Archive for August, 2008

The finalized 2008 53-man roster was just released on Vikings.com (in PDF format for some screwed up reason).  Here it is all sorted by position (don’t say I don’t work hard for you) followed by the final cut list: Offense Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson Gus Frerotte John David Booty Running Back Adrian Peterson Chester Taylor Maurice Hicks Fullback Thomas Tapeh Jeff Dugan Naufahu Tahi Tackle Ryan Cook Bryant McKinnie Marcus Johnson Drew Radovich Guard Steve Hutchinson Anthony Herrera Artis Hicks Center Matt Birk John Sullivan Tight End Visanthe Shiancoe Jim Kleinsasser Garrett Mills Wide Receiver Bernard Berrian Bobby Wade Sidney Rice [...]

John David Booty will be the #3 quarterback for the Vikings and Brooks Bollinger will be released.  I would’ve been fine either way.  I’m not on the Booty bandwagon (everything with “Booty” in front of it naturally becomes dirty doesn’t it?).  Bollinger would’ve given you a tiny bit more insurance behind Tarvaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte, but even with him on the roster, it’s likely the team would’ve fished around for someone else in the event their top 2 QBs went down.  Booty is a project at best. Earlier I reported on the situation between the Bengals and former Pro [...]

All we’ve gotten so far on the epic John David Booty v. Brooks Bollinger showdown is that it’s likely Booty will win.  Otherwise the cuts have been pretty predictable with the possible exception of the whole Martin Nance thing.  Just to keep on top of it, I’ll stick up this list of the cuts and keep updating it as they trickle in (newest on top): CB Dee McCann DE Martail Burnett WR Jaymar Johnson DE Leger Douzable RB Albert Young OG Brian Daniels LB Rufus Alexander LB David Herron WR Martin Nance WR Nate Jones OT Chase Johnson C Dan [...]

Here’s one for all the Ryan Cook haters:  PFT reports that the Bengals and former All-Pro right tackle Willie Anderson are in the midst of a contract disagreement that could end with Anderson being cut.  Anderson was arguably the best right tackle in the league for several years, so good that, prior to 2006, Cincinnati signed him to a five year, $32 million extension.  His 2007 season was ruined by a foot injury however, and this year he found himself having to compete with Stacy Andrews, whom the team slapped the franchise tag on and signed to a lucrative one-year [...]

Linebackers Rufus Alexander and David Herron will both be cut by the Vikings today according to the Star-Trib.  Alexander was believed by many to have a decent shot at making the squad, and Herron was at least on the bubble.  The fact that both have been axed indicates that Erin Henderson has made the team (he deserves it after the way he performed in preseason).  It also leaves the Vikes a little short at linebacker, what with Derrick Pope already getting cut and Heath Farwell on IR.  It appears the coaching staff was just unhappy with what it had at [...]

The NFL has handed Bryant McKinnie the punishment we all expected – four games for violating the league’s policy against players beating the crap out of bouncers with metal objects.  Actually, Bryant is being suspended for a series of offenses including his participation in the Love Boat fiasco.  His current legal situation has yet to be resolved but the NFL didn’t feel like waiting around.  The Vikings got the news on the eve of the cutdown deadline, giving them a chance to adjust their plans – plans that include right guard Artis Hicks taking over at left tackle in Mount’s [...]

Martin Nance is among the players who’ve been notified by the Vikings that they will be cut.  The others as reported by Judd Zulgad: C Dan Mozes CB Brandon Sumrall T Chase Johnson TE Braden Jones DE Chris Norwell Nance was this year’s training camp hero but it wasn’t enough for him to crack the roster at wide receiver.  The Vikings still have a lot of cuts to make before they get down to the minimum of 53 which they must reach by 5 pm tomorrow.  They’re allowed to keep 8 practice squad players as well.

There’s not much to say about last night’s final preseason game.  I caught about ten minutes of it total in between watching the Cubs game and keeping one eye on CNN to see if John McCain would try to upstage Barack Obama by announcing his running mate (he waited till today to spring Sarah Palin on us).  What I saw of John David Booty didn’t reassure me much.  I’ve already seen all I ever need to see of Brooks Bollinger so I didn’t bother with the second half.  Brad Childress apparently wasn’t impressed with either.  Chilly said of his battling [...]

Billionaire real estate developer Mark Roski, Jr. wants to transplant the Vikings to Los Angeles, but so far Zygi Wilf isn’t listening to what Roski has to say.  “They have knocked on our door, but we have declined,” said Vikings executive Lester Bagley. “We have not had a meeting or discussion with Roski. All of our updates have come through the league. Our intention is to resolve the issue in Minnesota, but clearly they are out proactively seeking a team and they are the ones that listed the seven teams.” This came up because it was reported that the league [...]

Lightning and thunder here in Wisconsin.  God, be a shame if the power went out and I didn’t get to watch the game… Tonight’s all about guys winning spots.  The most important battle of course is John David Booty v. Brooks Bollinger for that #3 QB position.  Frankly, I don’t think Bollinger has much of a shot – he could play like Fouts in his prime and will still probably be odd man out.  I have a feeling Erin Henderson has a spot locked up already, especially with the IR-ings and cuts already made at linebacker, but I guess someone [...]