Speculation

K-Will Looks For A Longer Commitment

July 4, 2012, by No comments yet

Kevin Williams has chosen an interesting time to let it be known that he would like a contract extension, especially since he has almost no leverage whatsoever.

Williams is set to make $7 million this year which is a considerable sum considering that both injuries and a lack of production have made Williams a less-than-stellar defensive tackle over the last couple of seasons.  This could technically be a contract year for Williams, but the Vikings could also pick up an option next offseason that keeps him on the roster for two more seasons at an annual salary of over $8 million.

Nobody currently on the roster has been a Vikings longer than Williams, and speaking from his football camp this week he told reporters that he had previously approached the Vikings about making sure he stays with the team, but isn’t sure how the team feels about his future wearing purple.

“They might not feel the same way,” said Williams. “We have a lot of things to take care of between now and then. My main thing is to have a good year and whatever happens after that happens after that.”

Williams seems to recognize that the option built into his current contract gives the Vikings options next offseason, and he knows that he can’t have a bad season if he wants to earn that extension.

“But I don’t plan on doing that, and I know they don’t plan on me doing that,” Williams said. “I plan on having the best year ever, and we can move on from there. You definitely want to show you can still be one of the top guys, if not the top dog in the league.”

“I think I’ve done enough and proven myself enough in this league where — it’s like your mom tells you when you’re little, if she don’t like you enough, another one will,” Williams said. “As long as I go out and demonstrate my abilities and play at a high level, my legacy will write itself. I just try to put it on the field.”

This story won’t exactly set off some sort of crazy domino effect of reports like Percy Harvin’s shenanigans from last month, but Williams is typically an incredibly quiet dude, so him speaking about this at all just illustrates that how his career ends is weighing on his mind.

Obviously, the best scenario for everybody involved is for Williams to go out and have a killer season.  With any luck, that is exactly what will happen.

Vikings Sign Former Saints Defender

June 29, 2012, by 1 comment

When the Vikings released former Saints bounty hunter defender Remi Ayodele, it was widely assumed due to the timing of the move that it had to do with his involvement as a member of the 2009 Saints that we now know think had a $35,000 bounty on Brett Favre in the NFC Championship game.

On Thursday, however, the team opted to sign another player that was a member of that team.

29 year old defensive end Jeff Charleston signed with the Vikings Thursday after spending four seasons in New Orleans, after a rookie season in Indianapolis.  During that time he has played in 65 games with four starts accumulating 87 tackles, eight sacks, five batted passes, and three forced fumbles.

At 6’ 4” and 265 pounds, Charleston figures to provide depth and competition at defensive end which may end up losing Everson Griffen to the linebacker position if he can excel there during training camp.

Terrell Resonno, an undrafted rookie defensive tackle out of Missouri, was waived as a result of the signing.

2012 Vikings Predictions – Game By Game Record Predictions (Part 3)

June 26, 2012, by 14 comments

[Note: This is the continuation of a series where I attempt (that word is extra important) to make predictions regarding the Minnesota Vikings 2012 season. The previous two iterations (Part One and Part Two) take an in-depth look at the Vikings first half of the regular season. Today, we move onward to the third quarter of the schedule.]

Since the 2012 schedule was released, I’ve maintained that the Vikings, in my opinion, have an incredibly favorable schedule. There was a caveat though: the daunting string of games where we play division opponent after division rival after division opponent. This series of games will be the Vikings true test of the 2012 season and will ultimately determine where they stand when all is said and done Week 16.

This intimidating chain of games though doesn’t really begin until Week 12 when the Vikings travel to Soldier Field to square off with the Bears. Positive matchups in Weeks 9 and 10 (followed by a bye in Week 11) are crucial for the Vikings to get ahead far enough to brace themselves for the following brutal, division battles.

So without further delay, let’s look at Week 9 when the Vikings face off with the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

Continue Reading →

Right Guard Spot Is Still Unsettled

June 26, 2012, by 4 comments

There are a number of interesting position battles to keep track of during next month’s training camp, but perhaps no position has a higher level of competition than that of the currently vacant right guard position.

By drafting left tackle Matt Kalil fourth overall, the Vikings were then able to slide Charlie Johnson inside to left guard.  With Phil Loadholt and John Sullivan being near certain starters, that leaves only the right guard starting spot available to the best candidate.

During last week’s minicamp all indications are that Brandon Fusco will enter camp as the penciled-in starter.  Geoff Schwartz, however, plans to have something to say about that.

Unfortunately for Schwartz, who started 19 straight games in Carolina, his hip is still bothering him and he needs to heal up before he can truly give the Vikings coaches a glimpse of what he’s got.

“Just need to get back on the field,” Schwartz said during OTA’s. “That’s basically what it is. Get 100 percent healthy and let my play do the talking.”

Jeff Davidson coaches the Vikings offensive line, but he came over from Carolina where he got a firsthand look at Schwartz in the locker room and on the field.  Davidson, however, is not tipping his hand as to who might be the preferred option at right guard.

“I’d say the jury’s still out on that right now,” Davidson said. “We’re hopeful.”

Schwartz openly cites his familiarity with Schwartz as a primary reason he signed with the Vikings after receiving interest from both Detroit and San Francisco, but he also wanted a legitimate chance to start, and felt that joining a team that had just released their two previously starting guards was an easy choice.

“I believe I’m a starter,” Schwartz said. “So I was looking at spots that had competition at my position, and this is one of them. So it was another reason why, I came to compete.”

Chris Carr Could Be A Starter

June 26, 2012, by 1 comment

When you look at this offseason’s free agent class for the Minnesota Vikings, you will be hard pressed to find a likely starter in the bunch besides fullback Jerome Felton.  Jerome Simpson is likely, too, but not during the first three weeks when he will be serving his suspension.

After those two guys, I think the most free agent signing most likely to win a starting job has to be cornerback Chris Carr (setting aside injury scenarios).

The 29 year old cornerback has had a solid seven year career up until last season’s hamstring injury ended a 96 game playing streak.

“If you’re out of the mix long enough, you might just be left out,” Carr said about his demotion in Baltimore last season. “It’s like you have to reprove yourself all over again. It feels pretty good now that I have that chance.”

Carr knew he had the skills to continue playing in the NFL, however.

“If you’re versatile, you’ll always find a job somewhere,” Carr said.

By “versatility” Carr means that he can play both inside and outside effectively, and he could be asked to do just that in Minnesota.  Chris Cook seems certain to man one of the starting spots on the outside, but a combination of Antoine Winfield and Carr seems likely for the other outside spot and nickel duties.

There has been some good debate in the comments section about what exactly Winfield’s role will be this year, and I personally believe that the answer will greatly depend on Carr’s ability to step up as a solid starter.

Spielman Says The Vikings Will Make Harvin Situation Work

June 24, 2012, by 2 comments

At the moment, all seems well on the Percy Harvin front if you are a fan of, say, any of the other 31 teams in the NFL.

Us Vikings fans, however, we know better than to get comfortable with anything.  To us, if something looks stagnant, it is probably a ticking time bomb.  Like how nice that big inflatable roof looks?  Like the enthusiasm coming from the guys in that huddle… all twelve of them?  Like your chances on this Gary Anderson field goal attempt?

So, yeah, when sites like PFT or ESPN declare the Percy Harvin storyline “dead” all we Vikings fans are really going to do is sit on the edge of our seats and wait for this thing to blow up.

Rick Spielman, however, wants us to know that Percy Harvin’s previously stated discontent is something he, his staff, and the coaches are prepared to handle.

“There’s different personalities that you have to deal with on a daily basis, but when you look at Percy, what he brings to us on the field, how much passion he has to play football, he gives us a great opportunity to win on Sundays when he’s on the field,” Spielman said recently. “We try to know and understand when we draft a player, sign a player as a free agent, or bring a player into our organization, how we’re going to have to handle this player. Is he going to be handled differently? What do we have to do differently to handle a player? Those are a lot of pre-discussions that we have before we bring players in. And you just have to have a game plan if a guy has an issue or something and then try to work off that.”

“I know coach Frazier really met and sat and talked a lot with Percy. I dealt more with the business side of it and dealt with his agent, Joel Segal,” Spielman said. “As far as I know, the last dialogue I had, we’re expecting Percy to be at training camp and ready to go.”

We still don’t know, and possibly never will know, what caused Harvin’s outbursts last week and the reported request for a trade, but as of today it looks like Spielman and Frazier were able to tag team the issue effectively.

Training camp starts next month, however, and Harvin’s name will almost be the first one called during a much anticipated roll call.

Spielman Admits He Is Concerned About Brinkley

June 24, 2012, by 7 comments

Rick Spielman had a chance to sign one of the many proven middle linebackers that hit the open market back in March.

He passed.

Instead, the team has decided to move forward with Jasper Brinkley, a fifth round selection in 2009, to take over the position that E.J. Henderson has held for so long.  Brinkley filled in for Henderson quite well during his rookie season, but last year he missed every game due to a hip injury that is apparently still lingering.

“I know what we saw when he came in as a rookie and when he came in and filled in for E.J. and the potential we saw there,” Spielman recently told 1500 ESPN.  “He’s a big banger, physical inside middle linebacker that probably doesn’t get enough credit for his athletic skill set as well.”

Spielman can’t help but admit that Brinkley’s health concerns could be a problem, however.

“But again, the durability is a question right now,” continued Spielman, “just because he hasn’t played in a year and hasn’t played much at all hardly through this offseason.”

The Vikings are keeping Brinkley in Minnesota between now and training camp and Spielman says the goal is to make sure he is 100% ready to go by the time training camp rolls around.  Rookie Audie Cole, practice squad player Tyrone MCKenzie and free agent pickup Marvin Mitchell make up the depth chart behind Brinkley and have been seeing increased reps during his absence.

“There’s no question Jasper’s slated in there, but there is some competition going on,” Spielman said of the starting position. “Jasper has to show that he can be on the field, and if not, like I said, we’ll monitor where our young guys are, where some of our backups are and can they do it, and if not, we’ll definitely have to explore the market outside.”

“It’s a big year for him as well, I know, because he’s going into the last year of his contract,” noted Spielman.  “So, he wants — he needs to get on the field.”

I find the timing of Spielman expressing his concerns kind of puzzling.  When free agency opened up he watched guys like Curtis Lofton, Stephen Tulloch, David Hawthorne, and Dan Connor sign with other teams despite their proven talent and fairly ideal age.

If Brinkley doesn’t pan out because of injuries, and the depth behind him proves to be inadequate, then the decision to make middle linebacker a non-priority could be one that comes back and bites Spielman in the ass.