Cue the John Facenda music (Bwa-dup bwa bwa ba ba bwa-dup bwa bwa) and voiceover:
“There was no March wind to blow through the Board room like a blitzing linebacker, yet the woolen-clad warriers huddled behind their laptops and lattes, squinting with steely eyes at spreadsheets and rosters while their wingtips pawed restlessly at the thick carpet. Normally there is a kind of brotherhood between the personnel directors and caplogists even though they are men who wear their team colors in silk around their necks. Though the grunts and screams of the playing field are replaced for them by the clicking of calculators and the ringing of cellphones, they know what it is like to be bloodied, to see the red ink pooling at the bottom of a ledger and they share the mutual respect of all those who wield the long knives. But not this day as two teams that didn’t like each other squared off: the purple Norse raiders against the predatory birds with their hawklike eyes on the ledger. This time there would be no talk of pensions or pinot noir, but of poison pills and guaranteed money. This time it was personal as they fought in the trenches for the prime real estate known in the NFL as cap space.”
So the Vikings tricked up an unmatchable offer to get restricted free agent and prize left guard Steve Hutchinson from the Seattle Seahawks and then the Seahawks turn around and do the same to get Nate Burleson away from the Vikes, even going so far as to make the total dollars in their offer identical to what the Vikings paid Hutchinson. I guess that’s an accountant’s way of saying “in your face” and you can bet there’s some playful towel snapping going on in the ‘hawks corporate locker room tonight.
Net it out, though, and you essentially have a trade where the Vikings get Hutchinson and a third-round pick for Nate Burleson and you’d have to say the Vikes got the better end of that deal even though Burleson is a talent. What you also have is the Vikings with, unofficially, a first round pick, two seconds and two thirds in this year’s draft as a result of recent deals. They’ve also indicated they’re looking at packaging some picks in order to move up, ostensibly for a chance to draft one of the top three quarterbacks (or, in my opinion, linebacker A.J. Hawk). If they are thinking of making a trade for a QB, however, I’ve got a better and cheaper option for them than going after Leinert, Young or Cutler.
Trade a second and a third or whatever combo it takes to get Matt Schaub from the Falcons. Originally a 3rd round draft pick two years ago, the kid can flat out play and is probably a better quarterback for the Falcons system than Michael Vick. He’s big (6′-5″, 235 lbs.), runs well (he just looks slow compared to Vick) has a strong arm and best of all has shown poise even in his rookie year. He’s also played in nothing but the West Coast offense going back to his college days at Virginia. His salary this year is $385,000, and he already has NFL regular season experience (including 3 TDs and nearly 300 yards against the banged up Patriots last season). I’ve liked him for awhile but didn’t think the Falcons would even consider parting with him until I read this. It won’t be cheap to get him in a trade, but he’d still be a great value.
Any of the top three college QBs is going to cost $20 million and take at least a year to develop. Schaub could compete for the starting job this year and, based on what I’ve seen of him in two regular season and one pre-season game, “gets it” better than Mike McMahon, though they are similar players physically.
Granted, I don’t have the film resources of the Vikings brain trust, but it’s a lot more interesting to think about him playing for the Vikings than it is to read about board-room grudge matches.
