At his best, Gus Frerotte has been OK this season. Despite a 6-3 record as a starter he's 37-years old and is all too often performing imitations of Super Dave Osborne.
Third year man Tarvaris Jackson looked like he regressed when witnessing his play the first two games this season. Unfortunately, the T-Jack experiment looks to have failed.
Bottom line, the Vikings need a QB who poses a legitimate threat to throw the ball downfield. And in this upcoming offseason Brad Childress (assuming he's still coach) and company look to have some viable options.
1. Derek Anderson. Despite being out the rest of this season with a broken right index finger, QB Brady Quinn has been anointed the future of the Cleveland Browns. That means the organization will entertain offers for the services of Anderson. With Anderson taking over for the injured Quinn this season it will be a great opportunity for the Brown to showcase his talent. However, Anderson will need to improve upon his mediocre 49% completion percentage.
2. Matt Cassel. Admit it, you thought the New England Patriots were cooked when superstar QB Tom Brady tore left knee ligaments in Week 1. Backup Cassel, who was sandwiched between Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC, took the helm despite not having started a game since high school. His first three games were rather pedestrian, averaging a mere 149 yards passing per contest. However, he has taken off his past eight starts. He has averaged more than 270 yards passing per game, including more than 400 yards and 3 TDs in each of the past two. With Brady expected to be ready for training camp in the Summer of 2009, Cassel, a free agent, will get plenty of nibbles.
3. Donovan McNabb. Depsite a nice ten-year run with the Philadelphia Eagles, McNabb always seems to be on his way out in Philly. And the talk has never been stronger than this season where he's on pace to throw for more than 4,000 yards and 24 TDs. This time the prevailing theory for McNabb's possible departure is his 2009 cap number of $10.3 million. However, none of that money is guaranteed so the Eagles could cut McNabb without any ramifications against the salary cap. If McNabb is to be an Eagle in '09, he would need to negotiate a cut in salary, something I'm not sure he's willing to do.
Going in to the '08 season, many felt the biggest X-factor for the Vikings was the quarterback position. Thus far, that has rang true. But given the QBs available after this year, it doesn't need to be another question mark going in to '09.
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3 comments:
Can I vote none of the above? There are a lot of good college quarterbacks coming out and it would be better to get one of them. All the guys on your poll would not really be improvements over the status quo, with the possible exception of McNabb.
If you want a current NFL quarterback, I'd suggest Sage Rosenfels. Or maybe J. P. Losman, currently cooling his heels in Buffalo.
I'd suggest Sage Rosenfels
Vikes looked in to it prior to '08. Houston wanted a 2nd round pick for the backup to Matt Schaub. They were delusional.
Or maybe J. P. Losman
Gus Frerotte at age 27.
Think big, my lads. Mike Holmgren "retires" at Seattle and then comes to Minnesota as coach and possibly GM, bringing Matt Hasselbeck with him.
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