According to Twitter (that is, Tom Pelissero) Husain Abdullah is "done with football", having turned down contract offers from the Vikings (and other teams?) to "pursue religious obligations". Also, he has had some concussion problems.
I'm shocked, totally didn't see this coming - I thought he was using football as a platform to show the truth of being a Muslim in America, but I suppose if he's had a lot of concussion problems it makes sense.
Guess we have another roster spot open. Wow. Just...wow!
EDIT - Oookay, just saw this tweet:
Pioneer Press @VikingsNow
Told Abdullah realizes his football future is uncertain but isn't ruling out a return after his pilgrimage.
So...I guess we're waiting and seeing? I'll keep you updated.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Quick Take
Hey all, I'm still pretty busy (thesis...sigh) but I wanted to post a couple thoughts I've had about what's happened so far this week.
1. Percy Harvin: in the last week of May, he and Adrian Peterson were running a race up a hill to show off to the media how dedicated they were to turn the team around...now, not even three weeks later, he's "disgruntled" about something - no one but he and Frazier seem to know what - and is suggesting a holdout is possible!!
To be honest, he's not paid all that much for a #1 WR - I believe his base salary was $900,000 last year, $1,000,000 this year, and something similar for the two years after that on his rookie contract. If money is all that's the issue, Frazier&co need to do something about it and FAST. We do not need dissent and anger on this team, and if threatening a holdout is unhealthy, so is underpaying your best players.
I'm assuming it's not his health, although I'd be mad if the media wouldn't leave me alone about some stupid bone spurs in my shoulder too, so I can't imagine what else it would be. At Florida, he was super-dedicated to learning the playbook, and would always work to learn a new system as best he could, so I can't imagine the staff changeover is the problem here.
2. Jasper Brinkley: apparently there are still issues with his surgically repaired hip, which really bothers me, because I wanted this to be his season! Hopefully the summer will be long enough for his body to get itself together, and he'll be able to hit the ground running come Week 1.
3. Adrian Peterson: being watched very carefully by the training staff, and fighting as hard as he can to improve. I saw some pictures posted today by Tom Pelissero, and it was reassuring to see action shots of him running and looking concentrated rather in pain. According to Sugarman, they want him for the home opener on September 9th...I'm still not sure that'll happen, or if it's wise Also finally saw a pic of McLeod Bethel-Thompson, looks quite muscled, although his wearing #4 made me laugh.
4. Jared Allen: wants to make 25 sacks this year. I LOVE my players to set awesome record-breaking goals! Especially when they're Jared Allen and can totally do it.
5. Tight Ends: been showing up a LOT in twitter comments, blogs, and camp reports. This makes me very happy - I've been absolutely dying for those two-TE sets we've been promised for years now.
Okay I'm done for now. Time for the Big Bang Theory and some dinner.
1. Percy Harvin: in the last week of May, he and Adrian Peterson were running a race up a hill to show off to the media how dedicated they were to turn the team around...now, not even three weeks later, he's "disgruntled" about something - no one but he and Frazier seem to know what - and is suggesting a holdout is possible!!
To be honest, he's not paid all that much for a #1 WR - I believe his base salary was $900,000 last year, $1,000,000 this year, and something similar for the two years after that on his rookie contract. If money is all that's the issue, Frazier&co need to do something about it and FAST. We do not need dissent and anger on this team, and if threatening a holdout is unhealthy, so is underpaying your best players.
I'm assuming it's not his health, although I'd be mad if the media wouldn't leave me alone about some stupid bone spurs in my shoulder too, so I can't imagine what else it would be. At Florida, he was super-dedicated to learning the playbook, and would always work to learn a new system as best he could, so I can't imagine the staff changeover is the problem here.
2. Jasper Brinkley: apparently there are still issues with his surgically repaired hip, which really bothers me, because I wanted this to be his season! Hopefully the summer will be long enough for his body to get itself together, and he'll be able to hit the ground running come Week 1.
3. Adrian Peterson: being watched very carefully by the training staff, and fighting as hard as he can to improve. I saw some pictures posted today by Tom Pelissero, and it was reassuring to see action shots of him running and looking concentrated rather in pain. According to Sugarman, they want him for the home opener on September 9th...I'm still not sure that'll happen, or if it's wise Also finally saw a pic of McLeod Bethel-Thompson, looks quite muscled, although his wearing #4 made me laugh.
4. Jared Allen: wants to make 25 sacks this year. I LOVE my players to set awesome record-breaking goals! Especially when they're Jared Allen and can totally do it.
5. Tight Ends: been showing up a LOT in twitter comments, blogs, and camp reports. This makes me very happy - I've been absolutely dying for those two-TE sets we've been promised for years now.
Okay I'm done for now. Time for the Big Bang Theory and some dinner.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Position Analysis: Runningback
Hello all - Portugal has made it through to the quarterfinals, and I'm ecstatic!! So I'm taking the time to do another position analysis...I was going to put off the RBs for awhile, but the reports of Peterson's progress have been so good, I decided to go ahead and write it up.
Currently on our roster are:
Derrick Coleman, 6'1", 240 lbs, age 21, 0 years experience
Toby Gerhart, 6'0", 231 lbs, age 25, 3 years experience
Lex Hilliard, 5'11", 240 lbs, age 27, 4 years experience
Adrian Peterson, 6'1", 217 lbs, age 27, 6 years experience
Jordan Todmann, 5'9", 193 lbs, age 22, 1 years experience
I had to look up Derrick Coleman, who doesn't have his own wikipedia page (although it seems there was a rather famous basketball player with exactly the same name), but looking at the 2011 UCLA Bruins football wiki, I could see he was particularly valuable to them in short-yardage situations, and scored quite frequently. Of course, I can't really make any predictions about his longevity with the Vikings since I've never seen him play (barely paid any attention to Pac10 games last year, even though I live in Pac10 country now), but I like short-yardage guys, especially when they're unselfish about blocking the rest of the time.
Toby Gerhart is something of a pet of mine - I really want him to do well, particularly in those short-yardage situations that we really brought him in for, considering his size and the dogged persistence he showed at Stanford. People keep hating on him, but I'd love for him to stick in tandem with Peterson and really show the world what he's got going on.
Lex Hilliard I also had to look up, because I particularly hate the Miami Tuna and only pay attention when they're losing so I can laugh at them. He looks quite stable, but considering the fact we're probably going to have 5-6 WRs on roster, I can't see us having more than 2-3 RBs, and I don't know if he'll make our #3 slot behind Peterson and Gerhart. Maybe he'll be practice squad, as he was the #3 RB for Miami until Williams came back into the picture.
Adrian Peterson - he needs no introduction! I've been following twitter breathlessly, but he really seems to be healing at an incredible pace, although I'll bet good money he's held out of all of the preseason and a few of the first regular season games. No sense in jeopardizing his recovery for meaningless games! I read that he was doing sprints before some of the OTAs for the media...just a few months into recovery! Now THAT is dedication and perseverance! I am so glad and proud that he's a Viking!!
Jordan Todman was another wikipedia trip - it seems that he finished his collegiate career third on the Huskies all-time rushing list before being drafted in the sixth round last year by the Chargers, was waived in late October and resigned to the practice squad before we signed him off their squad in late December.
I'm convinced we're going to keep three runningbacks on the active roster and one or two on the practice squad.
Naturally, Adrian Peterson will be our #1 and Toby Gerhart our #2. HOWEVER, if Frazier thinks like I do, he could keep Peterson on the PUP list for a couple weeks into the season with Gerhart as #1, and two of the remaining three RBs duking it out for active roster and practice squad once Peterson returns. Since I've not seen any of the remaining three play, I'll go purely by size and guess that perhaps Todman will be dropped off first, and it'll be a race between Hilliard and Coleman.
Who knows though, Todman may be a Maurice Jones-Drew in disguise, and he'll race up and become our #3! As long as Frazier&co pick a good one, I don't care what his name is.
Skol!
Currently on our roster are:
Derrick Coleman, 6'1", 240 lbs, age 21, 0 years experience
Toby Gerhart, 6'0", 231 lbs, age 25, 3 years experience
Lex Hilliard, 5'11", 240 lbs, age 27, 4 years experience
Adrian Peterson, 6'1", 217 lbs, age 27, 6 years experience
Jordan Todmann, 5'9", 193 lbs, age 22, 1 years experience
I had to look up Derrick Coleman, who doesn't have his own wikipedia page (although it seems there was a rather famous basketball player with exactly the same name), but looking at the 2011 UCLA Bruins football wiki, I could see he was particularly valuable to them in short-yardage situations, and scored quite frequently. Of course, I can't really make any predictions about his longevity with the Vikings since I've never seen him play (barely paid any attention to Pac10 games last year, even though I live in Pac10 country now), but I like short-yardage guys, especially when they're unselfish about blocking the rest of the time.
Toby Gerhart is something of a pet of mine - I really want him to do well, particularly in those short-yardage situations that we really brought him in for, considering his size and the dogged persistence he showed at Stanford. People keep hating on him, but I'd love for him to stick in tandem with Peterson and really show the world what he's got going on.
Lex Hilliard I also had to look up, because I particularly hate the Miami Tuna and only pay attention when they're losing so I can laugh at them. He looks quite stable, but considering the fact we're probably going to have 5-6 WRs on roster, I can't see us having more than 2-3 RBs, and I don't know if he'll make our #3 slot behind Peterson and Gerhart. Maybe he'll be practice squad, as he was the #3 RB for Miami until Williams came back into the picture.
Adrian Peterson - he needs no introduction! I've been following twitter breathlessly, but he really seems to be healing at an incredible pace, although I'll bet good money he's held out of all of the preseason and a few of the first regular season games. No sense in jeopardizing his recovery for meaningless games! I read that he was doing sprints before some of the OTAs for the media...just a few months into recovery! Now THAT is dedication and perseverance! I am so glad and proud that he's a Viking!!
Jordan Todman was another wikipedia trip - it seems that he finished his collegiate career third on the Huskies all-time rushing list before being drafted in the sixth round last year by the Chargers, was waived in late October and resigned to the practice squad before we signed him off their squad in late December.
I'm convinced we're going to keep three runningbacks on the active roster and one or two on the practice squad.
Naturally, Adrian Peterson will be our #1 and Toby Gerhart our #2. HOWEVER, if Frazier thinks like I do, he could keep Peterson on the PUP list for a couple weeks into the season with Gerhart as #1, and two of the remaining three RBs duking it out for active roster and practice squad once Peterson returns. Since I've not seen any of the remaining three play, I'll go purely by size and guess that perhaps Todman will be dropped off first, and it'll be a race between Hilliard and Coleman.
Who knows though, Todman may be a Maurice Jones-Drew in disguise, and he'll race up and become our #3! As long as Frazier&co pick a good one, I don't care what his name is.
Skol!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Euro 2012
It's the biggest month of the year for futebol, so updates here will be spotty. You've been forewarned.
Just wanted to comment on a couple things:
1. Ben Leber's retirement: 10 years is a good run, especially when you've only been with three teams (Rams, Chargers, Vikings), and I know I was sad when he had to leave the Vikings, all the more so because it didn't seem like he WANTED to leave the Vikings. As one of the posters on First and Skol pointed out, he was incredibly versatile (took over at MLB when EJ Henderson got injured), and he was incredibly valuable as a player. One of those dependable, solid, quiet players that every coach values more than gold, and sadly, most "fans" never even think about.
Thanks for everything you gave to us Ben! This Viking, at least, appreciates your time in purple and gold!
2. We have a stadium-in-progress! Yes, I know this is "old news" but considering the massive fight over it and the years of bitching, back-and-forth, and gnawing fear of my beloved Vikings moving to the capital of all that is fake...I want to celebrate this fact as much as possible!!
3. The team "glue": Following twitter - I'm @carlatheviking there too - as I do, I have noticed a LOT of team dinners, fishing trips, friendly banter between all the "established" Vikings and the rookies. I'm pretty happy about this - I'm convinced that the more friendly they are in real life, the better they'll do together on the field.
4. Team dedication: although I just said the team is tweeting about a lot of fun stuff there are also two other VERY important things reflected in their tweets - they ARE working out (a lot - and competing against each other) and they are NOT tweeting about getting blitzed or eating seven cheeseburgers in one sitting. After the JaMarcus Russell fiasco, I am very, very glad our boys know better than to live on junk. Also, I see tweets like Geoff Schwartz's that read, "After a long night and early morning I made it into Winter Park for meetings. Worst nightmare is missing or late to meetings/practice." - those make me very happy!
5. 2012 Schedule: I don't know if I mentioned this before but I am PISSED that we have no night games. Even vs the Cheeseheads?! Really?! There is no respect for rivalry anymore...and I'm sad our boys won't get primetime experience. That kind of thing is big for rookies, to let them get first-time nerves out of their system.
6. Jasper Brinkley: read a report a couple days ago saying he's FINALLY completely healthy. I am going to be watching him very closely to see if he shows that SEC grind-it-out defense he was "raised" in. I'm psyched that he's finally better, and hopefully he can step into the shoes left for him by Henderson.
Okay that's enough for now, this Ukraine-Sweden game is getting real interesting. Skol!
Just wanted to comment on a couple things:
1. Ben Leber's retirement: 10 years is a good run, especially when you've only been with three teams (Rams, Chargers, Vikings), and I know I was sad when he had to leave the Vikings, all the more so because it didn't seem like he WANTED to leave the Vikings. As one of the posters on First and Skol pointed out, he was incredibly versatile (took over at MLB when EJ Henderson got injured), and he was incredibly valuable as a player. One of those dependable, solid, quiet players that every coach values more than gold, and sadly, most "fans" never even think about.
Thanks for everything you gave to us Ben! This Viking, at least, appreciates your time in purple and gold!
2. We have a stadium-in-progress! Yes, I know this is "old news" but considering the massive fight over it and the years of bitching, back-and-forth, and gnawing fear of my beloved Vikings moving to the capital of all that is fake...I want to celebrate this fact as much as possible!!
3. The team "glue": Following twitter - I'm @carlatheviking there too - as I do, I have noticed a LOT of team dinners, fishing trips, friendly banter between all the "established" Vikings and the rookies. I'm pretty happy about this - I'm convinced that the more friendly they are in real life, the better they'll do together on the field.
4. Team dedication: although I just said the team is tweeting about a lot of fun stuff there are also two other VERY important things reflected in their tweets - they ARE working out (a lot - and competing against each other) and they are NOT tweeting about getting blitzed or eating seven cheeseburgers in one sitting. After the JaMarcus Russell fiasco, I am very, very glad our boys know better than to live on junk. Also, I see tweets like Geoff Schwartz's that read, "After a long night and early morning I made it into Winter Park for meetings. Worst nightmare is missing or late to meetings/practice." - those make me very happy!
5. 2012 Schedule: I don't know if I mentioned this before but I am PISSED that we have no night games. Even vs the Cheeseheads?! Really?! There is no respect for rivalry anymore...and I'm sad our boys won't get primetime experience. That kind of thing is big for rookies, to let them get first-time nerves out of their system.
6. Jasper Brinkley: read a report a couple days ago saying he's FINALLY completely healthy. I am going to be watching him very closely to see if he shows that SEC grind-it-out defense he was "raised" in. I'm psyched that he's finally better, and hopefully he can step into the shoes left for him by Henderson.
Okay that's enough for now, this Ukraine-Sweden game is getting real interesting. Skol!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Position Analysis: Quarterback
According to Vikings.com we have four quarterbacks on the roster right now:
Number Name Height Weight Age Experience
#4 McLeod Bethel-Thompson, 6'4", 230 lbs, 23, 0
#7 Christian Ponder, 6'2", 229 lbs, 24, 0
#18 Sage Rosenfels, 6'4", 222 lbs, 34, 11
#14 Joe Webb 6'4", 220 lbs, 25, 2
I know we added Bethel-Thompson in January as a reserve, and from what I can tell we signed Rosenfels in March. What surprises me is that Ponder has a 0 next to his name instead of a 1. Maybe they just haven't updated that bit yet...
Clearly, Ponder and Webb will be battling it out for the top spot, and Rosenfels and Bethel-Thompson for the third slot.
Ponder will remain as a pure quarterback I'm sure; but I'm not so sure I believe Frazier's blithe promises to have Webb focusing on his quarterbacking skill at the expense of trick plays and a modified wildcat. (Because only Miami has any success running an unmodified wildcat...) I have no idea what Bethel-Thompson's skill set is, but he's young enough and there's a sufficient scarcity of experienced backups in the NFL that I'm pretty sure we'll keep Rosenfels unless he does something stupid...like pulling a Rhett Bomar...
To be brutally honest, I doubt that Ponder will be able to carry the team (this year, I'm hopeful for the future) the way the elites - Manning, Brees, Rodgers - did in their early years. But I still liked what little I was able to see last year, and if he shows himself to be a capable game manager, that should be enough for us to win at least six games.
I'm hoping for an 8-8 season. I think we can do it, even with the rest of the NFCN waking up and looking like real football teams. I want at least one win against the Bears and the Lions each.
P.S. I've been looking at Tom Pelissero's twitvids of Ponder throwing at practice and I am SO excited about watching him grow this year! Especially if he grows out of throwing stupid interceptions...haha
Quick Draft Synopsis
Hello all!
I meant to have a super-fancy draft update, complete with names, pictures, and stats, but somehow time got away from me again. Don't feel bad, coming in second place to my thesis isn't bad when you consider that bathing, eating, and sleeping are also all tied for second place!
Since I have to leave for work soon, here's a very quick take on our draft and what I think of it:
1 - Matt Kalil, OT, Southern California (6-7, 306)
1 - Harrison Smith, S,
Notre Dame (6-2, 213)
3 - Josh Robinson, CB, Central Florida (5-10, 199)
4 -
Jarius Wright, WR, Arkansas (5-10, 196)
4 - Rhett Ellison, TE, Southern
California (6-5, 251)
4 - Greg Childs, WR, Arkansas (6-3, 219)
5 - Robert
Blanton, DB, Notre Dame (6-1, 208)
6 - Blair Walsh, K, Georgia (5-9, 187)
7
- Audie Cole, OLB, North Carolina State (6-4, 246)
7 - Trevor Guyton, DT,
California (6-3, 285)
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