RFA DE Edwards signed tender offer with Vikings

As the only unsigned restricted free agent of the Minnesota Vikings, defensive end Ray Edwards finally gave up his efforts to negotiate for a new contract and he signed the one-year tender offer on Monday to make sure he can at least have a salary of $2.521 million in 2010 season.

A strong motivation for Edwards to sign the tender was that the deadline is coming close and he would receive a significantly reduced pay if remaining unsigned after the deadline. The Vikings would have the right to cut a restricted free agent’s salary to 110% of his salary in last season. Edwards had to temporarily stop the contract negotiation before starting a new talk about a new contract.

Edwards was selected to the Vikings in 2006 as a fourth-round draft pick. He did not play significant role until last season, when he started at defensive end and put up 8.5 sacks in regular season and had 4 more sacks in the post season. He had three sacks in a single game against the Dallas Cowboys to help the Vikings win the NFC North title. The improved performance made Edwards feel himself important and he started to ask for a higher pay to match his performance. However, the Vikings seemed not willing to pay much for signing back restricted free agents and correctly predicted that Edwards would eventually to have wear back his Vikings jersey to avoid a pay cut.

Vikings kicker is unhappy with job switch

During the past couple of days, the Minnesota Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell had been in low mood as his job of kickoff was taken by an outsider, former Carolina Panthers kickoff specialist Rhys Lloyd. Longwell himself was reduced to play as a field-goal kicker.

Longwell had been the Vikings’ kickoff kicker for four seasons before Lloyd’s arrival, and he managed to set league-leading records in touchbacks for the past two seasons. However, the team thinks a kickoff specialist could handle the duties more professionally, and Longwell could fit better in the position of field-goal kicker. The team’s purpose is to improve the offense, but to Longwell, it sounds like eliminating all what he has achieved during the past few seasons and denial of his ability.

It seems that the Vikings have no intention to let Longwell go as they already paid a significant roster bonus to him. Actually, Longwell is currently one of the best paid kickers in the league. He has no reason to worry about his job. While still waiting for their starting quarterback to wear back the Brett Favre jersey, the Vikings surely do not want a kicker issue to cause distraction.

Archie Manning said Favre’s return was expectable

While many people are discussion with excitement about Brett Favre’s ankle surgery and his possible return, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning said it was nothing new to him as he always believed that Favre would return to the Vikings for 2010 season and the surgery was just expectable.

Watching 40-year-old Favre lead the Minnesota Vikings to the NFC championship game against his former team New Orleans Saints, Archie Manning saw Favre’s potential to continue with his brilliant performance even if he is older than most of his teammates and some coaches. Although the Vikings finally lost the NFC title to the Saints after the overtime loss, Archie Manning still believed that Favre could lead his team to win if the two teams rematch when the quarterback is 100 percent healthy.

The rematch is really going to happen in early September for the 2010 NFL season opener. Since knowing the schedule, Archie Manning has had the belief that Favre would return to make the revenge on Saints. He will prove that he is still able to win a Super Bowl ring at an NFL retirement age. As a former star quarterback himself, Archie Manning knows well what Favre is able to do with a strong sense of honor. As for the time of Favre’s retirement, Archie Manning joked that he is not expecting Favre, originally a Saints fan, to put on his favorite Archie Manning jersey watching others playing football in near future.

Vikings rookie Joe Webb may return to QB position

When the Minnesota Vikings picked former UAB quarterback Joe Webb from the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft, their original plan was to use him at wide receiver. However, some time after the rookie minicamp, the coaching staff of the team changed their mind and would like to have a look at the rookie’s ability to passing balls.

Webb had a brilliant college football career as quarterback and showed great skills in running the ball before entering the draft. He also played sometimes at wide receiver and proved himself to be a versatile player capable of playing well at both spots. So it’s understandable for the Vikings coaches to use him as both passer and catcher.

“The coaches liked me (at receiver), liked what I did out there and the athleticism I showed,” Webb said. “They also put me at quarterback and had me throw the ball. They liked the way I threw the ball and now they want me to play quarterback. Right now, it looks like when I go back, I’ll get a shot at quarterback.”

According to reports, Webb will play mostly as a quarterback during the team’s OTAs. Perhaps the team is just preparing for a possible retirement of Brett Favre, who remains undecided on whether to have a knee surgery, let alone to wear back his Vikings jersey.

Vikings still want more wide receivers?

Have a count on the Minnesota Vikings roster, we can find as many as nine names with the title of wide receiver, and quite a few of them are proven talents. Any team with these receivers would be satisfied but they are not the Vikings, who are still planning to add more receives to roster.

According to latest reports, when veteran receiver Marko Mitchell was released by the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, Vikings were among several teams in pursuit of him. However, it turned out to be the Detroit Lions claiming Mitchell off the waiver. Actually both teams made claims, but the Lions happened to have the privilege of making claims because they ranked lower in last season.

What made Mitchell attractive to the Vikings was that he had a solid preseason after being drafted by the Redskins as a seventh-round pick from 2009 NFL draft. The point is the Vikings already have receivers like Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin, who had solider regular-season last year while Mitchell only caught four passes for 32 yards in the 10 regular-season he played. The Vikings seem to be build up a large group of wide receivers, but keep the quarterback mix the almost the same with last season. What is the plan for? Perhaps it’s just one more for to quarterback Brett Favre to wear back his Vikings jersey. The team is like saying: Hey, Favre, choose your favorite pass catchers here, we will offer as many choices as possible.

Vikings added ten more rookies with undrafted free agents

As most other teams did, the Minnesota Vikings did not stop adding more fresh blood to the team even after the three-day draft ended on Saturday afternoon as there were still quite a few undrafted free agents available. In addition to the eight picks drafted from the seven rounds, the Vikings signed another ten free agents to enrich their roster.

Among the ten newly signed rookies, there is finally a new quarterback, R.J. Archer from William & Mary. Starting in only one season for the Tribe, Archer finished his college football career with 261 completed passes of 433 attempts for 2,778 yards and 16 touchdowns. It’s unlikely for him to get much playing time in 2010 season as there are already two backups and one pending starter. The Vikings also added three more wide receivers with Aaron Rhea, Ray Small and Kelton Tindal, one cornerback with Ferris State’s Angelo Williams, two offensive tackles with Matt Hanson and Marlon Winn. The other three are offensive guard from Clemson Thomas Austin, center from UC-Davis Tommy Hernandez and safety from Maryland Terrell Skinner.

All of the ten players will put on their Vikings jerseys for the first time this weekend to take part in the team’s three-day rookie minicamp along with the eight rookies picked from the draft. What kind of roles they are going to play with the team will depend on how they impress the coaches during the camp.

Bears LB Briggs considered Favre not a big threat

As the Vikings is talking with QB Brett Favre about a signing contract, a member of their rival team Bears said that he did not consider Favre a big threat.

Bears LB Lance Briggs said he'd love to see Favre become the Vikings' starting quarterback, because "he's going to hurt you, but he's also going to throw you a few," said Briggs. "He threw me the first interception I ever returned for a touchdown in the NFL."

Briggs still believes that Vikings are tough rival because they are the defending champions and their RB Adrian Peterson is a most dangerous weapon.