Is Sidney Rice Damaged Goods?
by Christopher Gates on Jun 21, 2011 5:56 PM CDT
in Minnesota Vikings 2011 Season
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That's what people are apparently telling Tom Pelissero of ESPN 1500 in the Twin Cities. Here's his exact words via The Twitter.
Based on my sources, Rice will be hard-pressed to get a big guarantee, and #Vikings are willing to compete with incentives/escalators.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck 
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Tom Pelissero
TomPelissero
Well, this is a bit of an interesting development.
With the requirements for unrestricted free agency going back to four years in the next CBA, from all accounts, Rice is currently considered one of the, if not the, prize catch in the free agency department at wide receiver. However, if what Pelissero is saying is true, this might put a dent into things for him.
Rice looked like he was doing okay when he came back from his surgery last year, particularly his game against the Buffalo Bills when he reeled in two touchdowns (both on spectacular catches) and had over 100 yards receiving. He did have a fairly significant surgery, however, and it does make some sense if people think that it could have long-term effects for him, particularly if Drew Rosenhaus is expecting someone to back a dump truck full of money up to Sidney's door.
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I believe that Rice is going to get paid by some team and very well
I do not know who Pelissero is talking to or why he would tweet this but here is what Frazier said back on Feb 26th …
“He is a high, high priority, and I didn’t want him to be sensitive about the fact that it was Chad (Greenway) being franchised instead of Sidney,” said Frazier, who has been in contact with Rice in recent weeks. “That does not mean that we’re not going to do right by Sidney, but we couldn’t franchise both of them. We want to get Sidney signed and take care of him, because he’s going to take care of our football team. … He’s a guy that wants to be a Viking.”
The Vikings are convinced Rice can return to his Pro Bowl form of 2009, when he caught 83 passes for 1,312 yards and eight TDs.
“We don’t have any medical questions regarding Sidney at this point,” Frazier said. “They’ve (doctors) made it clear to us, ’Don’t hold back in whatever you want to do to try to get him signed,’ and that’s how we’re approaching it.”
Seems kind of odd that Pelissero would put this out there after what Frazier said. Is someone on the Vikings trying to make other teams nervous by putting out some “scare” rumors?
The Vikings should have taken care of him already. They should not be in this position at all. Now they stand a chance of losing him for nothing in return. That is NOT what a good organization does with it’s Pro Bowl 24 year old players.
I could see some incentives in his contract but maybe Rice and his agent are not going to sign for that? So they go and see what other teams have to offer. If another team with an established QB and a better chance at winning offers a similar deal as Pelissero suggests then Rice will probably go to the other team. I would.
The Vikings are NOT in a position to “compete” with other offers. They need to blow the other offers out the water. What are they going to do if Rice goes elsewhere? What are the fans going to say then? How is this going to help Ponder or whomever is the QB?
This is bad management. The Vikings are going to lose Rice and Edwards this year for nothing in return. Why is that? Because they more than likely are going to sign a free agent or two as well. So the compensatory picks may not happen.
I wanted them to trade Edwards back during the 2010 draft because I felt that they were not going to give him a new deal. Now they are going to end up with nothing.
You do not see New England letting their young up and coming talent go for nothing in return. They at least will try and turn those players into draft picks that could then be used to manipulate the draft.
Nothing for Something
I’m really hoping that with the change to a new HC, that sort of stupid mentality will be gone as well.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
Shouldn't we be blaming Spielman for this ?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Spielman supposed to be the guy in charge of players contracts and keeping the team as valuable as possible ?
The TOA has to become one to turn into Captain Planet
They weren’t all exactly working “together” in recent years in case you hadn’t noticed.
Skol!
Blame Game
It was my understanding that both Spielmann and Chilly made these decisions, advising Wilf. I don’t know that Spielmann was the sole party responsible. Could be, though.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
That's the way I understand it too,
Childress was given too much power for a HC.
Just out of curiosity, how many other teams use the TOA approach ?
That to me, sounds like too many captains for one boat.
Getting 3 people to agree on something has to be pretty difficult.
Most people cant agree on where to have lunch, let alone how to build a football team.
Got to admit this kind of reasoning is another reason I had such a hard time with Childress
If you want to keep someone work to sign them before the dead line. If you don’t want to keep someone work to trade them to a team that needs or will appreciate them.
This ain’t rocket surgery here people… However Rice has been injured about half the time he’s been a pro football player.. So, buyer beware.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
Wasn't that someone else's area?
I thought the signings for players was done by the third guy of the TOA. Sure Childress had control over the final 53 and Spielman ran the draft, but it was the third guy that controlled how contracts were handled….and he’s still around isn’t he?
by PackApologist on Jun 22, 2011 11:11 AM CDT up reply actions
You are correct, however Childress had his fingers in a lot of the pie.
So yeah I have a problem with other members of the FO, but I will wait until they have a year out of the evil leprechauns influence before I start lambasting them.
Problems, resigning players
Problems, training up players we pick up in the draft
pros, the first round draft pick is usually pretty special.
So far I see more problems that pros, and this is an abbreviated list for sure.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
I see what you did there.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on - Winston Churchill
by Alittlemore_cowbell on Jun 22, 2011 11:12 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
rosenhaus stinks
… I honestly would never work with him if I were a team owner.
Rosenhaus is just doing his job
as an advocate for his client.
"Lord I pray for the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion and the balls of a combat helicopter pilot."
True, don't start on the Drew hating because I don't want to have to defend the guy
because I don’t like to do that, but he gets players that are viewed as “damaged goods” or over the hill or washed up and gets them on a team and gets them paid. His job has nothing to do with making Vikes fans happy.
Skol!
He does suck though..
He does his job and he does it well. Now does that mean that he isn’t a slimy person? No. It’s like the NFL equivalent of a criminal defense lawyer.
this is no big surprise to me...
rice got seriously injured. no one will even discuss the details of the injury or the surgery…except that he has an arthritic condition in his hip now. that is not good for a guy who makes a living by running and cutting away from elite athletes. drew rosenhaus can’t fix his hip, he can try to spin it all he wants, but medical records and medical evaluations are going to speak for themselves.
i would not sign rice to a lot of guaranteed money either. that is just risky. and i’m sure that is the prevailing sentiment around the league. it sounds like pellisero’s ONE LINE TWEET gives indication that the vikings are willing to compete against any other offers that he might get. what is wrong with that? why over pay?
the only thing wrong is that drew rosenhaus is involved, so i’ll bet there will be plenty-o-bullsh!t being cast about in the process. good luck sidney, i hope you are actually healthy…
and if so, i hope you re-sign for something FAIR.
Are you assuming that Rice is going to come back to the Vikings to see if they can match an offer?
It sounds like it. Most of the time free agents fly into a city and that team tries like hell to get the player to sign on the dotted line and not go to any other city (let alone his original team).
I did not read anything about his hip being “arthritic”. I posted what Frazier said above so unless Frazier is lying I am going to take him for his word and that is Rice is fine.
Regardless of his condition, he will get a new deal and the Vikings are likely to be get nothing in return. This is the biggest failure of the front office IMHO. If they decided that his hip really was a problem and then Frazier flat out lied to the press, then they should have at least try to trade him for a draft pick. I think that the Vikings would have received at least a 2nd round pick if they would have tried to deal him prior to the trade deadline.
I am of the belief that you do not let players of his caliber walk away for nothing in return. Call me crazy.
Good organizations do not let players of Rice’s ability walk away for nothing. Plain and simple.
i understand what you are saying...
i think this is kind of a unique sutuation though. the timing of the injury, his breakout year, his contract year, the lock-out, the cba…are all contributing to a situation that has no easy fix or is not totally controllable by the vikings f.o. it’s flukey, unusual and unfortunate, imo.
i know that the vikings already offered him a contract, and that rice publically said the right things, and that he is going to test the market. i imagine that his agent will come back to minnesota and try to rachet up the amount of the contract if/when he gets another offer. if minnesota ends up letting him walk, but he signs a large contract with lots of guaranteed money, i will kind of understand (i guess), because of the risk involved. but it will suck, no doubt.
i’ll try to dig up the snippet on the arthritic hip condition, again. that should be better confirmed. except, it is probably not so eaily done, as most of the intel on this has been kept vague and some of it scrubbed.
i found the few references to arthritis and am posting them just for the heck of it.
Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman reported Friday that close friends of Rice claim the surgery he had on his hip last summer didn’t cure the problem and that he is dealing with arthritis. Hartman also recently reported that Rice underwent a procedure for a kidney problem before last season.
.
“We don’t have any medical questions regarding Sidney at this point,” Frazier said. ‘Our doctors have cleared him. They’ve made it clear to us, ’Don’t hold back in whatever you want to do to try to get him signed,’ and that’s how we’re approaching it."
the quote above is from the following article. it has mention of both frazier’s desire to re-sign him, and the whole hip arthritis rumor: http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/116962398.html
this is the article that has the frazier comments you quoted (it also mentions a kidney surgery that he had before last season too): http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/116932768.html
this article looks like it is based on the star-tribune articles: http://min.scout.com/2/1051136.html
by danny lloyd on Jun 21, 2011 11:42 PM CDT up reply actions
It does not matter
The fact that he can go sign with another team and the Vikings will get nothing in return is bad management.
As soon as it is time to pay a guy you get fans who come out and use his first two developmental seasons against him, the fact that he got banged up and hurt against him, and discount his productive season by saying it was only one year and/or he had Favre throwing to him.
On a side note: Chad Greenway missed an entire year out of his first four and never made the pro bowl but was more productive. He gets a pass for missed games during his first four years though.
Never fails. Once a guy could possibly no longer be a Viking then he is overrated and the Vikings do not need him anyway.
It does not matter whether or not he has a possible problem with his hip going forward (I will say that Rudolph’s detached hamstring from the bone is not too comforting either but he gets a pass and has not done diddly yet).
All that matters is that this young WR who has made at least one pro bowl is going to be a UFA. How does that happen?
All these excuses about the Vikings not knowing what to do because of the uncertainty with the CBA is hogwash. I call BS on these excuses. Kansas City managed to pay Derrick Johnson and Jamaal Charles last November and December despite the CBA situation. They were not so scared that they could not figure out what to do. They actually were proactive and decided to make sure they kept key players. Of course these two had pretty good years last year. I think the Vikings should have followed suit and given Greenway a deal last year about the same time. It may have been less than the franchise tag amount. Then they would have had the franchise tag available to use on Rice.
I suppose that the front office is willing to let Rice walk away with nothing in return. I guess they do not feel he is a franchise caliber WR. I am not going to argue that because I think he is just below that level and needs another year or two of production to reach that level. But the fact remains that the cupboard is bare after Rice and Harvin. So the Vikings were caught between a rock and a hard place. We will see what they do for WRs when Rice goes elsewhere. We will see how NOT having Rice affects the offense and Ponder. I think we saw it last year but apparently some have forgotten.
Unfortunately the CBA situation dictated that the Vikings pay Rice even though they may have had reservations. If they could give Bernard Berrian a 6 year 43.4 mil deal with 16 mil guaranteed in 2008 then they can damn well give Rice a deal better than that. I would say that the money given to Berrian has been a waste. How about Madieu’s contract? Has he been worth the money? Was it well spent? So why not pay Rice even though you may have reservations? Or at least pay Greenway last December and franchise Rice in order to work out a deal.
At least if they franchise Rice they would have been able to trade him to another team for at least a first or second round draft pick. This is the key point for me. It does not matter what anyone thinks about how much he should be paid. All that matters is the Vikings front office has put themselves in a position whereby they can lose this pretty damn good (when healthy – I threw that in for the all of a sudden doubters) WR for NOTHING in return.
This is the point that I think most are just brushing aside like it does not matter. How do you spend a second round pick on a WR and then he gives you one pro bowl season in his first four and then you let him walk away for nothing in return? How is that a good use of a high draft pick and the time spent coaching him and developing him? It is bad management. Plain and simple.
A team like New England would have franchised him and then tried to trade him if they could not work out a deal. I do not care if they keep him or not but I expect to get back a draft pick at least. Imagine if they traded Rice prior to the trading deadline last year. I think it is very fair to say they would have received a second round pick from some team at least. Greg Little would not have been a bad replacement in the second round last year.
The Vikings are going to lose Sidney Rice and Ray Edwards and get nothing in return for their original draft picks and years of developing these two young men. At the very least you use them to move up in the draft.
If I would have told any of you that the Vikings could have traded Edwards and the #30 pick to Tennessee for the #16 pick in the 2010 draft and then selected Maurkrice Pouncey, many of you would have been all over this move. I actually was advocating this move. I did not want Pouncey though but he was a consideration. And Tennessee would have to really think hard about it since they did not have a second round pick and were going to select a DE anyway – which they did in Derrick Morgan).
This is the kind of move a well run team makes. Yeah you are giving up a pretty good LDE but if you know you are NOT going to resign him then at least use him to get a better player (on paper) in the draft or more picks.
They definitely should have traded Edwards to a contender (Atlanta) prior to the trading deadline last season. The first 5 weeks did not go too well and they knew he was unhappy and that they were not going to offer him a new deal. At least they could have received a second round pick most likely. I would find it hard to believe that a team would not give up that at least.
The fact that the Vikings can lose these two young studs for nothing in return should be very troubling to ALL Vikings fans. I do not care if they could only get a 3rd or 4th round pick in return (which you know would not happen) they should have moved them if they had any doubts about resigning them on the open market.
These are two very very bad decisions by this front office no matter how you slice it. Now if they are able to keep Rice then it is not so bad. At the very least you sign Rice and then trade him. The problem with that is the Vikings would have to pay the bonus money unless it was a roster bonus paid on opening day or something like that.
Obviously I am very upset at the front office. I do not like seeing assets walk away with no return on investment.
It is time for the front office to be called on the carpet for allowing this to happen if it does. No more “I trust the front office” statements from the sheep as they are being led over the cliff. Front offices are not immune to criticism and accountability.
by MarkSP18 on Jun 22, 2011 8:10 AM CDT up reply actions 3 recs
The fact that the Vikings can lose these two young studs for nothing in return should be very troubling to ALL Vikings fans.
and it is. Rice has been injured twice by the way his first season he missed because of an injury I believe (I could be wrong though)
The main issue though is that the front office is putting itself in a situation where they are likely to get nothing for very good players. Atlanta would have paid out the nose fo Edwards last year, hell look what they did this year for a WR..
The front office needs to get it’s head out of it’s collective butt. Now in a bit of a defense no one saw last year completely disintegrating as it did, so I do understand a bit about keeping the team together for one more go, but for heavens sake they should have resigned Greenway last year period the man is a monster.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
OK. Now I will play devils advocate a little
If one of these players were out for the year as Rice was last year then the Vikings would have to find replacements and get nothing in return.
I suppose it is not that bad IF they go out and sign a Malcolm Floyd, James Jones, Mike Sims-Walker, etc. They may need two of these WRs.
It may save them a little money because Rice is going to get more than these guys and the Vikings need to definitely back up the brinks truck for AP.
Still, I like the draft a lot and would love to have some extra picks for players that you know you are not going to resign. :) and :(
I understand the devils advocate and how hard it can be to do it sometimes
However, those reasons don’t really make sense to me in this situation. The money you save would most likely be trivial.
They had three solid players they let slip from last year. THREE! If they had one player they wanted to keep I could see it happening especially if he had injury issues, but Greenway? Edwards? They knew they were goign to keep Greenway so do the deal last year, they knew they were leaving Edwards so trade him to Atlanta last year. That leaves Rice (the unkown) as a frachise player if you are so inclined with no real issues if you do or don’t. It makes no sense.
Hopefully I defended the statement as well as you if I were advocating satan. :D
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
They were gunning for a Superbowl.
And gave up on that idea too late to do much about it. We lost and now we lose.
They still could have signed Greenway
There is no way we should let him go, he’s still in his prime. Play him three more years then look at trading him to another team. I partially understand keeping Edwards around, and I do understand leaving Rice out to see what his injury turned into. Remember also, that there was controversy about Rice’s injury and how honest he was about it at the beginning of camp. All the moves at the same time boggles the mind.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
I agree with you about the Greenway situation
But we’ve got him under contract for a year, and we’ll see what happens now.
If they could give Bernard Berrian a 6 year 43.4 mil deal with 16 mil guaranteed in 2008 then they can damn well give Rice a deal better than that. I would say that the money given to Berrian has been a waste.
this is contradictory. if the fo wasted money on a berrian deal, then they should continue to waste money on a rice deal? i’m sure you can do better than that.
How about Madieu’s contract? Has he been worth the money? Was it well spent? So why not pay Rice even though you may have reservations? Or at least pay Greenway last December and franchise Rice in order to work out a deal.
i think you just want to rant and complain, today. maybe the strategy was to not commit too much at the end of the season and see how the whole cba thing works out. then make the long term commitments. who knows?
franchising greenway at least keeps him here, and we know he is healthy and productive over more than one year. who really knows the scoop about this? and remember, rice is negotiating a contract and said that he “owes it to himself” to test the free agency market.
do you know the details of the contract the vikings have already offered him?
do you know the details of the negotiations that have already taken place with drew rosenhaus regarding rice as a future viking? without that info, what can you really say?
Fair enough
All I know is they could lose him and Edwards for nothing in return. And that is what bothers me most of all. I could care less what he gets. All I want is a ROI.
Let me start by saying I COMPLETELY agree with everything you've said so far MarkSP18
The FO has dropped the balls, so to speak. Playing a little devil’s advocate myself(and again, not giving an excuse, but trying to explain what I believe to be their rationale for how they’ve handled this), I believe the reason they didn’t “touch” the team is because that could have been a deal-breaker for Favre. He wanted the same team in tact. He wanted to try and re-do ‘09 in the ’10 season and I think the FO really tried to keep the exact same team on the field and just give it another go. Hate to keep using the Patriot method of personnel handling, but to them, not only is one player not worth sacraficing the future, one team/year/season isn’t worth sacraficing the future. A lot of people called them out for losing Moss, but they’ve shown that if they get the guys that FIT their system, they can be successful and not necessarily keep those players on the team to try and make a run at a super bowl. That is sucha great philosophy because think of how close the Packers were to not even making the playoffs. Think of how good we were in ‘09 and ’98 and didn’t win a SuperBowl. You can’t just get a dominant team and expect to win it all w/ that team. You just have to be above average annually and hope some luck/destiny/peices fall into place to win the big one.
Skol!
by DM_Purp on Jun 22, 2011 4:30 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
That is exactly how I feel
and why I think free agency is a poisoned crutch if used to often.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
The unusual seems to happen a lot...
i think this is kind of a unique sutuation though.
Let’s see….
Matt Birk
Chester Taylor
Ray Edwards
And now, possibly Sidney RIce….
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
I have had my rant on this subject and will leave it to more level heads :)
As much as I am NOT a big fan of the Ponder pick, I do want him to succeed and have all the weapons possible for him to succeed. I have had my bitching about the pick and now I am in support mode. He is very intriguing.
Most of this is pretty forgiveable
Birk….Situations like the one with Matt Birk happen all the time in the NFL. Yes he was a fan favorite, and yes I’m sure he would of liked to stay with the team…but take a step back and see the situation for what it is. There is an older offenisve lineman with two or three good years left, but not much more. Guys like this move around all the time in the NFL and typically it’s nothing personal. This is even more the case when the player and the coach aren’t getting along. The real problem here is that the Vikings let him go without assuring that a proper replacement was on the roster, this is the problem that the Vikings ran into a lot and why Spielman said they need to do a better job of self-scouting.
Taylor…If the Birk situation was understandable then this one should be appaulded. No matter how you slice it the Vikings weren’t going to get good value for Taylor. In fact they could be sure that they weren’t going to get good value for Taylor the day they drafted AP. Despite this it was the right move for the Vikings to make that pick and the right move for the Vikes to wave good bye to Taylor.
Edwards…This one is a bit of a head scratcher since it was clear that Edwards wasn’t going to come back to MN once his contract was done. Add on top of that he was a bit overrated since his best year was with the other three dudes on the line being probowlers and the Vikings should of seriously considered trading him when the market was hot.
Still two out of three ain’t bad.
by PackApologist on Jun 22, 2011 11:28 AM CDT up reply actions
You have to be proactive with your vets
and even though it sucks to lose a great player the NFL is a business and I hate to say it it’s a business of trading players when they have value for hopefully more value or younger players.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
Sure you need a plan
I don’t know if you always need to be proactive with your vets, but you do need a replacement plan. You need to know who is coming and who is going and always know that the next man up is ready to go.
That’s the real sin of the Matt Birk situation. The next man up wasn’t quite ready to go and the line hasn’t been the same since.
That’s the real sin here too. The question I keep seeing from Viking fans is what WR’s are really left after Rice leaves? It’s a question that there isn’t a great answer to this point, but it’s an answer that needs to be present if the Vikes are going to let these contracts just expire.
by PackApologist on Jun 22, 2011 5:12 PM CDT up reply actions
It's been a problem for years.
Or later round draft picks just don’t seem to shape up well. So we end up with a really thin shell at most positions, and no ability to lose players. DE and DT may be the only places we actually have talent stacked behind someone who is leaving. That’s part of what I meant by being proactive. You have to look at your vets understand that some of them are going to have to go (money whatever) and have a plan placed behind them. Childress (it seemed to me at least) expected his players to be profesionals and NFL ready from day one. How many O line men have we had sitting in the wings? How many on the practice squad? And yet there is a serious fall in production when one of them comes in. No one is stepping up and I just can’t believe it’s because we are so terrible at drafting.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
Get SOMETHING for them
I didn’t want to see any of them go, but if the Vikings are going to let them go, then get SOMETHING in return. That’s what we’re talking about here.
Don’t just let their contracts expire and they walk away, right after posting great years.
Even a 7th round pick is better than nothing.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
Especially for people like Edwards where we knew he wasn't sticking around.
and we had several people behind him that we could put in his place and hope to at least keep the production steady.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
In their defense
They couldn’t do anything about Taylor last year. Thanks to the NFL’s “Final Four” rule. . .a rule that was in place for one whole year that managed to affect the Vikings (try to act surprised). . .the Vikings couldn’t go after any free agents until they lost somebody first.
The Bears signed Taylor right after free agency started, so there was nothing Minnesota could have done.
I agree on Birk, though.
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by Christopher Gates on Jun 22, 2011 11:44 AM CDT up reply actions
For Edwards...
You have to remember that last offseason we were coming off a run to the championship game and they believed if they could hold the team together the door to the superbowl was still open. Even in the draft last year they acted like there was no space on the roster for the rookies and seemed to sit back.
by Simply_Greatness on Jun 22, 2011 12:18 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Taylor
The point is, Chris, that if the Vikings knew they were not going to re-sign Taylor, then trade him for something. Even future draft picks, that’s ok, just get something for the value they currently had. And Taylor posted a pretty good year, he had good value on the market. Just letting his contract expire and waving ‘buh-bye’ isn’t very smart.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
well dc, read the whole statement...
i think this is kind of a unique sutuation though. the timing of the injury, his breakout year, his contract year, the lock-out, the cba…are all contributing to a situation that has no easy fix or is not totally controllable by the vikings f.o. it’s flukey, unusual and unfortunate, imo.
the sidney rice situation is very different than the examples you mentioned (birk, taylor, edwards).
rice is damaged goods with one good season under his belt….with favre throwing to him.
if you want to be pissed at the viking fo, that’s fine. i won’t defend them. i’m not happy about losing those other players either. but seriously….read first, eh?
by danny lloyd on Jun 22, 2011 12:23 PM CDT up reply actions
Read first, read last, read from the very beginning
the sidney rice situation is very different than the examples you mentioned (birk, taylor, edwards).
rice is damaged goods with one good season under his belt….with favre throwing to him.
Actually, danny, the Rice situation is even worse. The Vikings went after Rice as a long shot when no one else seemed much interested in him. They saw potential in the 19 year old kid and they were right.
Let me repeat that. They saw potential in the 19 year old kid, and they were right.
The Vikings got Rice at a VERY young age, and while the 20 year old Rice struggled in his first year, had injuries in his second, he broke out beautifully and right on schedule in his 3 year. This is a guy with a lot of upside potential that I don’t think he’s reached yet. This year he’ll be 25 years old and if he’s healthy, there’s no reason to think he won’t be very productive for the next 5 years.
The difference is that Birk and Taylor were older, and Taylor was arguably on the edge of the downward’s slide (and his performance in Chicago last year may justify that he is). But we got nothing for them as well. Chilly bickered with Birk and ignored the contract situation, despite Birk stating publically that he and his family wanted to stay in Minny, until the last couple weeks. By that time, Birk had already done what he needed to do to take care of his family and he was gone.
I like RayRay, and I completely sympathize with his position; it’s crap when your backup is paid more than you are. But I don’t think he rated a franchise tag and top pay, either. The situation could have been resolved by either paying the man, or trading him a year go.
I’m aware that we have a unique year coming on with the CBA out the door and new rules coming in, but we’re talking about actions that could have been taken a year ago and the prospective draft picks recieved in return could have been for 2012 or 2013 for all I care. Just get SOMETHING for these guys.
And I wasn’t exactly thrilled when the Vikings let go of D-Rey either, but at least they got something for him. It’s not too much to ask.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
i’m just talking about rice. he was offered a contract, he’s damaged goods and he wants to test the free agent market, we are in a lock out year. spin it anyway you want, but those are the facts. i can’t get on the vikes case for the way things are with him….
there are plenty of other things to get on the vikings case for!
by danny lloyd on Jun 23, 2011 11:01 AM CDT up reply actions
The word is already out
that Rice now has an arthritic hip, and that it will likely hinder his production, or at least shorten his career.
I realize his agent has since come out and called that report BS, but does anyone really think his agent would say anything different?
I do believe that factor has something to do with the way the Vikings prioritized their free agent concerns. They may prefer to let Rice determine his market value before deciding what they are willing to pay.
If he goes, he goes. They’re not winning the Super Bowl this year, anyway.
i dont get it???
how can anyone say for sure who could be going where, and how it will work at all…
i hope he stays, but if we CANT afford him, than i guess he wont stay, thats his choice
Wow, arthritic hip?
wawee weewa! Methinks he stays put. Either way with the new QB and new offense, Rice’s presence doesn’t mean a whole lot. Maybe if Berrian steps up his game….
I’m still more than a little bitter over the dick move Rice pulled last season.
does anyone expect the Vikings to make a move for a new free agent?
like a big time corner back… wink wink.
A true friend stabs you in the front - Oscar Wilde
My sources tell me....
I can say Rice is wearing a pink tutu and it can get around the internet.
I think if we dont resign Rice it will cost us.
Sorry, just not a big fan of the craze of anonymous sources.
**Rupert for ProBowl 2012!**
pink tutu?
Is that like Childress in a stewardess outfit?
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
Dude....
I just ate lunch….
**Rupert for ProBowl 2012!**
and now you get a repeat free of charge
and reversed! :D
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
A repeat of a prior post a month ago or so... but relevant to this discussion
(Please excuse the messy stats below. I found it impossible to line up as columns – adding spaces didn’t work, and now the dashes appears to be doing odd things too. Still, if you can get past the awful formatting, you’ll see Rice’s numbers)
YEAR – GAMES – RECEPTIONS – YARDS – AVG.
2007 — 13 -——— 31 —————— 396 -12.8 15
2008 -— 13——————————— 141 - 9.4 83
2009 -— 16 -————————— 1312 – 15.8 280 — 16.5
2010 -—— 6 -———— 17 -——————
Career – 48 ———— 146 -————— 2129 - 14.6
Rice’s numbers in 2007 and 2010 were pedestrian. In 2008, they were downright ugly. 2009 was a great season, but a lot has happened since then.
And as a result, I’d prefer to spend that kind of money on OL and/or cornerback talent. Also the $20M guarantee is worrisome for a player with a history of injuries, a rumor about arthritis of the hip (though I only just read that one on this post), and a very inconsistent record of accomplishment. As uncomfortable as I am with the $9M/year, I’m actually more concerned about the $20M guarantee as the salary cap impact (using previous rules) would act as a handcuff on the Vikings options to cut him if he doesn’t perform in 2011.
At his best, Rice is worthy of premier money. However, Rice has had more ho-hum games than great games. And, as history shows, he’s on the sidelines due to injury 25% of the time.
Don’t get me wrong. I will be sorry to see Rice leave. And I do have a lot of sympathy for Vikings fans that are worried about the Vikings losing a good receiver who has a style that is complimentary to Harvin’s and to whoever our deep-threat receiver ends up being (at the moment Berrian). However, I think the kind of money Rice and Rosenhaus are seeking is the kind of money you pay "sure things." Honestly, I’d rather see him walk than see the Vikings put that kind of money at risk on Rice.
How about a 7th round pick? Surely he’s worth that?
A stick of freaking bubble gum?!?!?!
Letting him go for nothing is just bad business, and bad for the Vikings’ future.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!
SKOL!
Problem is there is nothing we can do about that now.
And Rice has been injured two out of the four hears he’s been playing here which is about 50% of the time he’s suffered because of health. Now that makes his bad years look a bit less bad, but it’s a big problem if you can’t get a starter on the field. I wonder how much he’s asking for I haven’t seen a price for him bandied around at all. To me it’s brainless to give him an incentive laden contract. Heavily incentive laden the man has talent if he has a break out year let him make top money, but I don’t think he’s done enough to earn guaranteed star receiver money.
Honestly though most people on this thread don’t care about Rice as much as they are irritated at seeing solid players leaving the team with us getting nothing for it.
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
Let's say...
The Vikes pull the trigger and trade Rice last year, if they got anything less than a 2nd rounder the fans would have been in an uproar, and chances are with the injury we wouldn’t have gotten that even. The first half of the season was spent waiting for Rice to return because our other receivers couldn’t get it done, the only good that might have come out of it would have been if we could have used the pick to get Vincent Jackson, who oddly enough liked the money the Vikes were offering?
by Simply_Greatness on Jun 23, 2011 11:41 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Ok now how about you say we traded Edwards last year
What do you think the fans would say about that?
Childress gone, TJack gone, new stadium on the way: it's like that Christmas when Santa brought prostitutes!
I get being bummed about getting nothing
…but who’s gonna give much of anything for a player who is out most of the season, can’t practice, will return out of shape and unfamiliar with the playbook? And it’s not like these other teams could have negotiated a long-term deal with him. Who’d be foolish enough to lay down big money without seeing him step onto the field post-surgery? I get being disappointed, but I just don’t see people falling over themselves last season to get 1/4 of a season’s play out of Rice. I could be wrong, but I don’t see it.
SAVE THE VIKES!!
EVERY ONE GO TO http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sayyestostadium/ TO SAVE THE VIKINGS AND KEPPING THEM IN MINNESOTA!! PLEASE EVERY SIGNATURE COUNTS AND TELL EVERY VIKING FAN YOU KNOW!
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