NFC North: Marcellus Wiley
Mark Schlereth and Marcellus Wiley have differing opinions on which teams have the NFL's most dangerous attacks.
Grant Halverson/Getty ImagesThe Titans were 26-14 in games in which Vince Young started at quarterback.- The Vikings have no established starter on their roster, and coach Leslie Frazier has made clear the position must be addressed this offseason.
- Frazier hired longtime friend Craig Johnson as his quarterbacks coach. Johnson was the Titans' running backs coach in 2010 but before that served as Young's position coach.
- Johnson had nothing but positive things to say about Young during an interview with The Tennessean. Johnson noted that assistant coaches don't get involved in personnel moves, but added: "Obviously I have a good working relationship with Vince, and he produced pretty well under me."
At this point, we shouldn't rule out any possibility. Frazier just completed assembling his staff, and I don't think the Vikings have mapped out a concrete direction for the offseason yet.
Ultimately, it's probably more coincidental than purposeful that Frazier chose Johnson as his quarterbacks coach. This isn't college basketball recruiting, where you offer a scholarship to the player and a job to the AAU coach. There are too many variables involved in hiring an assistant coach solely in anticipation of acquiring one of his former players.
The big question will be whether Frazier wants to tie his career to a talented but often-troubled quarterback whose team has given up on him. Young could obviously use a change of scenery, but Frazier would face a steep risk-reward decision that could define his tenure.
Young recently sat down with ESPN's Marcellus Wiley, saying he will be an "elite quarterback in the NFL" and hopes that his next team won't hold his previous mistakes against him. We're a long way from there when it comes to the Vikings, but Johnson's arrival at least gives us reason to pause and discuss the possibility.
In the first video below, ESPN analyst Marcellus Wiley takes a strong stance on Minnesota's courtship with quarterback Brett Favre. You might not agree with everything Wiley says, but on this blog we take all comers and listen to every viewpoint.
Of particular interest to me was Wiley's take on the saga's impact on the Vikings' locker room. Is coach Brad Childress running the risk of losing the locker room? What do players think when a coach expresses confidence in his quarterbacks while at the same time pursues another option? Wiley addresses those issues and more.
Here you go:
And in this second video, Mark Schlereth weighs in:
A few (thousand) of you have suggested we move past the Brett Favre story until some actual news happens. I'm happy to oblige. Let's talk about Fran Tarkenton instead.
In all seriousness, Tarkenton's series of outbursts this week have made him the story instead of Favre. From his original analysis of Favre's "despicable" actions to Thursday's touting of a FoxSports.com poll that suggested 75 percent of fans agreed with him -- "It's a mandate!" Tarkenton exclaimed -- you would think Tarkenton is purposefully trying to draw attention to himself. What, does he have a book coming out this winter? Hmmmmmm.
The Vikings have a large and active alumni base, many who have been living in Minnesota since retiring from the team. Tarkenton, however, is not one of them. He lives in Atlanta, rarely spends time around the team and until this has accepted few interview requests. Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press referred to him Thursday as an "AWOL" alumnus of the team. His assault on the Vikings and Favre is pretty much unprecedented in his post-playing career.
There are some who believe Tarkenton holds a special grudge against Favre not only because of his Green Bay ties but also because, in some ways, Favre in his prime was a better version of Tarkenton: Strong-armed, flamboyant and more than able to escape the rush with his feet. Favre out-Tarkentoned Tarkenton. (I admit I never saw Tarkenton play. So if there are some old-timers who want to disagree about their styles, I'm all ears.)
During an appearance Thursday on KFAN-1130, Tarkenton seemed to be reveling in the attention:
"I think this is so much fun. I have never seen anything like this. I read in the paper this morning that North Korea is going to declare war. They're going to bomb our ships. Iran has got nuclear weapons, and they're going to blow the world up. And Pakistan is going to give their nuclear capabilities to the world. The banks are getting tough. The financial system is collapsing. And we're talking about Tarkenton and Favre? Isn't this great?"
In the video at the bottom of this post, ESPN analyst Marcellus Wiley suggests Tarkenton must have spent some time on the set of "Grumpy Old Men." Yes, there does seem to be an old-timer element to Tarkenton's outrage. While it might have been sacrilegious 30 years ago for a player to move from the Packers to the Vikings, it really isn't anymore in this era of free agency. Fans have maintained the rivalries, but players move around enough that they don't share the same provincialism.
Tarkenton couldn't let Wiley's comment go, however. Speaking Thursday on Atlanta' 790 The Zone, Tarkenton said:
"Marcellus Wiley, who is trying to parlay a minimal football career into still making more money. This grumpy old man is 69 years old, I own six businesses, I've built 16 over the years, I'm paying my taxes, I've started two new businesses, we're hiring more people, we're not laying them off, we're not cutting their salaries -- we're increasing their salaries, and in this society we are productive when so many people are not productive. I'm not playing croquette down at Orlando at the Villages, I'm not playing golf every day, I'm out there as a 69 year old ... making money out of sports or with sports. I'm creating and building businesses from the ground up: That's this grumpy old man."
It's fair to give Tarkenton his opportunity to respond, but it's also fair for me to say that Tarkenton should be awfully careful about using his business ventures as a crutch for taking shots at other people. About 10 years ago, you might remember, Tarkenton paid $154,187 in fines after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of fraud. Tarkenton admitted no wrongdoing as part of the penalty agreement.
Ultimately, Tarkenton admitted this week that his words are unlikely to impact the decision of either Favre or the Vikings. "It's my opinion and it's not going to change the world," he said.
Consider it heard.
from his time with the San Diego Chargers, between Doug Flutie and Drew Brees. Plus, Chris Mortensen has the latest on Brett Favre.ABOUT THIS BLOG
Kevin Seifert
Seifert joined ESPN.com in 2008 after covering the Minnesota Vikings for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for eight years. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and children.
