Tarvaris and Brady
Last week, I wrote about my early preparation for our magazine. I'm wrapping up my tape review and last night had a chance to sit down to watch two 'tapes' of Tarvaris Jackson. I was looking forward to it because I own Jackson in my dynasty league team and desperately need a "quarterback of the future." I was disappointed with what I saw.
I know that Jackson wasn't exactly playing with a stacked deck. His top three receivers in Week 17 last year were Billy McMullen, Travis Taylor, and Martin Nance.
But there was no way to watch Jackson and think he was even close to being ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. He threw three ridiculous interceptions in the five quarters I watched. His athleticism and arm strength are amazing, but he pulled down the ball to run too quickly after his first read was covered. His stats weren't terrible, but most of his yards came on dump offs with his team trailing big. He was in over his head. Keep in mind my tapes didn't include his 50-yard, 0 point effort in Lambeau.
None of this is particularly surprising for a rookie from Alabama State, but I can't see how Minnesota would be confident in Jackson as the guy in 2007. Brooks Bollinger is a fine fallback plan, but the Vikings probably want to do better. In the ever impatient NFL, Brad Childress is already on the hot seat.
When I first read of Childress' interest in Brady Quinn, it seemed like a poorly disguised smokescreen. Minnesota wanted teams, especially Houston and Miami behind them, to be interested in trading up for Quinn.
Now I'm not so sure. If the Vikings believed in Quinn as a true 'franchise quarterback', he'd be hard to pass up. Quinn would buy Childress another year as a coach. Any development from Quinn would make another 6-10 season palatable. Another posssibility for Minnesota would be signing a veteran, although nothing has been rumored to date.
Jackson could be great one day, but he's a true hit or miss developmental prospect with a long way to go. I don't feel comfortable betting my fantasy team's future on the kid. Childress probably feels the same way about his team, only the stakes are slightly higher.
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