If Your Last Name Begins With an R, You've Been Traded To The Giants

Who do you guys figure will be your kick and punt returner then? Harvin? Hasn’t Reynaud been your punt returner the last couple seasons, or am I imagining things?

Let me ask you (everyone) this: Ignoring draft position, which player would you rather have, Darius or Toby? From what I have seen this preseason Toby runs for 0-5 yards and Darius is like an AP-lite. Add to that the recieving ability (as a back and reciever) and the return ability and it seems to me Darius should be our #3 RB.

sit back and watch football

before the start of the season…but who knows. SKOL VIKES!

The 2011 pick is a 5th rounder. The 2012 pick is conditional based on Sage’s playing time.

I don’t like the move. I think we kept the wrong QB. And now we don’t know who will be returning punts. I’d say Harvin over Allen. But that’s not ideal with the amount of responsibility he already has.

If we turn around and use the pick for depth at O-line or CB I might feel a little better.

“That’s the way you do it.” – Dire Straits

It’s a decent investment. Instead of throwing 22 people to the curb to be picked over for free by the rest of the league, we now only have to throw 20 souls overboard, and we gained two future draft choices. When you have more good talent than the rules allow you to keep, you need to get what you can while you can.

Sage cost four times TJ’s salary. Some people talk like he was four times as good as TJ, but I’m not exactly buying that.

Reynaud is someone the Giants wanted, and unless the team with which you attempt to work out a trade says yes to the deal and signs the paperwork, you do not get any trade with them. Trades a voluntary and optional. Only two days remained to do one before the roster cuts were required.

“The girls all get prettier at closing time.” – Mickey Gilley

..specifically about our coaching staff and their ability to ignore crappy play by T-Suck. Bizarre. Sage looked better and T-Suck has lucked, well, sucky as usual. At this point, it just looks like Chilly is too proud to admit his mistake with the failed T-Suck experiment.

Ugh. Hope we get a darn good draft pick for losing 2 players.

The Vikings traded the wrong QB to the NY Giants. Sage Rosenfels is 3 times the QB that Tarvaris Jackson will ever be. Heck, even rookie QB Joe Webb is three times the QB when compared to Tarvaris Jackson….

Chilly is a stubborn Head Coach, he can not admit that he made a mistake trading up to draft Travaris Jackson…..

When Chilly was the Offensive Coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, he never got to call the plays for the offense, Head Coach Andy Reid called all the plays. So what makes Chilly think that because he is the Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings, that he is qualified to call the plays for the offense?

Chilly is good at recognizing football talent (some of the time) but when Chilly went out on a limb for Tarvaris Jackson, he really goosed the moose!

Maybe the Vikings can trade chilly for “Wally the Beer Man”!

I have given up on trying to convince anyone that this isn’t about Chilly’s ego. If he hasn’t shown that he and Spielman make the decisions necessary to move the Vikings forward then you just are not watching the moves that are being made. If Chilly really was an egotist he would have started T-Jack and never gone out and gotten Farve.
 Draft Picks:
Sage is a ten year journeyman quarterback with a 3 Million dollar contract. We are lucky to get a 5th round pick. If he were younger, cheaper, or had more starts maybe he would be worth more.
Reynaud is not a successful WR. He is not a proven RB. He is a ST performer. A good versatile player. These are the kinds of guys a team selects in the 6th and 7th rounds of the draft. ( Like Webb, Brinkley, Sanford) Getting a conditional pick for him was a good and fair move.

Who will return kicks? Was I the only guy watching Albert Young do a fair job?

Trading Sage and keeping TJack is OK by me as long as they lock up TJack with a contract extension.

That is my concern. Some say the Vikings saved some money by letting Sage go because he is making about 1.5 mil more than TJack.

But if any of you believe that TJack’s agent is not going to want at LEAST Sage money then I do not know what to say. Add in the fact that his agent will know that after this season, TJack is the only viable option and he is going to want starter money.

So my question is how much do you think TJack is going to want? 5 mil per year, 4 mil per year, more?

I really did not care but I “followed the money” and figured they would go with the guy they had signed so that they had some security for the 2011 season. Obviously they no more about what they want to do in the future and of course that is their decision. As a fan though, I can question it. Here is the distinction for some of you. I question it, not necessarily criticize it. It is a gamble and a risk that they are willing to take. I can live with that. But from a marketing perspective and trying to sell tickets it does not really make people want to purchase season seats for 2011 (if they are even there) not knowing who will be the QB. Now they may not be selling the seats for next year yet but not knowing who the guy will be is a bit concerning.

There is also the talent level of the team that will demand a top notch QB. The talent level will still be pretty damn good in 2011 and a struggling QB or a QB who has not had the chance to prove it over a whole season is putting the rest of the players career’s in jeopardy too (i.e., their performance is tied to their compensation). This is not saying TJack cannot get it done but he needs to be able to show for an entire season. It is risky.

Now another couple of moves made make me question their decisions.

San Diego just signed Patrick Crayton for a 7th round pick. I think I would have been OK with him instead of Walker or Lewis. Plus he can return punts. Of course this is revisionist history but you have to believe that the Vikings knew that Crayton was available and that they were not sold themselves on Darius. Of course Dallas may not have wanted to trade Crayton in the conference so it could not have been an option. Still, it seems like they may have been able to give up a 7th for Crayton.

Then Philly signs Reggie Wells for a 6th round pick from Arizona. Wells has started the last few years and would have been a pretty good reserve or starter of DeGeare struggles.

I mean I think the front office is doing a pretty good job but the job is not over and when you see moves like these it just is curious.

I am hoping that they are going to make a couple more moves today or after the first game.

I recall in that horrible love boat year how frustrating it was. I knew many changes had to be made in the Vikings organization. Not least among those changes was an entirely new attitude toward playing football.

Zygi Wilf aggressively pursued and signed Brad Childress. Thank goodness. Ever since then, along with front office guys like Rick Spielman, the Vikings have had the best leadership from the top down since Max Winter, Jim Finks, and Bud Grant.

My fellow Vikings fans got used to cheering for the Dennis Green offense of the 90s that inevitably flamed out, and we all got used to mediocrity.

Well, we do not have anything in the trophy case. We have got nothing except the 1969 NFL Championship, which is overshadowed by the loss in Super Bowl IV.

Stuff had to change. Childress does it differently than the old, messed up style of the past. The basic premise of his leadership is “Good people playing good football.” That means Sage Rosenfels doesn’t cut it. I hope that means Houshmanzadeh doesn’t cut it.

It’s like Mike Singletary said, “I want winners.” That’s what we want, too.

We want the Vikings to play good football, and do what they haven’t done before. That means they have to do things differently.

And Childress, Spielman, and company are doing things differently than what people have come to expect from the Vikings. They are making the right calls, and the direction of the Vikings is good.

I like this deal, I won’t miss Sage, but I wish they would have kept Reynaud.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m looking forward to seeing Tavaris play a full season. If we see him start this year, I think he’ll do just fine!!!!

For the record, I am one of those who believe that Chilly has a big ego and sometimes chooses familiar guys (Pinkston, McMullen, Holcomb, Bollinger, Moats, Hicks—the only one that actually worked out) or schmucks who would owe him gratitude for an opportunity (Taylor, Frerotte, Wade, Sage) over more talented players (Thigpen, other FA QBs like David Carr, Michael Turner, etc.).

In spite of that belief, I think that this was a reasonable trade. Sage was acquired for a 4th or 5th rounder, and it’s great to get a 5th round pick in a future draft for a 30+ yo guy who has never been a starter. TJ is not as good a backup in my opinion, but in the event of Favregeddon, the fans may as well see what TJ can/can’t do. Really, if TJ were to start at least 4 games and post a passer rating under 85 as a starter with this level of talent, then it would be time to consider him a career backup (and perhaps not a good one) and move on with that in mind.

As for Reynaud, I’m a little sad to see him go just as he was beginning to become useful, but there will be a guy like him (at least in terms of providing depth and return punts) available now and in the 7th round of next year’s draft.

In the preseason than Tavaris. So its kind of unfair to compair the 2 preseason stats which by the way don’t mean much. Much of Sage’s success came against 2nd and 3rd stringers so I don’t put much stock into it. Sage has been a backup in the league for 10 years for a reason.

What a bunch of ninny’s and knit pickers. Are you guys really Vikings fans?

“I guess as a Vikings fan, I don’t feel like the typical Vikings fan is very football-smart.”
Are you looking into a mirror or is that you Tedy Brusky?
Give me the fans that bleed purple. The ones who paint their faces and don’t care if T-Jack or Sarah Jessica Parker is the QB. (thats one ugly QB.) The fans that knows we make it the black and blue division and that the Purple people eaters are back. I love the fans that get jucied up no matter who we play or what the “so called” experts say. Screw the fans that sit and debate with Aint’s and Fudge Packers fans when they bring their stench to our blogs. I don’t want to hear you flex you brain, flex your Viking Heart.
Who Dat is what the Aint’s will be saying when we rape, pillage and murder them on national TV. Wake up Viking Bezerkers it is time to wear your war paint and sharpen your battle axes. The road to the Super Bowl goes thru Minnesota. After Mon night the Ain’ts will go back to being the bed wetter’s of the league.

but this preseason sure has brought out the naysayers and doombringers, both among the fans and experts.

Sage should have been our #2 based on ability and play on the field, and Reynaud brought specific skills to the table. As far as I can see, we traded away two good football players. But I understand the logic and the business side of the NFL, and these things happen.

Favre hasn’t missed a start since 1924, and I don’t expect him to start now. Much like Jim Sorgi of the Colts holding a clipboard behind Peyton for years, the #2 doesn’t matter. I can hold a clipboard just as well as both Sage and TJack.

If a backup QB and a PR are our biggest concerns heading into week one, I’d say we’re doing pretty well. I’m more worried about our O-Line, RB blitz pickups, and our play at safety. Regardless, we will stomp the opposition.

…about making up cute pet names for the new head coach at his first presser.

…about booing the guy you incorrectly perceive to be his only begotten son.

…about concluding it’s impossible for this fool to keep winning two more games every season, since they may not even have a season in 2011, and in 2012 that would mean he’s got to somehow play 18 (…oh wait, what was that I heard on the news about extending the regular season…???)

These roster dealings were probably necessary, due to the rules of the game.

As some Messiah once said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Until then, Skol Vikings, let’s go!

P.S.: Remember, Denny is now out here near me in Sacramento, with Duante, coaching for some UFL team which is owned by a rich dude, who just happens to be married to the U.S. Speaker of the House. I am not making this stuff up.

Long time reader, first time poster…

The fact that we traded Rosenfals was, as for all the above mentioned reasons, obvious and well foreseen, but the addition of Reynaud caught most by surprise. What surprises me more though is that I haven’t really seen anyone point out since what I feel to be the obvious- we HAD to package Reynaud! When we picked up Rosenfals we gave up a draft pick for it, and I’m sure that, considering that trade ended up being less than worthless, the FO really wanted to recoup something for him. Trick is, everyone with half a brain knew that with the roster cut looming, we weren’t going to keep 4 QB’s, and that it was extremely likely that Rosenfals as the odd man out. So why trade anything to get a guy who’s going to be free in a few days anyways?

I’m sure when the Vike’s FO called the Giant’s FO, that’s exactly the conversation that occured. At some point, an exasperated Spielman or Chilly prolly went, ‘OK, so what ELSE do you want then?’ at which point, the Giants pointed out that they not only needed a backup QB, but also a punt returner- and bam, Reynaud got thrown into the package, whether the FO really liked it or not.

Makes perfect sense to me. The Vikes spent a lot of money and a draft pick to get a guy who held a clipboard, and were so desperate to at least offset SOME of their losses that they gave up a perfectly decent and considerably valuable player in the process. Here’s hoping it all works out, and that Harvin really does have a bead on those migraines, cuz lord knows we just increased his already sizeable sophmore year workload…….