About a week ago, I blogged about what I thought was the biggest question mark for the 2009 Minnesota Vikings...Head Coach Brad Childress. In this post, I would like to examine the quarterback position, which will also come under deep scrutiny as the season plays out.
From what I have gathered during the 2008 season, there are two "camps" on the issue of Tarvaris Jackson as our starting QB: either you think he is still maturing and could become a good player, or you don't think he'll ever develop into a serviceable starter. Personally, I find myself in the first camp. I will admit that Jackson stunk in his rookie season of 2007 and even stunk as the anointed starter early in 2008 (before he was benched for Gus Frerotte), but the last few games of '08 he looked like a completely different QB. His passes were on-target, he wasn't making boneheaded decisions, and he was scrambling not for his life, but in order to deliver big gains. One or two games into his replacement of the injured Frerotte, I remarked that I hadn't been this excited about the Vikings' offense since Daunte Culpepper was heaving the rock to Randy Moss. Of course, Tarvaris did stink in the playoff game against the Eagles, but one must remember that the Philly defense is perhaps the toughest in the NFC. After the Vikes, the Giants couldn't do anything against them and only the Kurt Warner-Larry Fitzgerald combination could post any points (and that was only for about one half!).
Essentially, then, what I'm trying to say is that I think Tarvaris Jackson deserves another chance to helm the offense in 2009. Drafting a college QB would be just as risky, and here are the free agent QB options:
Kurt Warner: Not going anywhere.
Kerry Collins: Will likely stick around in Tennessee due to Vince Young's suppose instability.
Matt Cassel: Patriots won't let him go considering the seriousness of Tom Brady's knee injury (remember Pep?!)
Jeff Garcia: Probably the only intriguing option of the bunch. However, Garcia is terribly injury-prone and quite old...he can't stick around for much longer. Thus, he would only be a stop-gap.
Rex Grossman: Let's not even go here.
Kyle Boller: See above.
The only other options are potentially J.P. Losman or Matt Leinart (if the Cards don't want him), and both those guys are just as risky as Jackson.
So, in my opinion, when all the options are weighed, I think that Tarvaris Jackson should be under center come opening day 2009.
Keywords: Brad Childress, Daunte Culpepper, Gus Frerotte, J.P. Losman, Jeff Garcia, Kerry Collins, Kurt Warner, Kyle Boller, Larry Fitzgerald, Matt Cassel, Matt Leinart, Minnesota Vikings, Randy Moss, Rex Grossman, Tarvaris Jackson, Tom Brady, Vince Young
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