Posts by Adam Warwas

A number of major developments concerning the Vikings efforts to secure a Minnesota stadium that is at least partially funded by the public surfaced on Tuesday.  This is a result of a Senate committee hearing geared towards stadium funding solutions.

Here are the nuts and bolts of each, with a link to more details if you are interested:

• Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said that his City was willing to put $300 million on the table for a plan that would build a new stadium on the current site of the Metrodome, have a nearby armory as a “fan experience” location, and call for improvements to 4^th and 5^th streets.  Rybak said the money would come from a series of local taxes that are currently paying for the convention center housed in Minneapolis.  This, of course, means that the money would not be immediately available and that the Vikings would have to play temporarily at TCF Bank Stadium for two or three seasons.  Click here for more.

• Ramsey County finance director Lee Mehrkens continued to tout the Vikings preferred plan of building their new home at Arden Hills.  Ramsey County feels that Minneapolis is getting preferred treatment from the Senate and that Ramsey County is being unfairly brushed to the side.  They felt like they were treated rudely during Tuesday’s hearing.  Click here for more.

It is hard to define what exactly a “number one” wide receiver is in an NFL offense.

Percy Harvin isn’t a huge guy at 5’ 11” and 184 pounds.  Like Steve Smith (5’ 9”, 185 pounds) and Santana Moss (5’ 10”, 205 pounds), however, Harvin is capable of playing the position with the best of them.

He has the speed to stretch the field and the hands to make the most of targets going his way.  Harvin runs precise routes and can change directions on a dime, often times causing defenders to look utterly silly.  He has the toughness of a hard headed pit bull and can drag defenders on his back or even push an entire pile for extra yardage.  He even seems to be gaining some ground in terms of being a mature team leader.

With all of that being said, I firmly believe that Harvin cannot continue to be relied upon by Leslie Frazier and company as the team’s top receiver for two main reasons.

First and foremost, his career has been overshadowed thus far by the fact that he is constantly sick.  He missed the rookie symposium after being drafted, part of his first training camp, has missed numerous days of training camp and practice, has been the center of extensive migraine studies, and has even had to miss games.  That doesn’t even take into account on-field injuries that have occurred and are always a possibility to occur in the future.

As great as the guy is, the Vikings have to go into next season under the assumption that they will have to play at least a select few games without Harvin at their disposal.

My second reason for believing they cannot rely on him as their top wide out going into 2012 is because he is just too good to be that guy… at least in the traditional sense.

Against the Broncos defense on Sunday, Harvin netted eight catches for 156 yards and two touchdowns.  His 52 yard touchdown was an incredible display of every attribute the guy possesses.  He also carried the ball five times for 19 yards and lined up as a kick return man.  He has been called upon this season to carry the ball more than he did in his first two seasons combined.

He is a valuable asset to this Vikings offense when they can move him all around the formation from play to play.  He can play wide left or right, in either slot, line up in the backfield, take direct snaps, and even line up on as a return man.

Despite the fact that he is likely going to post career highs in almost every category this season, it is clear that the Vikings offense was far more potent when they had the large body of Sidney Rice flanking out wide and even, on occasion, drawing double coverage.  Rice has not lit it up in Seattle, but the Vikings need to get another true talent to occupy his spot and allow Harvin the freedom to roam around and confuse the opposing defenses.

Michael Jenkins and Devin Aromashodu have each had games showing that they are capable of producing, but neither seems to have that “it factor” that would make them an ideal number one guy.

If you consider the talent on this offense (Adrian Peterson, Harvin, and Kyle Rudolph) that true, big bodied number one flanking wide out is the only piece that is missing from a skill player standpoint that could set up Christian Ponder for grand success moving forward.

I personally think this position could (and should) be addressed in free agency this offseason, especially considering it typically takes a wide out about three seasons to truly establish themselves in the NFL after being drafted.

Luckily for the Vikings, this could end up being an easier task to accomplish than it normally is, as there is a high number talented wide receivers scheduled to see their contracts expire after this season.  Names like Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, DeSean Jackson, Dwayne Bowe, Marques Colston, Steve Johnson, Brandon Lloyd, Mario Manningham, and Mike Wallace illustrate just how deep this free agent class could end up being at the position.

With options like these available, in addition to other options via the Draft and the trade block, there is absolutely no reason the Vikings should be going into the 2012 season placing so much responsibility on Harvin’s shoulders.

Instead, they need to make a move or two, and be prepared to have a lot of fun getting the ball to him in the numerous ways he has proven to be plenty capable.

Vikings, Minneapolis will meet again in pursuit of new stadium – Star Tribune

Had to include something to give everyone a stadium update.

Poss, still hard-nosed, weighs in on stadium – Star Tribune

Interesting read about Dan Poss, the “no-nonsense man in charge of building the Metrodome,” and where he stands on the new Vikings stadium push.

Vikings Offseason Plan v1.0 – Daily Norseman

A member over at the Daily Norseman put in a lot of work putting this “Vikings Offseason Plan” together. Quite in depth and definitely fun to read if your interest has already shifted to the offseason.

Vikings’ Raymond shows incredible perseverance – Yahoo! Sports

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out this incredible story about Mistral Raymond.

Vikings’ Chris Kluwe kicking it with metal band at Entry tonight – Star Tribune

Just for fun!

2012 NFL Mock Draft – Walter Football
2012 NFL Draft – Top 100 – Mocking The Draft

These two are for all of you draftniks out there! Love reading Mock Drafts and the Top 100 over at “Mocking The Draft” has really great notes for each draft prospect.

Why Leslie Frazier should be fired, but won’t be – Bleacher Report

Title says it all here…

Vikings Territory Forums! – Vikings Territory

If you haven’t already, head over to our brand new forums, register and join in on some of the great discussions happening! (Sorry, had to plus us in somewhere)

How Do You Stop Tim Tebow – NFL Total Access
Broncos at Vikings Preview – CBS Sports

And finally, these two should help to get you ready for tomorrow’s game.

Well, we have all read about it by now.  Donovan McNabb was officially released by the Vikings, per his request, on Thursday.

As always, I am here to weigh in on these important issues.  After all, thousands of articles were written about the impact of his arrival a few short months back, so his release must also be worthy of nauseating dissection as well… right?

Wrong.

McNabb’s release means so little to the Vikings at this point that the most impactful thing I can think of is the potential loss of a potential late round 2013 compensatory pick.  That is it.

In six games with the Vikings he completed 60.3% of his passes for 1,026 yards, four touchdowns, and two picks on his way to a quarterback rating of 82.9.

The season is over.  McNabb was never expected to be in purple next season.  Furthermore, if fans are going to pay money to watch this team anymore this season, you can bet it is Christian Ponder or Joe Webb that they want to see taking snaps.

Thus ends McNabb’s tenure in Minnesota.  An article about his condition issues, a television appearance in which he somewhat threw his teammates under the bus, and some mild speculation about where he might land next.

With over five years of speculation about how McNabb might fare as a Viking, it will take each of us less than five minutes to digest the news that he is gone and that his departure means almost nothing.

In the post below this one, I indicated that the release of quarterback Donovan McNabb means almost nothing.

As it turns out, it means even less than that.

1500 ESPN reports that McNabb requested his release after being relegated to running the scout team as the team’s third quarterback.  There are two ways of looking at this; either McNabb fell to third on the depth chart because of poor performance or Joe Webb merited a promotion.  Both are a possibility I suppose.

Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave praised Joe Webb and said that the team “feel(s) great about (Webb’s) future as a quarterback on this team as well.”

At this point, it is unclear if the Vikings will pursue another quarterback to take McNabb’s spot for the remainder of this season or not.

It seems apparent they are willing to go into Sunday’s game against Denver with only Christian Ponder and Webb on the roster.

In a very unsurprising move, Alex Marvez reports the Vikings have signed quarterback Sage Rosenfels. Rosenfels should fill the hole left by Donovan McNabb’s release yesterday as rookie quarterbackChristian Ponder’s backup. 

Rosenfels, an 11-year veteran, was with the Vikings in 2009 before he was traded to the New York Giants in the 2010 preseason. 

The details of Rosenfels signing are unclear right now but we will report back when there is more, definite, information. 

[UPDATE: Tom Pelissero tweeted that the deal is for one year and in the amount of 1.5 million.]

Other interesting tidbits:

It seems that no one choose to pick up McNabb off of waivers. This means the Vikings are on the hook for his pay this week as well as the money they’ll give to Rosenfels. 

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the Vikings tried to sign QB John Parker Wilson off of the Falcon’s practice squad.