Pro Football Talk has a story on their rumor mill today about our Minnesota Vikings. In this story, they cite Charley Walters, aka "Shooter," from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The main crux of the story is that the Vikings think that Joe Webb "is nowhere close" to being an effective starter at quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles would disagree with that, I believe, but I digress.
Here is what Walters said in his article:
A little birdie says the Vikings considered trading for Denver quarterback Kyle Orton but have backed off. But it wasn't because of any progress made by Joe Webb, who insiders say is nowhere close to being an effective starter.
Now, I wouldn't be entirely against trading for Orton. He was having a pretty good year for a relatively dreadful Broncos team until the team decided to go with Tim Tebow instead. Here are his numbers from last season.
I don't know about you, but that looks pretty darn good to me. Yes, Orton completed less than 60% of his passes last year, which is always less than optimal, but that 20/9 touchdown to interception ratio is pretty outstanding, particularly given what we had to deal with in that department last season. I'm not sure what, exactly, the Broncos would want in a trade for Orton. . .new head coach John Fox has declared Orton to be his starting quarterback, after all. . .but it could still be an avenue worth exploring.
As far as Webb not being anywhere close to being an effective starter. . .that would probably come as news to not only Webb, but Vikings' offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, too, who said recently that he's impressed with what he's seen with Webb on the film he's watched to this point.