There is still possibility of Haynesworth joining Vikings

As the Minnesota Vikings tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams lost the lawsuit against NFL suspension, the Vikings may start their 2010 season game without the Williams Wall. As a result, there are again discussions of Vikings’ possibility to get Washington Redskins tackle Albert Haynesworth for replacement.

However, there have been several concerns over Haynesworth, who finished last season with 37 tackles and 4 sacks. One of the concerns is his questionable behavior and attitude to his job. He has recently disappointed the Redskins with uncooperative attitude toward new head coach Mike Shanahan’s new scheme. Another concern is that Haynesworth is a high-paid tackle and still five years left on his current contract that runs through the 2015 with a base salary for 2010 season of $3.6 million. It would be hard to the Redskins to let Haynesworth go after paying him a $21 million roster bonus in April. Even if they finally decide to trade him away, the price they are going to ask wound be high.

The Williamses are facing potential four-game suspensions in 2010 regular season, which means the Vikings will have to find two replacing tackles to fill the void in the first four games. And one of the replacing players would be able to stay at starting line as Pat Williams is 38 years old and will not play for long. On this point, 29-year-old Haynesworth is a top choice if he is available. At the moment, it really depends on whether the Vikings are willing to pay the price for having Haynesworth put on Vikings jersey as it is really impossible for the Redskins to release the talented young tackle for no pay back of their huge investments.

Vikings have not decided on Gerhart’s potential role

Although most people expect the Minnesota Vikings to use newly drafted rookie running back Toby Gerhart as backup to starter Adrian Peterson, simply the role LaDainian Tomlinson would have played if he signed with the Vikings. However, as the team still has other choices on roster, it’s just still too early to confirm Gerhart’s possible role.

Since former backup Chester Taylor signed with the Chicago Bears during free agency, the Vikings head coach Brad Childress has shown his confidence in Albert Young and Darius Reynaud. The addition of Toby Gerhart simply added one more choice for the team to pick a better backup. Gerhart’s advantages are his hands. He used to win a Heisman Trophy last season with a nation-best performance of 1,871 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns. His disadvantage is that he did not catch large number of passes but that was majorly because he was not used that much to catch passes. If he is to given the playing time, Gerhart is expected to have more catches.

As the Vikings traded third-round picks in order to have the right of picking Gerhart from the second-round, it seems that Vikings do hold high expectation on the rookie. So even if he is not going to play at secondary position, he could still expect a brilliant career in purple and gold Vikings jersey.