Archive for April, 2009

The Baltimore Ravens hope to score a wide receiver in Saturday’s draft, and knowing as they do that the Vikings may also go receiver at #22, the team is reportedly looking to trade up at least to #21.  Don’t hyperventilate though if you’re a Percy Harvin fan:  the Ravens apparently have their eyes on North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks, and not the Florida guy.  Were I the Ravens, I wouldn’t worry about the Vikes snatching Nicks, even though, frankly, Nicks is closer to the type of receiver the team really needs.

Much as I always hesitate to post anything said by Mike Florio aka the Master of Pulling Stuff Out of His Own Behind, I just can’t help myself.  The guy is like crack or Twitter or doughnuts:  bad for me, but ooooooh so good.  The latest item to be yanked by Florio steaming and smelly from his own orifice and offered up for public consumption is a bit of half-founded speculation that the Raiders could pull off a stunner and take Percy Harvin with the #7 overall pick, a move that would, obviously, put the kibosh on any attempt by [...]

A slight modification to the plans for tomorrow’s huge day of Viking Age draft coverage (I know you were just breathless with anticipation).  Rather than conduct my own live-blog as was originally slated, I have decided to participate in the big network-wide draft live-blog that’s being hosted by the folks at Titan Sized.  The window for that blog will, as far as I know, also be posted here.  What I don’t know is whether the Titan Sized folks are planning on allowing reader comments.  The live blog, last I was informed, will be up and running by 1:30 CST, giving [...]

It doesn’t take much to turn the prognosticatory tide nowadays.  When it comes to the Vikings‘ draft, all it required was one visit from Brad Childress down to Gainsville.  Now pretty much everyone is convinced that Winter Park has its eye on Percy Harvin, the Florida wide receiver whose talent is surpassed only by his love of toking up.  If the Vikings do take Harvin, they will undoubtedly be rolling the dice on a guy with questionable judgment.  Of course this would not be the first time they rolled these same dice.  They also took a huge chance on Jared [...]

We’ve just gotten the strongest indication yet that the Vikings might be seriously considering bucking conventional wisdom to take a chance on red-flag-flying Florida receiver Percy Harvin:  according to the National Football Post, Vikings head coach Brad Childress traveled to Gainsville on Wednesday to meet personally with Harvin, who has been sliding off draft boards right and left since news broke of his failed drug test.  Vikings executive Rick Spielman was asked about the meeting Thursday afternoon but refused to confirm it, only saying that it’s normal for teams to send representatives out to meet with players in the days [...]

Nothing’s official until Saturday obviously, but if you ask Arizona tackle Eben Britton where he thinks he’ll wind up, he will say Minnesota. “I would not be surprised with the Vikings,” Britton, who visited Winter Park a couple weeks go, told the Tucson Citizen.  “It was a real positive trip all the way around.  It wouldn’t be far-fetched, but anything could happen. I’m glad it is finally coming to an end. It has been crazy.” Added Britton, “I had a really good trip there.  I really had a good understanding of where coach (Brad) Childress is coming from and what [...]

The Washington Redskins are evidently involved in an effort to trade up to the top 5 in the draft so they can select USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.  One scenario being bandied about has the ‘Skins swinging a deal with the Seahawks to move up to #4, taking Sanchez, then turning around and trading their current quarterback Jason Campbell to either the Vikings or Buccaneers.  As far as I know, this is all just internal discussion going on inside the Redskins organization; so far, there’s no suggestion that the Vikings have been approached about getting involved in some kind of deal.  [...]

Our very own Adrian Peterson was reportedly among the finalists to appear on the cover of the new edition of the Madden football video game (coming soon to a glitchy, overpriced video game system near you), but AD, perhaps fearing the infamous Madden curse, has elected to withdraw himself from consideration for that particular honor.  That leaves 8 players still in the running to succeed Brett Favre as the cover boy:  Steelers S Troy Polamalu, Colts QB Peyton Manning, Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald, Chiefs QB Matt Cassel, Cowboys LB DeMarcus Ware, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, Giants RB Brandon Jacobs, and [...]

Jon Gruden no longer has a coaching gig in the NFL, leaving him with a lot of free time, which he has been filling by giving his opinions about this year’s draft prospects to anyone who’ll listen.  One particular guy Gruden has plenty to say about is Percy Harvin, the Florida wide receiver who would be a solid first-round prospect if only he weren’t a pot-smoking turd with a reputation for being uncoachable that goes back almost to Pop Warner.  To say Gruden likes Harvin’s talent would be an understatement; in fact, Gruden seems to almost be packing wood for [...]

About a month ago, the website NFLDraftbible.com began throwing out names of players they believed had tested positive for drugs at the combine, a list that included everyone from USC linebacker Clay Matthews to Boston College DT B.J. Raji to Florida WR Percy Harvin.  Unfortunately for the reputation, and perhaps future survival, of that particular site, the report turned out to be erroneous in almost every case, and now such exonerated players as Matthews and Raji are seeing their draft stock recover from the temporary hit laid on it by their inclusion in the questionable website postings.  One guy who [...]