Training Camp Preview

Today’s the day we’ve all been waiting for – the start of Vikings training camp. All right, so it’s not actually the start of practice – that comes Friday – but still, the players and press will all be reporting today (except the unsigned rookies). September’s right around the corner kids. Can’t you just smell the football?

And so, in honor of the start of camp, The Viking Age now proudly presents:

The Official 2007 Vikings Training Camp Preview!

Also known as Five Things to Watch for In Training Camp…

1. The wide receiver situation.

The Vikings have invited a veritable cornucopia of wide-outs to camp this year. Somehow, some way, this motley collection of unproven talent will have to be sorted into a viable receiver corps by the start of the season. There are nothing but questions here: Can Troy Williamson put his weak-eye/bad-hands problem behind him and become a number 1? Is Bobby Wade a viable slot-man? Which rookie will step up and become a bona fide threat? If Jason Carter doesn’t win a roster spot, will rubes all over the nation take up arms in revolt?

2. The New Brad Childress

Brad Childress was known last year for being aloof. It created a certain tension in the locker room – a tension that escalated to near-mutiny status around the time he cut Marcus Robinson then denigrated the receiver’s abilities in public. But Brad Childress has turned over a new leaf. He’s talking to his players. He’s wearing goofy hats in practice (still no pics). He’s forged a vaguely gay text-message relationship with Antoine Winfield. And now, the kinder, gentler, less pissy Brad has even written a motivational book…

Will the new Brad be able to spur his players to bigger and better things? Or will the touchy-feely Chilly only last until the team is about 1-4?

3. Wherefore art thou Adrian?

Training camp talk inevitably ends up centering around the people who aren’t there more than those who are. This year, the biggest buzz will be about first-round draft pick Adrian Peterson, who has not signed with the team as yet, and probably won’t for the foreseeable future. One question that’s sure to be bandied about ad nauseam: Will Peterson’s absence retard his development as a star running back? I don’t know. But I’m sure happy the team has Chester Taylor around.

4 . Injuries

Somebody’s probably going to get injured in camp or the pre-season. At that point the questions will commence: Are the practices too physical? Should guys like Chad Greenway be playing special teams in exhibition games? Is Brad Childress secretly trying to sabotage the team by causing guys to get hurt? What the hell is an anterior-cruciate ligament? Do guys just not stretch enough?

5. It’s all about the QBs.

Quarterback is the most glamorous and pressure-packed position in all of sports (with the possible exception of baseball tarp-bringer-outer). This means the quarterback is the most-scrutinized player on the field. The Vikings quarterbacks will be watched with particular interest this camp, mainly because they are all such unknown commodities. Tarvaris Jackson is the starter, because Brad Childress wills it. But no one thinks that’s set in stone. It’s barely even written in pencil. Brad may want Tarvaris to be the starter – he may even believe his own crazy hype about Tarvaris being the next Donovan McNabb – but even Chilly isn’t up his own butt enough that he wouldn’t elevate Brooks Bollinger to starter if he played well enough, or Drew Henson, or Tyler Thigpen or whatever other QB the Vikings end up with on their roster. And speaking to that last point…how patient will Childress be with his present green group of signal-callers? At what point will he have no choice but to pull the trigger on a trade for Kelly Holcomb? Is there any chance of Rich Gannon making a comeback? Do the Vikings still have Jeff George’s number? Would the world really come to an end if Brad and Daunte put their differences behind them? Aren’t the Packers sick and tired of Brett Favre’s yearly retirement hemming and hawing? Wouldn’t they like to trade him for, say, Ryan Cook and a third rounder? It’s time for the Aaron Rodgers era to begin in Cheeseland, I’m thinking…