MVN - Most Valuable Network

Vikings Wait For Birk Extension

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Vikings coach Brad Childress plans to watch center Matt Birk play this season before giving him a new contract. Birk is angry and will skip voluntary workouts, as he’s a free agent after this season and feels that he’s done enough to warrant a new deal.

The thirty-one year old has been a solid option at center for Minnesota. He’s a former pro-bowler, and just a dependable guy on that good offensive line with those guards.

However, I see no problem with Childress wanting to make sure that he deserves a new contract before dishing out a lot of money. While he’s showed no signs of slowing down, Birk is old and could take a step back this season. While I understand the reasoning for his frustration, I don’t think he should be taking it to the extent it is. Loyalty just doesn’t beat out the business aspect in this game.

Birk will probably play well enough to get the Vikings to negotiate a new contract with him. Whether he listens or not is entirely up to him, as he could still be ticked off that they didn’t think enough of him to give him one immediately when he wanted to start talking.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.