As Frerotte signs, Vikings tell T-Jack: “It’s your team…for better or for worse”
In a move that clearly signals the team’s level of faith in young quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, the Vikings have signed 36-year old Gus Frerotte to a contract, as per a story by ESPN’s John Clayton.
According to Clayton, the deal is for more than one year and will be completed sometime soon.
Why does this move signal the Vikes’ level of faith in young T-Jack? Well, because it’s Gus Frerotte, that’s why. Just to be clear, let’s say that one again; it’s Gus Frerotte.
If the team was unsure of T-Jack’s abilities (on-field performance, leadership skills, etc.), it might have made a move to snag someone like Texans back-up Sage Rosenfels. But they didn’t. And you know what? They made a good call here. Getting Rosenfels would have been the wrong move and - despite what I wrote in the above paragraph - signing Frerotte is good for the Vikings for several different reasons.
Mainly, the signing is big because it allows T-Jack to not have to worry about whether or not the team will be his to lead in 2008. He can now fully focus on getting better as a quarterback (and we all know how much work still has to be done there). If Scott Mitchell - er, Rosenfels had been brought in (come on, fans, you know it’s true. What had Rosenfels done before the 2007 season? Heck, 15 touchdowns and 12 picks? What did Rosenfels do in the 2007 season, exactly?) T-Jack would be constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering when - not if - he’d be sent to the bench. For a guy who probably has iffy confidence as is, that could have been a disaster. He won’t have to look over his shoulder with Frerotte backing him up.
Also, bringing in someone like Frerotte - who had been with seven different teams before making his return trip to Minnesota - will provide Jackson with a guy who has knowledge of several different NFL systems. He’s also a guy who has started for several different teams in various stages of contention in the league. Sure, he’s never been a great (or even very good) quarterback, but still, there’s a lot of knowledge about this league there. Considering Frerotte will know his role coming in, he will be able to fully pass this knowledge along to Jackson. At the very least, you have to think he’ll know more than Brooks Bollinger or Kelly Holcomb, right?
Speaking of those two corpses, isn’t this move a significant upgrade over either one of those two? Come on, be honest with yourself. You know it is. If T-Jack gets hurt, won’t you feel better with Gus coming in than either one of those guys? Yes, you will.
Finally, this move is a good one because it allows the team to hang on to a draft pick (either a second or third rounder, depending on which team caved first) that would have been wasted had the Vikes dealt it for Rosenfels. Despite the team’s free agent moves that have upgraded the secondary and wide receiver corps, more work has to be done in the draft on both those areas (plus the d-line). This team needs all the draft picks it can get, especially the high picks.
On numerous levels, this signing works for the purple and gold. More than anything, though, this signing says one thing: the 2008 Minnesota Vikings are Tarvaris Jackson’s team.
For better or for worse.
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12 Responses to “As Frerotte signs, Vikings tell T-Jack: “It’s your team…for better or for worse””
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 am
What if the Vikes use their second round pick to draft Flaco? What does that say? No wait, I’ll tell you…it says we’re not REALLY sure about T-Jack and we need an insurance policy.
Regardless, if Flaco is available with our pick, I say we take him.
Also, someone in the Viking organization better really review some tape. Ryan Cook is no Matty Birk. He was horrible at RT. Slow off the snap, and just couldn’t handle even the mediocre DE’s he faced all year.
Don’t even get me started on that over paid, useless turd, McKinnie.
Our team needs help on the offense for sure. And, even if this is yet another learning year for T-Jack, he certainly won’t be the weakest link.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 am
Well unfortunately for T-Jack if he cant pull it together he will be the weekest link, I know it takes a line and a QB to make something happen but honestly you really need a good QB then you need to worry about your line. So essentially if your QB is no good then he will be the weekest link, but i do beleive that T-Jack can be a franchise QB for the Vikes if he can just develope.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:20 am
For better or worse….I agree with everything you said. I think we need a young backup. I like Flacco too. I also like these QB’s from San Diego University. Unlike most Vikings fans, I actually think Jackson is going to pan out. He’s had some awful games, but there have been some huge dropped passes (ie:Troy), some WR not fighting for the ball. The kid takes most of the blame, some should be shared with our WR’s from last year. I think we’re going to shock the NFC North this year….I think we’re going to have a breakout year!
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am
The only way to improve a team is with competition,
by not having a quality backup QB we will not get the best of tj and if tj is crap again this year GUS will not be the future so where does that leave the team? or the fans ! By not having players that can step in when needed your shooting yourself in the foot! Why did we draft AD last year wern’t we afraid of CT losing confidense! We have a great team foundation our defense scored 50 points last year our running game was#1 as was our run defense . Our passing offense
was terrible and with people playing 8 men up to stop AD most good QBs would have had a field day .
BC puts no faith in Qualty QBs so the Vikes will
problably draft one in the 7th again.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
Trade for Ocho Cinco.. I’ll say it again trade for ocho cinco.. that is all
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
does it really make sense to have all young guys with little experience, to have them be the ones to take the pressure when the starter gets hurt. i agree that gus was not the best choice but you cant expect to see all young players on the team who will function like they’ve been playing for years
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I’d love if we were to get “the chad” go 85!
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I don’t know if we could expect to get ocho but what about Chris Henry. Sure he’s troubled but he has definitely showed promise. I don’t know if Z Wilf would go for it with his legal troubles especially seeing as the Bengals saw fit to get rid of him. I think it would be worth a shot though. Compared with what we have he could very possibly be at least a number 2 receiver. He’s got decent speed too so it would be a nice addition to give T Jack a chance to throw more long balls. Probably never happen but sounded good to me. I am definitely excited for this season. Opening Monday. Can’t ask for much better than that.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
After being suspended for 8 games last season I dont think henry will play for anyone this year .and trading for problem players more often works out like To to philly than To to dallas
April 4th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
[…] very good, quarterback he has a lot of knowledge about the league and will pass it on to Jackson. Vikings War Cry | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » As Frerotte signs, Vikings tell T-Jac… Of course, because they didnt make the deal for Rosenfels means that they will have a draft pick […]
April 4th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Greetings MVN Writers!
Gerald here from MVN Football Quality Control. Just a quick note asking that ALL writers not only update MVN with your current email address (there is a note about it on your dashboard when you sign in) but to also fire off an email to me at MVNFootballQC@aol.com
Just send a quick note so I have your active email. Include your name and which team you write for.
Also remember to unblock that address from your filters and spam blockers.
You are all doing an incredible job and we appreciate your efforts. We do have some information and updates coming along that will require your attention and we have to be able to get ahold of each and every one of you.
I hope to hear from every writer in the NFL community and I promise not to fill your mailboxes with pages of mail. Thanks for your cooperation and contributions!
-Gerald Laskowski
MVNFootballQC@aol.com
April 5th, 2008 at 7:29 am
In Gus We Trust… Better backup then what we had but by the looks of it our QB position is nothing but backups. Glad we didn’t give up a 3rd for Rosenfels another backup at least we have the draft pick. Tjack should lay the groundwork for Chili’s firing by seasons end. This is a good team overall with one glaring weakspot at QB. This team will not win 10 games this year, doubt they will do better than last year at 8-8. Flaco in second would be a good move but see Chili going after Woodson or Dixon in the later rounds…He wants another McNabb and it has been clouding his judgement.
BYE BYE Chili…
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