Posts tagged: john carlson

Links of the Week: Rebound Edition

October 19, 2012, by 6 comments

What is that you say? There wasn’t enough coverage of the Vikings here on VT alone? Well, we have just the thing for everyone out there who just can’t get enough purple – our favorite links of the week:

ESPN 1500 Week 7, 2012 Game Poster

The image above was created by the good folks at ESPN 1500.

John Carlson Sprains MCL

July 31, 2012, by 21 comments

There’s been a lot of talk about the Vikings going after opposing defenses with a two tight end set featuring sophomore Kyle Rudolph and fellow Notre Dame alum John Carlson. That dangerous duo is now in question though after Carlson reportedly sprained his MCL today in practice.

John Carlson was signed this offseason as a free agent. The amount of his contract raised some eyebrows amongst Vikings fans considering Carlson was out with a shoulder injury the entire 2011 season. Now it looks like Carlson could potentially miss some playing time depending on the severity of the injury.

When asked by the media if the injury could cause Carlson to miss playing time, Frazier said, “It could. It could. We’ll see. They’ll tell me more when we get back in.”

Carlson was supposed to get an MRI today to make sure the injury isn’t a tear. We’ll keep you updated when those results come back.

Ponder Sees Tight Ends As His Best Friends On The Field

April 23, 2012, by 3 comments

Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder knows that the upcoming season will be all about him.

A little of confidence mixed with a little bit of realism has him predicting and eight or nine win season for the Vikings.  Ponder says there will be a lot of pressure on him this season, but feels that tight ends Kyle Rudolph and John Carlson will aide him in his efforts to turn this team around.

“The guy is a freak,” Ponder said of Rudolph in a recent 1500 ESPN interview. “For how big he is (6-foot-6, 258 pounds) and how well he moves, and his hands are unbelievable. A tight end really is a quarterback’s best friend, especially when he’s a young guy. I think the sky’s the limit for him.

“I think he’ll be a Pro Bowl guy within the next two years, and I think by adding another tight end, John Carlson, You realize how important the tight end is in our system, Musgrave’s system. Kyle’s going to be getting the ball a lot more and I’m excited for him. I’m excited for myself. Having a target like that makes it a lot easier for me.”

Ponder sees confident that the Vikings can turn things around quickly under his leadership and seems plenty aware that the offense can only go as far as he can take them.

“If I play well, then things will build off of me, and I realize that. Yeah, it’s a lot of pressure on me, and we’ll see. We did get some good guys through free agency, and we’ll get a lot of good guys in the draft and we’ll see how it goes.”

Early Offseason Report Card

March 28, 2012, by 13 comments

Free agency took off like a rocket. We were all anxious for what the Vikings would do. After all, they had a good chunk of cap room available. There were also rumors floating around from the combine that the team was going to be very active. And, let’s face it; there weren’t any shortage of holes to fill.

But nothing happened on that first day. The Vikings were quiet… Eerily quiet. Fans were not. Almost immediately, people were calling for Spielman’s head. How could he not acquire Vincent Jackson. How could he not get Pierre Garcon? How could we just sit on so much money when there so many voids to fill in this team to make it a contender again?

Finally, the Vikings started making some moves. Now, that’s not to say fans pulled back and gave Spielman some breathing room. The acquisitions were questionable… Questionable players signed to deals for amounts that were somewhat puzzling to most fans. We were signing people who were injured (and hadn’t played in a year), fullbacks, and… point guards.

While the offseason is far from over, two weeks in, we now have a fair amount of information to look at and develop more comprehensive opinions on how the team has done. What I wanted to do here is recap what the Vikings have done so far this offseason while giving my personal opinion of each move and an overall grade. If you’re ready (it’s long!), continue reading by clicking the button below.

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John Carlson’s Numbers Are In

March 16, 2012, by 1 comment

A number of Vikings fans were a little peeved at the reported $25 million five year contract tight end John Carlson received from the Vikings on day two of free agency.

The reported numbers, however, do not tell the whole story and Tom Pelissero of 1500 ESPN shed some light on the situation Friday morning.

According to Pelissero’s source, only $9.1 million of the deal is fully guaranteed.  That is made up of a $5 million signing bonus, his 2012 base salary of $2.9 million, and $1.2 million of his 2013 base salary.

So, essentially, the deal is structured as follows:

2012:  $2.9 million

2013:  $2.9 million

2014:  $3.9 million

2015:  $4.9 million

2016:  $4.9 million

The deal also includes $100,000 workout bonuses on an annual basis.

The structure of the deal makes it so the Vikings can pay Carlson $11 million over the first two years, and then if they should choose to cut him after that they would take a $3 million cap hit in 2014.  Pelissero describes this as the “sort of pay-as-you-go deal the Vikings have used for years to keep their cap healthy.”

Furthermore, his salary doesn’t jump up until 2014, at which point the NFL’s new television deal is expected to increase the salary cap dramatically.

Carlson’s cap hit should be about $4 million this season, while Sage Rosenfels’ cap hit is expected to be about $1.5 million.  Letroy Guion’s contract details are not yet available, but he is expected to have a cap hit of around $3 million.

That should leave the Vikings with roughly $14.5 million in remaining cap space.

Breaking Down The Carlson Signing

March 14, 2012, by 10 comments

Once upon a time, I would get ridiculed on an annual basis for drafting Seahawks tight end John Carlson about four rounds too early in my fantasy league.  I would get laughed out of the room, in fact.

“Quit it, you guys,” I would whine.  “He’s got the potential and skill set to be the best tight end in the NFL, mark my words.”

Umm, yeah… he was usually on the waiver wires by week six.

Now, Rick Spielman finds himself on the defensive as a result of a very similar move, except the stakes are much higher.

News is spreading the Vikings have signed Carlson to a five year deal worth $25 million, with $11 million of that being guaranteed.  The move will put former Notre Dame stars Carlson and Kyle Rudolph atop the tight end depth chart in Minnesota for years to come.

A Minnesota native, Carlson was selected 38th overall by the Seahawks in 2008.  He got off to a good start, playing in all 16 games of his rookie season and catching 55 passes for 627 yards and five scores.

In his second season, he started all 16 games and caught 51 passes for 574 yards and seven touchdowns.  In 2010, the poor condition of Seattle’s offensive line meant Carlson spent a lot more time being a blocker in the offense, and his production dipped down to 31 catches, 318 yards, and only one score.

In 2011, Carlson missed the entire season due to a torn labrum.

Now, as you can tell from the opening paragraphs of this article, I think Carlson has the potential to be a star and I went so far as to single him out in my Offseason Preview of the tight ends.  However, I concluded that segment with the following warning:

“I think patience will have to be key here.  The Vikings cannot panic and overpay or reach on a Draft choice to fill their needs at tight end.

Building around Rudolph should involve nabbing a few players that present the team with low cost.  They cannot panic and offer a ton of money to Shiancoe.  They cannot panic and overpay a free agent.  They cannot panic and reach on a guy in the Draft.”

Some might view this signing as Rick Spielman panicking and overpaying, while others might view this signing as Spielman targeting the guy he coveted and making sure he got his guy, but I don’t think anyone envisioned this type of deal for Carlson.  In fact, the rumor mill suggests that Carlson was so blown away by the offer that he cancelled a trip to Kansas City and rerouted himself to Winter Park.

The Vikings obviously have placed an emphasis on finding the players that will best fit Bill Musgrave’s offensive vision, which includes a lot of two tight end sets, as they have invested one high draft pick and plenty of money into the position in the last two offseasons.  So, while the Vikings are very high on second year player Kyle Rudolph, don’t think of Carlson as a true backup player just yet, he will probably see a lot of action.

Carlson is often referred to as a poor blocker, but he was called upon to block quite a bit in Seattle and seemingly improved in this area, and his pass catching skills are fairly elite.  Christian Ponder should benefit from having one more solid pass catcher in his arsenal, and also a fairly dependable blocker when needed.  Also, Carlson is 27 years old, which is a full four years younger than Visanthe Shiancoe.

I don’t agree with those that think the Vikings didn’t have a need at the tight end position.  I don’t agree with those that think Carlson is a terrible player.

As far as whether or not they overpaid to obtain Carlson, however, I am on the fence.  A lot will depend on how the contract is structured and whether or not he can finally live up to the expectations that followed him from Notre Dame.

I will put it this way though:  I’m still not drafting him in my fantasy league this year.

ADAM’S GRADE:  C+

BRETT’S GRADE:  C

John Carlson Agreement Reached

March 14, 2012, by 14 comments

Well, that happened pretty quickly.

According to Adam Schefter, an agreement has been reached with John Carlson for a 5 year, 25 million dollar deal.

We’re on the board, folks! Tonight we will try and get you some more information on Carlson and what he brings to the team as well as some analysis of the pickup.