The Minnesota Vikings still don’t have an answer for their wide receiver woes: the San Diego Chargers decided not to accept any of the offers for their disgruntled-but-talented Vincent Jackson. The NFL had set a deadline of 3pm yesterday for a deal to be struck, but San Diego didn’t get what they wanted from the Vikings or other teams, so Jackson will have to serve the full six game suspension and may not play at all this year.
As Judd Zulgad points out, this leaves the Vikings even thinner going in to this weekend’s matchup with the improving Detroit Lions:
The Vikings were hoping to end Wednesday with Pro Bowl wide receiver Vincent Jackson in tow. Instead, their receiver situation became even more unsettled as Jackson remained a holdout in San Diego and injury issues continued to mount.
Percy Harvin, already battling a hip strain, missed practice after another recurrence of migraines, and Bernard Berrian was limited because of an issue with his knee.
[. . .]
Jackson would not have been an immediate help to the Vikings, but he could have been on the field as early as Oct. 17 against Dallas, if a trade could have been worked out. Coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons, Jackson was considered a potential short-term replacement for the injured Sidney Rice.
Jackson, who is 6-5, would have given Favre the type of big target that he’s lacking, with the 6-4 Rice expected to miss half the season after having hip surgery.
The Vikings reportedly had agreed to a one-year deal with Jackson’s agents that would have been worth more than $6 million for 12 games of work. There also was believed to be a potential option year in the contract. However, the Vikings, and other teams, were unable to reach an agreement on trade terms with the Chargers by a 3 p.m. deadline Wednesday.
I’m in two minds about the deal: the Vikings are getting desperate enough at wide receiver to suit up Brad Childress or perhaps give Pat Williams a chance, but the Jackson situation had the potential to bring as much trouble to the team off the field as his play might have helped on the field.
With so many of their talented players coming up on the end of their contracts, it would send a terrible signal to reward a player like Jackson for his behaviour. I have to assume that’s why the Vikings didn’t pony up the kind of offer San Diego was looking for, and in the long term, I think it was the right decision. Brett Favre may have a different opinion, however.
