to play this season.
Favre has also started to tell teammates he would be retiring, But sources close to the situation also said that the Minnesota Vikings are prepared to offer Favre more money and more time to reconsider his decision.
If Favre doesn’t come back, that would be a huge blow to the Vikings, who were among the favorites in the NFC and were counting on Favre to lead them in 2010 as he did in 2009. But it’s important to remember that there’s still more than a month until the start of the season, which gives Favre plenty of time to change his mind. Maybe several times… Read More >>
The Excuses Begin for Favre
After being fined for a seemingly dirty shot when he threw a crack-back block on Houston Texan safety Eugene Wilson.
“I will be 40 years old in October and (was) weed-eating 13 days ago,” Favre said. “I wasn’t thinking about throwing blocks.”
Having only been practicing for 14 days since entering out of retirement from the NFL to join the Minnesota Vikings. Perhaps more importantly Eugene was just looking for some sort of apology from Favre.
Wilson’s agent, James Sims, commented on his thoughts after having went out to meet with Favre after their loss.
“Eugene went back out on the field after the game hoping Favre would come up to him and apologize and express some concern and that didn’t happen,” Sims said. “Eugene then was hoping Favre would send him an apology through some sort of correspondence, but that hasn’t happened, either. Eugene is still hopeful Favre will apologize to him.”
The Hard Decision that Favre Made, for the Love of the Game
39 year old NFL quarterback is going it another round with a agreement between Brett Favre and none other then the Minnesota Vikings.
“I felt I did everything I possibly could do to get where I need to be,” Favre said at a news conference Tuesday. “You’re 39, your arm may not feel like it did at 21. But the pieces are in place that you don’t have to do that much and I agree with that.
“If they were willing to take that chance, I was, too.”
When your not ready to throw in the towel and still have a love and passion for the game, can you blame Favre from continuing to build on his passion.
“I don’t know how I’ll feel a year from now, five years from now, but I didn’t want to say what if.”
Too many sources and opinionated fans may try to shed light on a negative reason for Farve to want to remain in the game. If anything, at this point in his career he has not shown the loyalty that he may have once had to a particular team. He is a class act player that’s tough as nails and always fun to watch. A solid package that would have been sorely missed should he not have been a quarterback to set a standard in the game of football.
That Path has now lead him to the Minnesota Vikings.
NFLPA request to delay player supspension denied
A federal judge on Friday denied a request by the NFL Players Association to put the suspensions of five players on hold while the case over use of a banned substance is being appealed. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sent some issues surrounding the suspensions of Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams back to the state courts.
Peter Ginsberg, attorney for both Vikings, said Friday’s ruling would not affect them because they have a stay on their suspensions from a state court. “I don’t think it effects our clients at all,” he said. They will be back in front of a state judge next week.
Three New Orleans Saints players tested positive for a banned diuretic last year and given four-game suspensions for violating the NFL’s anti-doping policy.
Judge Magnuson said the NFL’s policy is clear: Players are responsible for what they put in their bodies, and inadvertently ingesting a banned substance is not an excuse.
Vikings Player Suspensions Spark NFL rules vs. State Law
In a case that has become more then just a battle for player suspensions. It has become a legal battle pinning the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement against Minnesota state law.
Vikings Pat and Kevin Williams already received ruling against their favor by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson finding that the NFL did not violate public policy in suspending them for testing positive for diuretic contained in a StarCaps supplement, a banned drug in the NFL.
“We believe there are very significant barriers to a successful suit in the Minnesota courts against our collectively bargained program with the NFL Players Association that covers 32 teams and all NFL players,” a league statement said Saturday. “We are not concerned with the case as it now stands.”
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