Jun 19, 2012; Eden Prairie, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux (16) catches a pass at Vikings minicamp at Winter Park. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE

How wide open is the competition for the last couple spots in the Vikings’ receiver corps? As wide open as it gets. Right now there are just three receivers you can consider locks: Jerome Simpson, Percy Harvin and Jarius Wright. Simpson will be suspended the first three games so that means, assuming the Vikings take 5 receivers, there are currently 3 spots more-or-less up for grabs.

If you had to rank the guys vying for those three spots, Michael Jenkins and Devin Aromashodu would seem to be running 1 and 2, at least on the basis of experience. But a rebuilding team like the Vikes may be less interested in experience than upside. That would give Stephen Burton and Manny Arceneaux the inside track. And if you had to pick an early favorite? It’s tough with so little training camp action to go by, but right now it seems Arceneaux has a leg up.

Arceneaux hasn’t necessarily flashed in camp as big as some other guys (like Greg Childs who was really wowing people before his injury), but he has impressed at least one very important person. That’s receivers coach George Stewart, who sang Arceneaux’s praises to Judd Zulgad.

“Emmanuel Arceneaux has improved more than any player in one year that I’ve ever coached,” Stewart said. “That’s in (all my) years of coaching and in every facet. He’s going to be a player that’s going to help us again this year.”

When asked which specific areas have seen the biggest improvement for Arceneaux, Stewart said, “Everything. Route running, run blocking, catching the ball, confidence in what he’s doing. The whole gamut as a receiver. Now is he ready to go to the Hall of Fame? No, but he has improved from year one to year two, and as a coach and as a player that’s what you strive to have.”

It certainly helps to have a coach behind you like that. Another factor in Arceneaux’s favor is his relatively low salary compared to Michael Jenkins, a man he is in direct competition with at X receiver (at least going by the initial depth chart). Arceneaux will make $465,000 in 2012, compared to Jenkins who is set to pull in $2.5 million. That’s not a huge number for Jenkins but keep in mind he’s aging and coming off an injury. Physical condition and price are two areas where both Arceneaux and Devin Aromashodu have an advantage over Jenkins. Ditto Stephen Burton, though Burton himself is coming off an IR stint.

So if this battle does come down to a three-way competition between Jenkins, Aromashodu and Arceneaux, Jenkins could be in trouble. The best thing Jenkins has going for him is experience, which can’t be discounted when you’re trying to develop a young quarterback like Christian Ponder. Do the Vikings really want to roll with a receiver corps whose most-seasoned member is Percy Harvin (Aromashodu has him in years but Harvin has obviously gotten many more snaps)? Or do they want at least one guy who can lend a little grizzled-old-man savvy to the mix? Having a wily veteran like Donald Driver around probably helped Aaron Rodgers quite a bit.

That argument becomes moot if Jenkins can’t get himself totally right physically. If Arceneaux truly has improved as much as Stewart says, he seems like he would fit the bill as an outside receiver to back-up Jerome Simpson. That’s the role Greg Childs was probably set to fill before blowing out both his knees. Childs’ misfortune could be Arceneaux’s big break.

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“[Harvin] does some things that we haven’t had here,” Stewart said. “From an explosive standpoint, you talk about the ‘Wildcat’ situation. So many things you can do with Percy Harvin athletically that we don’t have here. You talk about what Randy Moss brought to this football team years ago. True speed, an ability to make plays. This kid is going to make plays for us.”

So can Stewart foresee the Wildcat being worked into the Vikings offense? “I would sure hope so,” he said. “With his flexibility. … There are some options we can do with this young man that gives us a chance to be successful.”

Unfortunately, George Stewart is not the offensive coordinator nor the head coach.  Whether the Wildcat sees the light of day in Minnesota is up to Brad Childress and Darrell Bevell – in other words, Childress – and we know how stubborn that particular offensive brain-trust has been in the past.  Then again, why gamble on Harvin at all if you don’t mean to make use of his special talents?  You don’t draft Randy Moss and then not bomb it down the field.

I can’t say I’m thrilled with the idea of the Vikings going receiver.  They’ve taken a couple – Aundrae Allison and Sidney Rice - since Brad Childress became coach, and neither has come close to developing into a threat.  And then there was the whole Troy Williamson situation which the Chilly regime inherited and failed to fix.  Frankly, I don’t think this staff does a great job with its receivers.  George Stewart came with a reputation as a guru – Terrell Owens gives him a lot of credit for helping his career – but the results haven’t really been there that I can see.  A lot of this may just be Chilly’s system of course…and the lack of good quarterbacking.  But, if that’s the case, isn’t it still sort of a waste to bring in yet another wide-out, this time spending a first round pick?  Who knows…maybe this time they’ll pick the right guy and coach him up.  But, given the organization’s recent track record, there’s an equal chance that whatever receiver they took would end up never amounting to much.