Minnesota Vikings

Neighbors shared mixed reviews on the new Vikings stadium design, but welcomed its neighborhood impact.

There's no offseason like the NFL offseason! After fans watch the yearly rigged Super Bowl, they wait impatiently for major events such as watching head coaches get the hammer, NFL Free Agency, and everyone's favorite annual NFL Draft. The Vikings did their best to address each hole to the best of their ability during the draft and free agency. Its hard to argue with Greg Jennings and three first round draft selections, however, it is widely considered that the only hole the Vikings may not have addressed during the main portion of the NFL offseason is Middle Linebacker. The MLB spot is sometimes called the QB of Defense and apparently, there is a huge question at Quarterback! On defense! The way many Vikings fans see it, there are three obvious scenarios. A) Brian Urlacher Its not the most likely scenario, but the first possibility is to sign Brian Urlacher to a one year deal. Brian Urlacher is an expected NFL hall of famer. The first approach the Vikings could take is to sign one of the best middle linebackers in NFL history. Urlacher may be on the decline, but he would give the Vikings more veteran leadership on defense at one of the most important positions on defense. What else could signing Brian Urlacher do for the Vikings? Well, it would allow Erin Henderson to stay put at his position at outside linebacker. This would also keep the Vikings from rushing the rookie, Hodges and even Mauti or Audi Cole into the starting lineup. B) Erin Henderson This may be the most likely scenario at middle linebacker, as the Vikings are already preparing to go in this direction. According to recent news, Erin Henderson is preparing to make the switch to middle linebacker, like his brother and former Viking, E.J Henderson. Erin Henderson is still young at 26 with six years of experience and big enough to play the position at 6'3 and weighing in at around 245 pounds. Henderson was a serviceable starter at outside linebacker this season for the Vikings, totaling 80 tackles, 3 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. Part of this scenario would most likely include starting the Viking's rookie and fourth round draft pick, Gerald Hodges at outside linebacker. According to reports, Hodges appears to be on the right track, based on his performance at the Viking's offseason training activities. C) Michael Mauti This scenario would likely keep Erin Henderson at his current position at outside linebacker or Gerald Hodges at outside linebacker. Michael Mauti was one of the Viking's three seventh round draft selections. It seems unlikely that a seventh round pick with no NFL experience may be starting at the Quarterback of Defense, but Michael Mauti is a true leader and a very good football player. For those of you that don't know, Michael Mauti had the potential to be a first round draft pick, if not for the injuries, which include several knee injuries, but apparently Rick Spielman thought that Mauti was too good of a football player to not draft. Michael Mauti was the leader and star of Penn State's defense, not to mention, teammate to another Viking's rookie, Gerald Hodges. While Mauti was out with injury, his team honored their leader by wearing his number on their helmets. Not only was he a star football player, but he emerged as one of the leaders to help trudge his team through the Penn State football scandal. Michael Mauti is a great player, though hammered with injuries, this guy is a fierce competitor with the talent and instincts to be our QB on defense. If he's ready to play, then he could make 31 general managers kick themselves in the ass for passing him up seven times. There's no offseason like the NFL offseason! After fans watch the yearly rigged Super Bowl, they wait impatiently for major events such as watching head coaches get the hammer, NFL Free Agency, and everyone's favorite annual NFL Draft. The Vikings did their best to address each hole to the best of their ability during the draft and free agency. Its hard to argue

We've done it again, ladies and gentlemen. . .and with the issues and some other things we've all had going on in recent days, I didn't even notice it for about ten days or so. Yes, we rolled past another million on the traffic calculator. Unless my math is off, we actually hit the 12,000,000 visit mark sometime back on May 8. I know that these might be getting a little repetitive and what not, but that's just because we've been hitting them so rapidly recently that they have been becoming more frequent. As always, the most important part of this entire equation is you awesome readers out there. With the Open Threads that we've been doing recently, we have a lot of people hanging out and talking about various topics, and it seems like this is becoming more and more of a community than just a random group of guys and gals commenting on the Minnesota Vikings. That's been the goal all along. We've also gotten to branch out even further, with Arif and Eric getting to be part of various interviews and things like that leading up to the draft and the stadium reveal. Hopefully we can just continue to get bigger and bigger and continue bringing you the kind of coverage that you've come to expect from us. We've been at this for nearly seven years now. . .I can't believe it, either. . .and yet this site (along with the rest of SB Nation) is still on a serious upward trajectory. Also, I need to give myself credit for surrounding myself with such an amazing group of people over the time that this site has been online. Ted, Eric, Kyle, Skol Girl, Mark, and Arif each provide such awesome and unique stuff to this site on a regular basis and has played a big role into shaping this little corner of the internet into what it is today. The Daily Norseman wouldn't be what it is today without each and every one of them, as well as the contributors that have been here in the past and have moved on to other things. Thanks again for your patronage, ladies and gentlemen, and we hope that you'll continue coming back for even more news and opinion about our favorite football team.

As we mentioned a couple of days ago, Minnesota Vikings rookie wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson is at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere this weekend. The event is taking place at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, with 40 NFL rookies taking part in the festivities. Many of them are getting their pictures taken for trading cards and things of that nature during the event. We have a couple of pictures of the new #84 at the event that we thought we'd share here with you. The first one appears to be of him posing for a picture for one of the cards I mentioned or something. Picture comes courtesy of the Twitter account of Sports Cards Uncensored. Someone tell me that these new uniforms are anything but awesome. Because you, sir or ma'am, are incorrect. They are outstanding. Here's another one of Patterson posing for a picture. This one comes from the Twitter account of the folks at Topps. The last one comes from our man on the scene in Los Angeles, Ryan van Bibber. It's Patterson apparently playing catch with someone and sporting a pretty nice pair of shades. Though I will say that, with the sunglasses and the hair, it does give him a bit of a "Stevie Wonder" look, which may not be a good thing for a wide receiver. Hopefully we'll have more from Patterson from the Rookie Premiere here in the next day or two.

FEATURED POST I love sharing my thoughts about the Vikings on this page, but since I visit so many other Vikings websites, here and there it just makes more sense to link to what somebody else is saying about the Vikings. Even though,Although I hope you come to this site often for your Minnesota Vikings news and info, I still appreciate all of the other great sites around the web, and I want to share what some of them have to say as well. Here is an article that I thought you might want to read: So, About That Vikings Stadium Funding Alright, folks. . .it looks like the sites are officially back up and running with no issues. We apologize to all of our readers out there that have had difficulty getting to us for the past couple of days. While we were having problems, it appears that the state of Minnesota might have solved their problem of coming up with sufficient funding for a new Minnesota Vikings‘ stadium. The solution is two-fold, and it was introduced by Governor Mark Dayton on Friday. The first is an increase on cigarette taxes, which will bump the tax on a pack of smokes from $ 1.23 per pack to $ 2.83 per pack. I can’t imagine this being too terribly popular with the smoking crowd. . .it would make the price of a carton go up by $ 16. . .and would give Minnesota one of the highest cigarette taxes in the nation. The other part of the equation would involve closing a corporate “tax avoidance” loophole. According to the state’s revenue commissioner, raising the cigarette tax by itself would generate $ 24.5 million a year in additional revenue, which ” >”> …[click the link below to read the rest of the article] The rest of the article can be found here: Daily Norseman – All Posts GO VIKINGS! Tweet This Post

Hey Vikings Fans! Here is a batch of Vikings articles from around the web that you might be interested in. Is Chad Greenway Legitimately a Top 100 Player? Okay NFL. You put the top 100 players thing out there to generate conversation during the deadest part of the offseason? I’ll bite. Let’s discuss Chad Greenway being selected as the 70th best player in the NFL. I think I’ve made my feelings … Urlacher close to signing ? He says yes, while Vikings say no. The Minnesota Vikings and former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher seem to have a distinctly different take on current negotiations between the two.  According to Urlacher, both the Vikings and the Broncos have made firm offers that he is currently … So, About That Vikings Stadium Funding Alright, folks. . .it looks like the sites are officially back up and running wi… Greenway Part Of ‘Top 100 Players Of 2013? In today’s NFL, linebackers don’t seem to get a lot of credit unless they’re known as pass rushing specialists.  However, when the NFL players voted on the “Top 100 Players of 2013″ list, they did not forget about Ch… Vikings Fans! Enter The New Era Photo Day Contest! New Era, the official on-field headwear of the National Football League, is teaming up with the NFL to launch the Back to Football Photo Day contest. So what this means is that Vikings fans will now have the chance to join the ranks of Adrian Peters… The Vikings’ Greatest Moment Ever at TCF Bank Stadium The Vikings will have to play for two years at TCF Bank Stadium before their brand new awesome sun splashed airy somewhat futuristic facility is ready to go. But of course the Vikes already have some experience at TCF. They played that one game th… Tweet This Post

Okay, I think we can safely say Adrian Peterson is not just the best player on the Vikings, but arguably the best player in the league. Who would be # 2 though, or # 3? I think there are a lot of very good choices to pick from. So, if making a top 10 list of the best current Vikings; it might not be that easy, and even more difficult to agree with most Vikings' fans on. I am very optimistic of this year's draft class, especially our three first round draft picks; I think each of them could or will potentially make a top ten list next near, and in some people's eyes; might be considered this year. Though, I'm not going to include any new Vikings, because they haven't yet stepped on the field in a game for the purple, and this obviously includes Greg Jennings and others. So, personally just looking at the offensive side of the ball; I think the best players are Adrian Peterson, John Sullivan, Matt Kalil, Kyle Rudolph, Jarius Wright. Honorable mentions, solid players and up and comers in my humble opinion are Phil Loadholt, Jerome Felton, Rhett Ellison, Toby Gerhart and yes Christian Ponder. Now, looking at the defensive side of the ball the best in my opinion are Jared Allen, Chad Greenway, Harrison Smith, Everson Griffen and Chris Cook. And the very close # 2s and solid and up and coming players in my opinion are Kevin Williams, Brian Robison and Josh Robinson with players like Erin Henderson and Jamarca Sanford making solid contributions. So, now that leaves us with the often forgotten special teams, and honestly Blair Walsh takes the only spot, but hands down, and is a vital part of the Vikings being put into better position to win games and outright has already won games for the Vikings. So as of now, and I expect this to change, maybe even before next year with the potential impact of new Vikings to the roster; I think the ten best current Vikings are: 1. Adrian Peterson 2. John Sullivan 3. Chad Greenway 4. Jared Allen 5. Kyle Rudolph 6. Harrison Smith 7. Chris Cook 8. Matt Kalil 9. Everson Griffen 10. Blair Walsh(if not willing to count kickers; I think I would go with Jarius Wright). So, how accurate or inaccurate do you think this list is, and what would your top 10 list look like? Okay, I think we can safely say Adrian Peterson is not just the best player on the Vikings, but arguably the best player in the league. Who would be # 2 though, or # 3? I think there are a lot of very good choices to pick from. So, if making a top 10 list of the best current Vikings; it might not be that easy, and even more difficult to agree with most Vikings' fans on. I am very optimistic of this year's draft class, especially our three first round draft picks; I think each of them could or will potentially make a top ten list next near, and in some people's eyes; might be considered this year. Though, I'm not going to include any new Vikings, because they haven't yet stepped on the field in a game for the purple, and this obviously includes Greg Jennings and others. So, personally just looking at the offensive side of the ball; I think the best players are Adrian Peterson, John Sullivan, Matt Kalil, Kyle Rudolph, Jarius Wright. Honorable mentions, solid players and up and comers in my humble opinion are Phil Loadholt, Jerome Felton, Rhett Ellison, Toby Gerhart and yes Christian Ponder. Now, looking at the defensive side of the ball the best in my opinion are Jared Allen, Chad Greenway, Harrison Smith, Everson Griffen and Chris Cook. And the very close # 2s and solid and up and coming players in my opinion are Kevin Williams, Brian Robison and Josh Robinson with players like Erin Henderson and Jamarca Sanford making solid contributions. So, now that leaves us with the often forgotten special teams, and honestly Blair Walsh takes the only spot, but hands down, and is a vital part of the Vikings being put into better position to win games and outright has already won games for the Vikings. So as of now, and I

Dec 23, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Chad Greenway (52) smiles after the game against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium. The Vikings won 23-6. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports Okay NFL. You put the top 100 players thing out there to generate conversation during the deadest part of the offseason? I’ll bite. Let’s discuss Chad Greenway being selected as the 70th best player in the NFL. I think I’ve made my feelings about Greenway pretty clear. I think he is a solid player. I think he does a fine job holding down the strong side linebacker position in the Vikings’ defense. He racks up tackles. Every now and then he makes a big play. His coverage is not great. We know that. We also know that he is not the most physically gifted of athletes. Frankly I think in a lot of schemes he would be at best a marginal player. If you put him on San Francisco, for instance. Would he even start? But that’s probably not fair. Frankly you can say that about a lot of defensive players. Scheme always plays a part. Get a guy in the right scheme and he can flourish. Get him in the wrong scheme and he can disappear. Greenway is in the right scheme. He doesn’t have to be a great athlete. Does it matter that he seldom makes a tackle behind the line and does very little in pass coverage? Is it enough to rack up tackles without showing up much in other stat columns? Keeping in mind that the “tackle” stat is highly subjective to begin with and can easily be goosed in order to make a guy look better than he is. I’m just asking the question. Frankly I don’t see Greenway as a top 100 player. Certainly not a top 70 player. You get into the top 70 you’re talking near-elite. We’ll see how many more linebackers are taken in the top 100. I can’t believe there will be a ton more. Will there be 10 more taken? Probably not. So we’re saying Greenway is one of the ten best linebackers in the NFL? I’m not sure I would rank Greenway that high. But at the same time I am not outraged by the selection. I can live with it even if I’m not entirely sold. Obviously Greenway is well-respected for the way he goes about his business. He’s a solid human being as well as a good workmanlike lunch pail sort of football player. If John Kuhn can be top 100 like he was last year? Then Greenway can be top 100. So there you go NFL. You want to generate conversation during the offseason? You succeeded. Good job as always. Like The Viking Age on Facebook. Follow TVA on Twitter. Get the all-new FanSided iPhone app. Subsribe to the Fansided Daily Newsletter. Sports news all up in your inbox.

The Minnesota Vikings and former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher seem to have a distinctly different take on current negotiations between the two.  According to Urlacher, both the Vikings and the Broncos have made firm offers that he is currently mulling over. Urlacher also told sources that he is stromgly leaning towards signing with the Vikings. So, done deal, right ? ……..Not so fast ! The Vikings are not only saying that they have NOT made an offer, they are saying that they have no interest in Urlacher at all.  So what’s the deal ?  Is Urlacher and his agent blowing smoke in an attempt to garner interest in the former Pro Bowler ? Or are the Vikings simply playing their cards close to the vest just in case Urlacher changes his mind. One certainty that the team doesn’t want to risk alienating Erin Henderson by giving him the impression that the team is trying to replace or upgrade the position he has been told is his. Speaking of which, sources close to the team are saying that Henderson is furious over the fact that the team is reaching out to the Urlacher camp at all. Even if the team does bring Urlacher in, it is doubtful that he would be a three down back. He has been fighting various leg injuries over the past three seasons, and it is clear when watching film that he has lost a step.  It is likely that Henderson would still be used as a strongside linebacker on first and second downs, then switch to the middle on passing downs. If this is the case, this move would still be a major upgrade over Jasper Brinkley. The Dawg has his ear to the ground on this, and updates will be posted as they develop. SKOL !

Alright, folks. . .it looks like the sites are officially back up and running with no issues. We apologize to all of our readers out there that have had difficulty getting to us for the past couple of days. While we were having problems, it appears that the state of Minnesota might have solved their problem of coming up with sufficient funding for a new Minnesota Vikings' stadium. The solution is two-fold, and it was introduced by Governor Mark Dayton on Friday. The first is an increase on cigarette taxes, which will bump the tax on a pack of smokes from $1.23 per pack to $2.83 per pack. I can't imagine this being too terribly popular with the smoking crowd. . .it would make the price of a carton go up by $16. . .and would give Minnesota one of the highest cigarette taxes in the nation. The other part of the equation would involve closing a corporate "tax avoidance" loophole. According to the state's revenue commissioner, raising the cigarette tax by itself would generate $24.5 million a year in additional revenue, which would replenish the state's stadium fund and cover any shortfalls. The legislature has to have the tax bill drafted by midnight on Monday, so at that point we'll see if the plan introduced by Governor Dayton has any real traction. According to the Fox Sports North article listed above, the deal was "accepted in principle" by the folks in charge of drafting that bill. Yes, I realize that this is a political matter. It can't really be avoided. Feel free to discuss it as such. . .however, if the comments degenerate into "RAWR REPUBLICANS SUCK RAWR NO DEMOCRATS SUCK" or something of a similar nature, we're yanking the plug. If the issue can't be discussed in a normal, respectful manner, it won't be discussed at all.