Monthly archive: February, 2013

Peterson Has Surgery For Second Straight Offseason

February 7, 2013, by 4 comments

When Adrian Peterson first lit up the NFL during his rookie season, NFL analysts warned Vikings fans that his running style would lead to the light burning out faster than anyone could imagine.

After what Peterson did following his 2011 knee surgery, however, some might suggest he should go under the knife every year.

On Thursday, Peterson had surgery to repair a sports hernia that first popped up (out?) during the Vikings week 10 game against the Lions.  Of course, it didn’t seem to slow him down at all.  In those final seven games, Peterson rushed for 1,068 yards and fell just nine yards short of the all-time record for rushing yard in a season.

The pain got to Peterson and he was regularly held out of weekly practices during that time.  He received a cortisone shot before his week 13 game against the Packers and described his pain level as a “10 on a scale of 10” during the week 16 game against the Texans.

Each week it just got worse and worse and worse,” said Peterson.  “I kept thinking to myself why is this happening and why now. With everything that I was going through with my knee I just said to myself I am not going to let this bring me down. I just focused on doing my rehab, getting rest and continuing to play.”

Peterson went on to admit that he felt he could have performed even better, and possibly broke the rushing record, had it not been for the injury.

“It definitely impacted my play,”  He said.  “I wasn’t 100 percent, but I wanted to win a championship. I wasn’t going to stop or quit. I made a decision to keep going. I don’t want to make it seem like the sports hernia made me miss it. I could have done it with the injury. All I can say is that I would have had better performances.”

Peterson said that he was given a timeline of about three or four weeks before he can do a full workout.  In other words, we will probably be hearing about Peterson going through his first full workout in a week and a half.

This injury will just add to the legend that Peterson’s 2012 performance has already become, and it shouldn’t hinder him at all moving forward.

Center Free Agent Rankings

February 6, 2013, by 15 comments

[NOTE:  Click the links to see our free agency rankings for quarterbacks, running backs, fullbacks, and tight ends.  We’ll continue our way through all of the positions this week.]

The Vikings are pretty set when it comes to the starting center position, despite John Sullivan’s recent knee surgery, and that is a very good thing.  Why?  Because the free agent class leaves a whole lot to be desired.

If the Vikings want to find a better backup for Sullivan, then they should probably be looking to the NFL Draft, not free agency.

Top Tier

There are none that belong here.

Second Tier

Nope, none here either.

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Sullivan Latest To Have Surgery, Should Be Ready By Camp

February 6, 2013, by 1 comment

Chris Kluwe and Jared Allen now have a new rehab partner.

Reports surfaced on Wednesday that Vikings Pro Bowl center (yeah, I said it) John Sullivan had microfracture surgery on his knee and will be out for the next three to four months.  Of course, if one is going to miss four months as an NFL player, these upcoming four are the ones to miss.

That timeline puts Sullivan back into action by the time training camp rolls around, and all indications are that he should be fine by then.

Harvin Passes His Exit Physical

February 5, 2013, by 12 comments

Percy Harvin was recently at Winter Park for his exit physical and Leslie Frazier, as usual, calmly assessed the situation.

“It went well. He’s fine. He’s cleared,” Frazier said. “All the medical was good.”

This indicates that Harvin’s ankle sprain should be a non-issue moving forward, but the more pressing question surrounding Harvin is whether or not he’ll be playing as a member of the Minnesota Vikings or some other team in 2013.

Frazier said that his star receiver was in a “good frame of mind” during his time at winter park.  “We’ll see where it goes from there,” he added.

It was also recently reported that Harvin hit escalators in his contract that will nearly double his currently scheduled salary for 2013.  He is now scheduled to earn $2.9 million under his current deal, but there is no reason to expect him to step foot on a football field during the upcoming season unless he is under the terms and conditions of a brand new deal.

As far as Harvin goes, I will still direct you to this article that I penned quite some time ago.  Nothing has really changed since then, other than Harvin’s salary.

Harvin isn’t the only player that got a boost next year from unlocking incentives.  Chris Cook, Joe Webb, Everson Griffen, and Toby Gerhart are all members of the 2010 Draft class and each unlocked a salary increase that will bring them each to $650,000.  Cook also unlocked a $1 million roster bonus and will carry a cap hit of $2.305 in 2013.

Meanwhile, with Harvin getting healthy again, two of his teammates recently went under the knife.  Punter Chris Kluwe had his knee cleaned up because of some loose cartilage.  The Vikings signed punter T.J. Conley to a reserve/future contract, but it is unlikely that Kluwe’s surgery cuts into any of his offseason practice time.

Jared Allen also had surgery, the first of his football career, due to a torn labrum that he played with through the entire 2012 season.  Allen delayed the surgery so that he could participate in the Pro Bowl, but he is still expected to be ready to go by the time training camp rolls around.

Free Agent Tight End Rankings

February 4, 2013, by 12 comments

[NOTE:  Click the links to see our free agency rankings for quarterbacks, running backs, and fullbacks.  We’ll continue our way through all of the positions this week.]

The Vikings are in an interesting position at tight end.  Any drama hinges on their willingness to keep John Carlson who underachieved in his first year with the Vikings, but would cost just as much cap space to cut as he would to keep.

With Kyle Rudolph in command of the tight end depth chart and Rhett Ellison showing signs of being a great role player, the Vikings seem unlikely to make any big moves at the position, but it is always worth looking to see who is out there.

Top Tier

Even after 16 years in the NFL Tony Gonzalez is producing in Atlanta’s offense, and if he decides to keep playing, then it seems very likely that Atlanta is where he will stay.  Martellus Bennett seems equally as likely to stay put with his Giants team that boosted his career in a big way.

If I had a man crush on one tight end free agent it would have to be San Francisco’s Delanie Walker.  The seven year veteran seems to give everything he can every time he steps on the field.  He isn’t going be a focal point of an offense, the Niners already pay Vernon Davis to be that, but he is an excellent option for team’s that like to use multiple tight end sets like the Vikings do.

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Vikings Poach A CFL Cornerback

February 4, 2013, by 2 comments

It seems like it has been forever since the Vikings had an offseason where they didn’t sign a CFL player quickly after the new league year began.

This offseason is no different.

Edmonton Eskimos cornerback Rod Williams was released as a courtesy (his contract was expiring in February anyways) so that he could catch on with an NFL team as soon as possible.  The Vikings wasted no time scooping up the three-year CFL player and signed him to a contract on Monday.

Williams is 25 years old, stands at 5’ 11”, weighs 180 pounds, and is a product out of Alcorn State.  In three years with the Eskimos he registered 111 tackles and 11 interceptions.

He will surely have an uphill battle making the final Vikings roster, with an already decent depth chart set to get a boost from free agency and the draft, but it is nice to see the Vikings getting a jump start on lining up the training camp competition.

M-V-Peterson Cleans House In New Orleans

February 2, 2013, by 24 comments

What a great day Saturday turned out to be for Vikings fans.

Cris Carter getting elected into the Hall of Fame was just the beginning.

The NFL hosted their second annual awards show on Saturday night, and oddly chose to air it after everyone knew who won what, but it was still well worth watching for those of us wanting to see Adrian Peterson get what he deserved.

Peterson took home the NFL.com Fantasy Player of the Year Award, the Fed Ex Ground Player of the Year Award, and the Offensive Player of the Year Award.

The big question, however, was whether or not Peterson would win the Most Valuable Player Award with considerable competition coming out of Denver in the form of Peyton Manning.  By a tally of 30.5 to 19.5 votes, Peterson indeed won the prestigious award for the first time in his decorated career.

Peterson put doubters in the corner by rehabbing his knee and then rushing for 2,097 yards and 12 touchdowns.  As we all know, he fell only nine yards shy of having the greatest season of any running back in history.

Peterson did lose out to Manning in the voting for the much debated Comeback Player of the Year Award.

This may not be the last time Peterson wins this award, however, as he has recently stated that his goal for next season is to rush for 2,500 yards.  At this point, it is hard to doubt the man.

Leslie Frazier also managed to get three votes in the Coach of the Year category, which ended up going to Bruce Arians for his work as an interim coach in Indianapolis.

Congratulations to Peterson on his final achievement of the 2012 season!