Dat Defense is D-D-D-Dangerous

The Vikings have acquired Jared Allen from the Chiefs for what appears to be a hefty price, though Allen will almost definatly prove his worth alongside the Williams boys. According to Jay Glazer, who at this moment is the only member of the media giving actual figures, the Vikings will give up their 1st (17th overall) and both of their 3rd round picks (73rd and 82nd). Glazer also says that Allen's new contract will make him the highest paid defensive player in the league.

The deal is for six years and just under $74 million, including a stunning $31,000,069 guaranteed — 69 is his jersey number.

Allen has a red flag on his record for having 2 DWIs but the Vikings say they've taken a long hard look into his background and believe him when he says that he hasn't had a drop to drink in over a year. He does, however, still own Jared Allen's Sports Arena and Grill. You need to look at that link, the man serves "Jared Juice" consisting of fruit punch and EVERCLEAR and the motto is "Wine 'em, Dine 'em and 69 'em." Classy, Mr. Allen

The Vikings are left with the 47th overall pick (Secondary?), the 117th pick (4th round, QB?), the 150th pick (5th round, no clue) switched picks in the 6th round giving us the 170th (if that info is incorrect we draft 182) 193rd (Thanks for that Tice), 209 in the 7th round for trading Adam Goldberg to the Rams. Its strange to thing that only 16 spots make up the difference in talent level between Troy Williamson and Adam Goldberg. Here is a look at where every team picks as of 3 days ago.

As most of you know Allen lead the league in sacks last year with 15.5 and has averaged over 10 a year in his 4 years as a professional. This spot was a definate need after Kenechi Udezi was diagnosed with leukemia. It was already fairly weak considering Erasmus James' knee problems. Ray Edwards will most likely start opposite Allen with Brian Robison and James filling. Edwards and Robison combined for 9.5 sacks last year and with the Williams wall and Allen commanding the line I expect that number to increase... they only have 3 years experience between the two of them.

We've got six picks left, filled in the gaping hole that will make our passing D much better than before, and the sickest runner to hit the NFL in many, many years. God, L.A. is going to love this team.

Frerotte is Frereally a Viking

Everybody knew that Gus Frerotte was going to become the Vikings' back-up quarterback, it was just a matter of finalizing the contract and choosing a number. Gus is an upgrade, but not by much. Kelly Holcomb and Brooks Bollinger had a combined sixty games played in the NFL while Frerotte has started in 82 games. He's also 36 which leads me to believe that he might have two seasons of game management and spot starting left in him.

The Vikings had better use one of their two 2nd round picks on a QB in case the Tarvaris Jackson experiment doesn't work out. Don't get me wrong - I no longer have a problem with him at QB considering he had almost no help in the receiving corps, but he still kind of reminds me of peanut brittle. I hear good things about Joe Flacco and it looks like Brian Brohm's and Chad Henne's draft stock is slipping enough for the Vikings to scoop them up some time in the second or (stretch) third round. All I know is that Bollinger need to be off my team by September. He should go become an assistant coach for his father.
As long as I'm talking about the upcoming draft I might as well say that I'm a little worried that the Vikings won't get a DE deserving of the 17th pick and I'm afraid that they might reach instead of take the 17th best player available. I know this is a different front office and they took Adrian Peterson when they already had Chester Taylor last year, but taking the violet messiah when he falls to 7 is much easier than taking Mike Jenkins or and O-lineman to replace Ryan Cook for when he replaces Matt Birk instead of reaching for Phillip Merling. All I know is the last time we reached for a player he ended up having rocks for hands and was only worth a 6th round pick from the jags.

It doesn't really matter anyway. The Wilfs will probably end up moving the team to L.A. considering the state legislature refuses to allow the metropolitan sports facilities commission to look for other possibilities for a new Vikings stadium... money that would have been spent by the owners and not by our taxes.

Welcome to Minnesota, Mr. Hicks

In an effort to replace Mewelde Moore the Vikings have signed running back Maurice Hicks to the team. Hicks played for the 49ers last year and will play last resort in the run game and kick returner. Adding him as a kick returner makes me happy... I got pretty sick of watching Bobby Wade call for fair catches.

I'm not sure we'll see much of what we see in the video below considering we're got Purple Jesus running the ball, but its nice to know that he's got moves.

Oh yeah... did I mention that Hicks set the NCAA Division I and II single-game record with 437 rushing yards on 34 carries vs. Morgan State (10-6-01)? That might come in handy if one of our other backs gets a little dinged up during the season.

In related news I'd like ESPN to focus on football players that actually play football. He's gone.