Archive for March, 2009

Cedric Griffin has received a contract extension believed to be for four years.  The cornerback has struggled at times in his Vikings career, especially at the line of scrimmage and in the endzone on fade routes, but he improved enough in 2008 that I have no problem with him being given a longish contract.  Cedric had this to say about the new deal: I’m definitely happy because of where this team is heading. I love where the defense is. I love where the offense is. I love the coaches. I think the Vikings are putting together a team to make [...]

Add Leonard Weaver to the list of targets the Vikings failed to get their hands on this off-season.  ESPN is reporting that Weaver, a Pro Bowl alternate last season with the Seahawks, has agreed to a one-year, $1.75 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.  This makes it almost a dead-solid certainty that the Vikes will match the offer sheet the Bengals signed Naufahu Tahi to. So now the Vikings have missed out on four guys they apparently really wanted:  Jordan Gross, who never made it to free agency; Jason Brown who went to St. Louis; T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who went to [...]

The Denver Post says “more than 10″ teams have contacted the Broncos about the possibility of working a trade for disgruntled quarterback Jay Cutler.  The story doesn’t name any of the “more than 10″ teams, but it does say the Broncos have told all of them that Cutler is not on the block.  This should encourage Bus Cook, who is clearly orchestrating all this madness, to make even more public statements about what a bunch of rotten, mendacious SOBs Pat Bowlen, Josh McDaniels and the rest of those Denver guys are. And what are the chances that the Vikings were [...]

Naufahu Tahi may have caught his last three-yarder in the flat for the Vikings.  The fullback, who became a restricted free agent when the Vikings gave him the low tender earlier this off-season, has reportedly signed a 1-year, $1.4 million offer sheet with the Cincinnati Bengals, and will now wait to see if the Vikings elect to match.  The purple have seven days to decide whether they want to keep Tahi, whom they plucked off the Bengals practice squad a couple years ago and ultimately made a starter (because Thomas Tapeh turned out to suck).  Minnesota’s interest in free agent [...]

The Vikings have signed former Bengals receiver/return man Glenn Holt.  Last year, Holt returned 46 kicks, averaging 24.1 yards.  In three years Holt has a 24.3 yards-per-return average with one touchdown.  Note that I am focusing on the return aspect of his game…this is because the receiver end of it isn’t worth even mentioning.  The guy who really might help the Vikings receiving corps, that other Holt, remains on the market. Glenn Holt joins Karl Paymah as the only new players signed by the Vikings this off-season.  In other news, Jay Cutler wants to be traded by the Broncos!  Let’s [...]

Darren Sharper has found a new home with the New Orleans Saints, agreeing to a contract the terms of which are not yet available (I’m guessing it’s not a long-term deal given Sharper’s advanced age).  The Bears at one point showed mild interest in Sharper but in the end it was pretty much the Saints or nowhere for the veteran safety.  Sharper is the active career leader in interceptions with 54 – but only had 1 in 2008 with the Vikings. Sharper, being the vocal fellow he is, could not resist poking the Vikings on the way out, saying the [...]

Restricted free agent Naufahu Tahi is flirting with the Bengals, and last year’s free agent pick-up Thomas Tapeh is long gone – meaning fullback has once again become a position of concern for the Vikings.  Thankfully there is a pretty attractive option out there:  Leonard Weaver, who had 60 catches last year for the Seahawks and averaged 4.4 yards-per-carry on 80 attempts (good enough to earn him a spot as Pro Bowl alternate).  The Vikings and Seahawks are the two teams currently pursuing Weaver, with the Buccaneers looming as a potential third suitor.  I say sign the kid, throw a [...]

What would it take to get Jay Cutler in purple?  Sean Salisbury‘s special friend John Clayton thinks the price (link to podcast) would be at least a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick.  And no, John did not merely pull that out of his pasty white troll-butt:  He bases it on the last instance of a big-armed QB being traded in his prime.  That was Jeff George getting sent from the Colts to the Falcons back in the early ’90s…another example of a quarterback not being able to get along with his coach – Ted Marchibroda in that case – [...]

Jay Cutler has taken the on-going unpleasantness to a new level by formally asking the Broncos to trade him.  The move comes in the wake of a meeting between Cutler and coach Josh McDaniels that, instead of smoothing out the hard feelings between the two as intended, actually inflamed the situation more.  Here is what Cutler had to say about it all: I went in there with every intention of solving the issue, being a Bronco, moving forward as a Bronco. We weren’t in there but about 20 minutes, [McDaniels] did most of the talking and as far as I’m [...]

New details are emerging that may at last lend a bit of clarity to the murky situation that has been the Jay Cutler melodrama in Denver.  From the Denver Post: Somewhere, no doubt behind a closed door, New England coach Bill Belichick may be snickering. McJaygate? When all else fails, blame it on Belichick. According to an NFL source, the proposed trade that never materialized but nevertheless turned Broncos’ headquarters into “All My Children” didn’t go down as so many reports suggest. The deal that would have sent Jay Cutler elsewhere and New England quarterback Matt Cassel to Denver didn’t [...]