1. Sign Derek Anderson to a 4 year, $30M Contract, with the first two years guaranteed. Because Cleveland has tendered Anderson, the Vikings are obligated to fork over a 1st and 3rd round draft pick. Fine. Last time I checked we haven't exactly set the world on fire with our drafting ability. If you take AD out of the mix it looks REALLY bad. Derek Anderson is 24 years old...he's 2 months younger than Tarvaris Jackson. I am one that adheres to the train of thought that you can tell fairly quickly what you have in the quarterback position. When discussing Tarvaris Jackson, people LOVE to point out that Eli Manning struggled mightily his first 3 years, and there was even talk of benching him this season. No argument there...here is the difference though: Manning showed flashes of brilliance. Eli would have games where he threw for 350 and 2 TD's, followed by 100 yard, 2 INT stinkers. TJ hasn't shown me those flashes. He has at best been a game manager, and that isn't going to get it done in January.
2. Sign DJ Hackett to a 5 year, $22.5M deal. Bernard Berrian is the enticing WR of this free agent class, but I think teams are going to absurdly overpay for his services. Berrian is an intriguing player, no doubt, but I would be reluctant to give him Deion Branch money at this point. Hackett is younger, more versed in our offensive scheme, and would be a great compliment to Sydney Rice.
3. Draft Tom Zbikowski with our 2nd round pick. Have you seen this kid play? He's unreal...check out this youtube highlight video, he scores like he's on a drunken vacation with Lindsay Lohan.
4. Sign Tennessee DE Antwan Odom to a 4 year, $24M deal. This kid is an absolute riser in this league. He has the size (6'5" 275) to fill in for Udeze, as well as the production to warrant shelling out that kind of cash. Jeff Fisher knows how to coach young defensive players, so Odom has thus far learned from one of the best coaching staffs in the league. Let's please pass on Justin Smith, Mike Rucker, and the other "name" free agents. I want to pay younger, hungrier players who will produce on the field.
So there you go...four moves that I believe will place the Vikings in contention next season in the wide open NFC race. You thought Adrian Peterson was effective last season running behind a TJ offense...just you wait until you witness what he can do with a capable NFL quarterback. Hell...nobody had seen Jamal Lewis run like he did in 2007 since his federal drug deal days. Did Lewis suddenly find the fountain of youth? No...he ran behind a solid Quarterback that made the defense respect the passing attack...he didn't have that luxury in Baltimore.
Now...if only Zygi would just hand me the keys to the shiny purple car...
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