Vikings TE Shiancoe is looking forward to a new contract

The Minnesota Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe still has two years left on his current contract with the team, but he is already making effort to get a contract extension. Perhaps he just believes that early preparation is better than arguing for the extension shortly before the current contract expires.




Recently always wearing his favorite uniform to show his expectation of the starting quarterback’s return, Shiancoe himself is not expecting the team to agree on extending his contract in near future. He and his camp are talking with Vikings but that does not necessarily mean a deal will be in the works soon, and many people believe that Shiancoe is not going to get anything done before the end of 2010 season. What is more likely to happen could be that he will only get a new contract after a new CBA is hammered out.

While the Vikings take Shiancoe’s contract extension as long shot, they are feeling much more pressing on contract negotiation with another player, running back Adrian Peterson, who has only one year left on his current contract.

Get Paid For Writing Down Your Own Ideas about NFL players.

Broncos’ starting QB Quinn has positive view on rookie QB Tebow

The Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow is very likely to take the starting job away from the current starter Brady Quinn, however, the Quinn does not seem to mind that and did not hesitate in giving high praises on the rookie.

"When you look at him and the style he plays, he’s quite different from me," Quinn told the South Bend Tribune. "I think there are a lot of schools of thought on what will end up happening with him, moving forward in his NFL career. But he’s a good, quality, character guy, and those are the type of guys you want on your team."

Perhaps, Quinn was thinking that he would be too old to play as starter when Tebow is able to take the starting job. More likely, he was thinking that the flamboyant Tebow will eventually ending up being Brett Favre’s successor, so there is no need for him to worry about losing his starting job.

49ers LB Lawson threatens to leave if not getting new contract

The San Francisco 49ers star linebacker Manny Lawson is now attempting to attract some attention from the team as he wants a new contract as the reason for him to stay with the team. He even threatened that he would leave for another team if the 49ers keep silent on the contract issue.



The outside linebacker showed up for a mandatory minicamp on Thursday after missing the 49ers voluntary workouts. He says he needed a change in scenery and that he is in the best shape of his life. He claimed that he had received a few calls from other teams for possible cooperation. The Minnesota Vikings were among the teams and Lawson said he would like to play with a quarterback wearing No. 4 Brett Favre jersey under a contract matches his capability better.

Lawson was picked by the 49ers in 2006 as a first-round draft pick and he is currently in the last year of his five-year, $7.5 million contract and remains the lowest-paid outside linebacker in the team with a base salary of $630,000. No wonder he was so unhappy and wanted a scenery change.

Cowboys WR Austin signed RFA tender offer

The Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin gave up his efforts to ask for more money from the team on Friday and signed the $3.168 million contract tender to stay with the Cowboys as the team threatened to reduce the salary offer to $1.65 million if Austin refused to sign the tender.

It was reasonable for Austin to ask a salary raise as he had impressive performance in 2009 season. Catching 81 passes for 1,320 yards and 11 touchdowns in the regular season, Austin also broke Bob Hayes’ single-game record with 250 receiving yards while playing against the Kansas City Chiefs. In that single game, Austin also caught 10 passes and had two touchdowns. Previously only a third-line player, Austin took the chance to start at wide receiver when Roy Williams was absent. His performance soon overcame the coaches and quarterbacks and he became the major target when starting quarterback was passing the ball.

However, the Cowboys seem not ready to revalue Austin and would like to observe him for a longer period before giving him a starter’s contract. They could have compared Austin to another wide receiver of the Minnesota Vikings, Percy Harvin, who was a rookie in 2009 season and also a starting quarterback’s favorite wide receiver. While Harvin is low-profile even if he is going to play more important role once Brett Favre decides to wear back his Vikings jersey, Austin is comparatively overrating himself and needs another season of test.

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 QB Jackson had contacts with Favre

While the playing status of starting quarterback Brett Favre is still pending, the Minnesota Vikings backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson has been frequently mentioned whenever people had a new speculation on Favre’s decision. If Favre returns, Jackson will remain the backup, and if Favre retires, Jackson is believed to be the top choice of new starter.

On that point, Jackson should wish Favre not to return so that he could finally have his starting job back. However, Jackson seems quite satisfied with his current backup role and has a good personal relation with Favre, who made a sudden mind change last offseason to put on Minnesota Vikings jersey and took the starting job away from Jackson. Jackson earned that job hard after offseason competition with Sage Rosenfels and he was so disappointed with change that he had asked for a trade. Jackson eventually accepted the fact and stayed with the Vikings as a No.2 quarterback.

During this offseason, similar Favre drama has been going on, and Jackson has been always calm with what was happening and would happen. He recently told reporters that he exchanged text messages with Favre sometimes about “life stuff”. Such words of course caused him to be asked about Favre’s decision on his playing status in 2010 season, however, Jackson resembled Vikings head coach to say that he did not ask Favre that kind of questions. He also said that he would be anyway fine whether Favre returns or not.

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.

CB Winfield has no intent to leave Vikings

As we knew previously, CB Antoine Winfield has been missing the Vikings OTAs because of contract dispute. But recently he told reporters that he has not planned to leave the Vikings.

2009 is the last year of the veteran's six-year, $34.8 million contract.

He stated late Thursday that he wants to finish his career with the Vikings. He also said he wishes he could be at the OTA sessions, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.


“I want all to know that I’m not at OTAs because I don’t want to be there,” Winfield said. “I do want to be there! As I have stated before, I want to finish my career a Viking.”

Last season, Winfield started 16 games for the Vikings and finished second on the team with 95 tackles. I guess the Vikings will anyway consider a better contract with Winfield, and that's why Winfield has no plan to leave the team.