Treading Water

It says something about how a team is doing in free agency when the only move that helped close the gap (even if only by a little) between them and their division leader was made by the division leader. While the Vikings were busy cutting "Double Duty" Smoot, Jermaine Wiggins, Brad Johnson and Mike Rosenthal, other teams were busy trying to sign their top free agent targets.

And then, when the Vikings were busy signing the guys they wanted the most (Sadly, I would not be too surprised if that were true about Visanthe Shiancoe and Vinny Ciurciu), the other teams were signing the players the Vikings needed the most. Ashley Lelie and Drew Bennett never made it to Minnesota, signing with the 49ers and Rams respectively. Kevin Curtis stopped by, but didn't feel wanted, what with all the coaches working on pronouncing vi-sahn-tee SHANK-oh and church-choo. And while all that was going on, the Vikings missed out on the top defensive end still available, as Patrick Kierney signed with Seattle.

The Vikings have missed out on every opportunity to really improve themselves so far. And now, they are forced to sift through the sleepers, hoping they get lucky by signing Bobby Wade. For once, they might actually do so. Wade wasn't the focal point of the Titans offense by any stretch, but he's still young (26) and provided some value for them. And by some, I mean much, much more than anything the Vikings got out of their recievers. He had the 19th best DVOA, with 14.9%, though that might be slightly inflated, as he only caught 33 passes, racking up an 11.1 DPAR. If he's able to maintain that kind of value as the focal point of the Vikings passing game, however, , he'd be an amazing addition, roughly equivalant to adding a Roy Williams. And apparently, he can return kicks too. He's probably the best available reciever left (except for perhaps Eric Moulds), which means he'll most likely sign somewhere else, and Vikings' fans will have to decide if Dante "In Rehab" Stallworth is a better signing than vi-sahn-tee SHANK-oh or Vinny church-choo. If that happens, the Vikings biggest worry will be pronouncing "Home Games Blacked Out".