Posts tagged: greg jennings

Links Of The Week: A Little Slow These Days

May 11, 2013, by 4 comments

The news isn’t exactly hard to keep up with these days, because there isn’t much of it, but that didn’t stop us from digging up some good stuff to pass along this weekend:

  • The Vikings seem to have a thing for tall defensive backs these days.
  • A look at what undrafted quarterback James Vandenberg might bring to the #3 quarterback competition.
  • The Vikings finalized their agreement to play at TCF Bank Stadium and there are some interesting details regarding the situation.
  • Nick Reed may not have lasted long with the Vikings, but that hasn’t stopped him from having a bad ass career path.
  • A year after “experts” failed to give the Vikings a chance at the playoffs it appears they are now gaining some respect.
  • An old cohort of mine is now running Vikings Gab.  Congrats to Chris Boynton 0n his new gig.
  • A look at how the post-Draft depth chart is shaping up at the linebacker position.
  • Cris Carter has finally been voted into the Hall of Fame so we are now left to wonder who the next Viking to receive that honor will be.
  • Count Governor Mark Dayton as one of the clueless who think the Vikings weren’t justified, in terms of football reasons, to draft Chris Kluwe’s replacement.
  • Rick Spielman recently said Christian Ponder deserves as much credit as Adrian Peterson in the franchise making the playoffs last year.  Seriously.  He said that.  With word.  From his mouth.  And he wasn’t drunk.
  • The Vikings have 39 players on their roster right now that they drafted which ranks 7th in the NFL.
  • Linebacker Michael Mauti has a lengthy history of dealing with injury, but so does Vikings trainer Eric Sugarman.
  • The Vikings have started yet another community oriented campaign called “WE DAY.”
  • Rick Spielman is making it clear that he expects Ponder to make a big jump this season.
  • Vegas is not being kind to the Vikings when it comes to predicting their 2013 chances.
  • If the Vikings had their own “Mount Rushmore” who would you put on it?
  • And now, here it is, your moment of Zen:

Welcome To The Big Show: Cordarrelle Patterson

May 7, 2013, by 27 comments

We continue to formally introduce you to our newest Vikings with our in-depth series.  If you missed the one on Sharrif Floyd then click here and you can click here for the article on Xavier Rhodes.

Up next is Tennessee wide out Cordarrelle Patterson who we identified as a possible Vikings target back in January.  Shortly after that article came about, Patterson began to skyrocket in terms of his perceived draft stock.  Despite growing concerns about his lack of experience, football intelligence, and general maturity, Patterson remained near the top of his class and was one of only three wide outs selected in the first round.

CORDARRELLE PATTERSON, WR, TENNESSEE

ATTRIBUTES

Height:                   6′ 2″

Weight:                  216 pounds

Arm Length:         31 3/4″

Hands:                   9″

COMBINE RESULTS

If Patterson’s game tape hadn’t caught the attention of NFL front offices, then his performance at the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine should have done the trick.  Despite his size, Patterson was clocked as the sixth fastest wide out in the forty yard dash.  He also tied for the fifth highest vertical jump and the sixth longest broad jump.  As was expected to be the case, however, Patterson’s athleticism could not mask some inconsistencies in the positional drills.

Forty:                      4.42 seconds

Vertical Jump:      37″

Broad Jump:         128″

The Vikings were among the teams that met with Patterson at the Combine, and there are mixed reports about how well his interviews went, but we do know that he scored an “11″ on the Wonderlic test which has led to the “dumb” label being applied often and heavily by anyone with access to the internet.  Patterson, however refuses to accept that label and has a simple answer for why we shouldn’t be concerned about it.

“You can’t judge anything on the Wonderlic,” Patterson said plainly. “That has nothing to do with football.”

Keyshawn Johnson also scored an 11 on the Wonderlic, prior to being the #1 overall pick of the 1996 NFL Draft, and he came to Patterson’s defense prior to the Draft.

“If somebody is using the Wonderlic to determine if a player can play football, then the scouting department needs to be checked,” Johnson said.  ”…But I played 11 years, and was always accused of being one of the smartest players on the team.”

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No Expectations Are Set For A Greg Childs Return

May 2, 2013, by 3 comments

The Minnesota Vikings receiver depth chart took a big hit when Percy Harvin was traded to Seattle.  Now, there is hope that they took a few steps forwards when they signed veteran receiver Greg Jennings and drafted rookie wide out Cordarrelle Patterson.

Another boost to the passing game could come from the return of Greg Childs, drafted by the Vikings last season, who tore tendons in both knees before even being able to appear in a 2012 regular season game.  His timeline for return was often brought up throughout the free agency and Draft periods of this offseason, but his status has largely remained a mystery.

While Childs refuses to publicly state an expectation for his full recovery it was visible to reporters on Wednesday that he has come a long ways.

Childs could be seen running sprints at Winter Park as part of his rehabilitation.

“I’m doing a lot of cutting, some jumping, some sprinting,” Childs told reporters. “All the necessary things I need to be doing, I’m doing now.”

Childs admits he isn’t close to 100% healthy and while he is determined and motivated to make it back, he isn’t going to rush things along.

“There’s no sense coming back 80, 90 percent,” Childs said. “That’s not going to really help the team out. That’s what we’re trying to do right now — just get me back on the field so I can really help the team.”

It would be a bonus for the Vikings to get Childs healthy and back into the mix for 2013, but it shouldn’t be relied on.

 

Draft Week Is Here: The Pretend-To-Know Time Is Almost Up

April 22, 2013, by 45 comments

The NFL Draft has the same allure as a record Powerball jackpot.

Men (and some women) from around the globe converge onto the internet for about 11 and a half months to try an predict, analyze, and grade the next year of fresh prospects.  We follow their every move, chart their plays, scour police blotters, and argue about their potential all the way up until their names are called… and then some more.

I’m not going to say that analysts, bloggers, or fans know nothing about these prospects.  They know quite a bit, actually, and it really is impressive how much more the common man knows about Tyrann Mathieu’s pee than he knows about… oh, we’ll go with Darfur here in order to maintain my long and proud tradition of being completely cliche.

While we know quite a bit about these prospects, and know even more about the rosters that make up our favorite teams, the truth is that the ultimate reality show that is the NFL Draft process gets it’s appeal from the fact that it is almost completely, utterly, 100 percent unpredictable.  Outside of some obvious top three picks, the only thing that is predictable about the NFL Draft is that it will be unpredictable (see, cliche after cliche, I can’t help myself).

Now, I have been predicting all offseason long that the Vikings would aim to select Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o in the first round of this week’s Draft, and wavered on that prediction only momentarily between Percy Harvin’s departure from Minnesota and Greg Jennings’ arrival.

That is why I was shocked to see someone much older, much more experienced, and someone that is supposed to be much wiser than me make a bold and perhaps foolish statement.

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Links Of The Week: First Wave Of Free Agency Is Over

March 21, 2013, by 26 comments

Well, the first wave of free agency has come and gone, and there were some fireworks involving our favorite team.  Percy Harvin was traded, Antoine Winfield was released, Greg Jennings and Matt Cassel were signed, and a lot of Vikings were retained.  Now it is time to put a nice exclamation point on this first wave as we wade closer into the second, and else edge towards the Draft.

 

Sendejo Is Retained

March 21, 2013, by 3 comments

The free agency news for Vikings fans has mostly consisted of them bringing back their own players, with MAtt Cassel and Greg Jennings being the only exceptions.

Today, they continued to bring back their own players by agreeing to terms with backup safety Andrew Sendejo.

Sendejo announced the move on Twitter:  ”Extremely blessed to re-sign with the @Vikings for another season! #Skol #Vikes.”

Sendejo was an exclusive rights free agent and the Vikings tendered him the offer prior to free agency beginning, and today’s signing makes his return official.

Vikings Offseason Indicates Loyalty Means Little

March 18, 2013, by 6 comments

Laundry.

It’s a cliche to say it, but the truth is that is what we root so hard for every Sunday, and all offseason long we scour the internet for any bit of information that might tell us who will be wearing it next season.

Ever since free agency was born unto the National Football League, the meaning of “family” has gone by the wayside and loyalty is certainly a thing of the past in almost every instance. There have been a lot of reminder of this over the last couple of weeks.

The Vikings traded one of their most successful first round selections, Percy Harvin, to the Seattle Seahawks for a number of reasons that seem to all be business related for both player and team.  Then, we learned that long time cornerback Antoine Winfield was abruptly kicked to the curb due to a high salary and an increasing age.

Now, the Vikings stole away yet another life long Green Bay Packer in wide out Greg Jennings, which is the football equivalent of William Wallace joining the British in battle.  This is yet another example of loyalties meaning far more to the spectators than it does to the players or organizations.

Now, I’m not blaming the players.  If Winfield’s situation taught us anything it’s that players owe it to themselves to take advantage of their premier skills in what sill be a truncated career before their organization deems them expendable.  I also don’t blame an organization for wanting to part ways with a player as it is their job to field the best possible team that gives them and their fans the best chance at a Super Bowl.

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