Rebuilding the Vikings: Cornerback Chris Carr Signs For One Year

Rick Spielman has done it again. The Vikings GM is all about identifying under-30 players who showed a flash of talent somewhere in their past but fell far enough down the ladder to lose most if not all of their free agent value. Former Ravens cornerback Chris Carr definitely fits this description, and he will now be a Minnesota Viking. Like former Bears cornerback Zackary Bowman, Carr is being brought in on a one-year contract.

Rick Spielman, King of the Show-Me Deal. If he signs enough guys to enough of these, a couple of them are going to pan out and he is going to look like a genius.

Like Mr. Bowman and everyone else the Vikings seem to have pursued this year, Carr is a couple years removed from his best season. In 2010 with Baltimore he tallied 61 tackles, 3 forced fumbles, 2 picks and 8 passes defensed.  A solid year. But – and there’s a “but” with every Spielman FA target – he took a significant step back in 2011, struggling with a bad hamstring and playing in only nine games.

You have to like the potential with Carr. But you also have to be concerned that, at 28, he’s getting less likely to ever realize that potential. We’ll see what Leslie Frazier and Alan Williams can do with the young man. Any move that pushes Asher Allen farther down the depth chart is a good move.

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