Yeah, Josh Freeman Probably Isn't Coming Back

Lately a theory has been floating around that the reason the Minnesota Vikings signed quarterback Josh Freeman. . .giving him $2 million to basically sit around and do nothing. . .is so that they could negotiate with him this off-season and bring him back to give him a full opportunity.

According to an article from NFL.com. . .yeah, that's not going to happen.

In said article, anonymous Vikings players pretty much trash Freeman from pillar to post. This quote is particularly telling.

"You could tell Josh did not know the offense," one anonymous Vikings player told USA TODAY of the week leading up to that New York tilt. "Practices did not really go that well that week. But coach Frazier was in the team meetings like, 'Oh, I think this is the best week of practice we've had all year.' And everyone's like, 'What? What are you talking about?'"

Other players go on to say that they didn't know what the team was thinking giving Freeman the one start they gave him, and that Freeman was often one of the last players in the building on game day. That seems to be in tune with this article from earlier in the week from A.J. Mansour of KFAN.com, where Freeman was reported to have repeatedly show up "about an hour before kickoff" on game days, and was among the first players out of the building when games concluded.

As I think I've said before, I hate the whole "anonymous source" thing. . .if you're going to say something, be big enough to put your name on it. . .but it really does say a lot about how the whole Freeman situation went down. I know that many people feel that Freeman might not have gotten a "fair opportunity" to compete for playing time and a roster spot moving forward. Based on these couple of articles, however, it kind of sounds like Freeman didn't do a whole heck of a lot to actually earn any sort of opportunity, either.

This paints Freeman as the sort of guy that really doesn't want to be in Minnesota. And, quite frankly, if he doesn't want to be in Minnesota, I don't want him in Minnesota, either. He can collect a bunch of money from another NFL team to "have his Beats bumping" and pick splinters out of his posterior on the bench. The guy got his paycheck and, for all intents and purposes, checked out. A lot of us, myself included, were pretty excited about this signing when it happened. I feel kind of silly for feeling that way now.

The debate can go on about who was responsible for the Josh Freeman signing, whether it was former head coach Leslie Frazier, general manager Rick Spielman, or Zygi Wilf and company. Whoever was responsible for it, it will go down as quite possibly the dumbest signing and the biggest waste of money in the last decade or so of Minnesota Vikings' football. And if this is going to be Freeman's attitude towards the Minnesota Vikings and their fans. . .well, sayonara.