Archive for February, 2009

As you have certainly already heard, today the Kansas City Chiefs swung a trade that brought them Matt Cassel, the back-up-turned-starter who wowed the sports world enough to become perhaps the most coveted player on the market this off-season.  The actual trade was only the beginning of the story, however.  In its wake, we learned that the Denver Broncos had gottem themselves involved in the Cassel talks, and dangled quarterback Jay Cutler as bait.  One widely-reported scenario had the Broncos sending Cutler to Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers sending a package to New England and the Pats shipping Cassel to Denver [...]

T.J. Houshmandzadeh has three main suitors to choose from that we’re aware of:  Seattle, Cincinnati and the Vikings.  Some have mentioned the Giants as a dark horse but other reports have the Giants believing Housh’s price is too steep.  Houshmandzadeh told Bengals.com that he expects to make his decision by tomorrow.  Seattle’s presentation apparently impressed him:  Including the part where he and his kids flew in on a seaplane that landed on a lake next to the practice facility.  That’s the kind of crap teams do to make a guy feel wanted.  Maybe the Vikings could take him on a [...]

T.J. Houshmandzadeh said on ESPN two nights ago that he was interested in the Vikings.  Evidently the interest is mutual, since the Vikings are scheduled to have the free agent receiver in for a visit as soon as he wraps up his trip to Seattle.  Housh, as the kids like to call him, is far-and-away the biggest free agent fish available at the wide receiver position, and is the one guy out there who could instantly upgrade the Vikings offense.  If the Vikings impress Housh enough, I suppose it’s possible we could have him signed by tomorrow.  Other teams rumored [...]

Jim Kleinsasser reportedly drew interest from four teams in free agency, but in the end, the long-time Vikings tight end decided to stay in Minnesota, inking a two-year, $6 million contract.  “I love it here. I love the people,” said the North Dakota native, who has spent 10 years in Purple. “My family is close. And I think to stay here, with one team, throughout your career is great.” Kleinsasser’s value as a blocker has been well-documented over the years – in fact, in his prime, he was often referred to as a tackle who played tight end.  And considering [...]

Brad Childress spoke briefly to the media this afternoon after Sage Rosenfels‘ introductory press conference. I didn’t listen to it, because Chilly makes my head hurt plus I was organizing my toothbrushes, but reportedly Brad dropped a little hint about the Vikings’ future quarterback plans, saying the team will most likely add a fourth man to the mix before training camp.  Whether this means drafting a guy or bringing in another free agent is anyone’s guess.  I imagine there will be plenty of speculation about this at any rate.

The Sage Rosenfels trade spelled the end of the road for Gus Frerotte as a Viking.  This afternoon, the team made it official by waiving the veteran QB, just days before they were to owe him a $250,000 roster bonus. Frerotte had expressed his desire to remain with the team, but only if he was given a chance to start.  That never seemed very realistic however, with the other options available in trade and free agency. Gus’s second stint with the Vikings began in a cloud of uncertainty:  Tarvaris Jackson struggled through the first two games of last season, and [...]

Names of potential free agent targets for the Vikings are beginning to trickle in.  I would love to be able to say they’re going hard after T.J. Houshmandzadeh or someone like that, but evidently their sights are not set that high.  They are reportedly interested in at least one free agent wide receiver though:  Michael Clayton, the one-time Tampa Bay phenom who has been anything but phenomenal since his marvelous rookie season.  The best thing about Clayton is his size:  At 6-4 and 215, he would give the Vikings a bigger target to go with the speedy Bernard Berrian and [...]

Sage Rosenfels flew into Minneapolis yesterday, and sat through a terrible snowstorm so he could be at Winter Park to officially be introduced as the newest member of the Vikings.  I’m guessing he would’ve been pretty ticked if some last minute thing had come up – like the Vikes deciding to make a run at Kurt Warner – but that’s all moot now.  According to Adam Caplan, the Vikes have officially completed the trade, sending a 4th rounder to Houston, and have signed Rosenfels to the rumored three-year, $9 million contract extension.  So Sage is on-board.  Wouldn’t it be nice [...]

The Vikings failed to reach agreement with either Matt Birk or Jim Kleinsasser before 11 PM Thursday night, meaning both long-time Purple stalwarts will hit the market.  It would be sort of a shock to go into the season with both Matty and Jimmy in other uniforms, but that’s the way of the sporting world nowadays.  The only potential destination suggested for either man so far has been Jacksonville, for Kleinsasser.  Of course it’s still perfectly possible that neither guy will get much of a sniff and the Vikes will end up bringing them back. The news is a lot [...]

T.J. Houshmandazadeh is by far the top receiver available in free agency.  It’s unknown right now whether the Vikings are targeting him, but T.J. has let it be known that he is certainly targeting the Vikes.  Appearing on ESPN, the soon-to-be-former Bengals stand-out said: I’m looking at teams I think have good coaches and good offensive lines and good running games. I have no idea if those teams are interested in me. If I can play with Adrian Peterson, can you imagine what I would do getting one-on-one coverage with Adrian Peterson? I am going to win 98.6 percent of [...]