In what many are claiming is a contract-related move, Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice had hip surgery yesterday for an injury he took in the NFC Championship game:
There has been a lot of controversy concerning that injured hip of Sidney Rice, primarily questions about when the injury happened and why it wasn’t reported until a Twitter-related confession from his agent.
Rice was at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo. No, not to try to pull John Elway out of retirement but to have his injured hip examined by a new set of eyes. Rice confirmed to the Star Tribune he had surgery that is expected to sideline him for the first half of the 2009 season.
What makes the situation curious is that Rice, whose contract calls for $550,000 for the 2010 season, went through minicamp without any obvious hindrances and now needs surgery. The injury is said to have happened during the NFC Championship Game vs. the Saints in January.
If he had been in a scenario that would need surgery, the team clearly would have preferred to have the procedure done much earlier so that he would be ready for the start of the season. As it stands, he could be sidelined until November.
This is a very odd development: as John Holler points out above, this is an old injury and if surgery was required, it could have been done earlier in the year. If the Vikings had indicated that they weren’t willing to pay Rice extra for the breakout season he had last year, it could easily be interpreted as a deliberate move to punish the team for being unwilling to reward Rice.
Update: The Vikings have signed Javon Walker, who played with Brett Favre in Green Bay:
Walker worked out for the coaches Friday and, contrary to Walker’s recent body of work, there seems to be enough left in his 31-year-old body to give them depth at a position that has none.
We’ll see. Until Walker has a chance to prove himself, it would be a shame to see him move ahead of younger players such as Logan Payne. Payne, 25, played in two games with Seattle in ‘08 but has potential. Walker is a household name with a Pro Bowl past, but he also has been beaten down by injuries and off-field trouble the past four seasons.
The last pass Favre threw to him was in the ‘05 season opener. Walker tore an ACL on the play and has had only one productive season since. Heading into that season, a rift developed between Favre and Walker because Favre publicly criticized Walker’s decision to stage a contract holdout. The Favre-Walker relationship obviously has been mended because the Vikings never would bring in a receiver Favre didn’t want.
