Minnesota Vikings Confirm Plans to Field NFL Team in 2012

After passing on the first-, second-, and third-tier free agents in the 2012 free-agent pool, Minnesota Vikings' officials this week insisted that a plan is in place and that, despite rumors to the contrary, the team would compete in the NFL in 2012.

"We're looking at all angles--narrow, wide, obtuse, more specifically--and really kind of mapping the future course of this team in regards to where we want to be and where we plan to be going," head coach Leslie Frazier cryptically stated.

Frazier more clearly added, without prompting, that the Vikings will have enough players to meet NFL requirements. "We have lots of picks in the draft and we plan to use them," he sagaciously intoned, leaving no doubt whatsoever about the Vikings' make-use-of-draft-picks intentions.

Newly minted General Manager Rick Spielman reminded those concerned about the Vikings' lack of involvement in the free-agent market that the Vikings have been very active in free-agency. "We kind of got a jump on everyone in that respect. That's what everyone seems to forget. We got AP, CG, and JS early in the process and still have great plans for BS."

Spielman added that "there are still a lot of very promising twenty-somethings out there. Our job--my job--is to kind of sift through the resumes and determine who has the potential to play in the NFL. If that means throwing some passes to a guy who has never put on pads but thinks he's got what it takes, I'm ready to roll up my sleeves.

Spielman insisted that the Vikings' off-season inactivity was not about storing cash. "Of course not," he offered. "If there is a player or person, or even an animal, that meets our needs, we will pull the trigger. My job is to pull the right trigger at the right time."

Asked what that meant, Spielman offered what it did not mean. "It does not mean that we are going to sign a great football player at a position of need just for the sake of signing a great football player at a position of need. People--fans--forget that that does not always work."

Rallying to his General Manager's aid, Frazier offered that the Vikings were looking for a very particular person. "We don't want someone on the wrong side of 26, or the wrong side of 25, or someone with too high of a football IQ. Those players create problems because they force other players to adjust and they force, maybe, coaches to adjust. And that's not what we are looking for, even if it helps us immediately and down the road. We want the right player--the right person--for our system," he added, greeting cornerback Chris Cook as he passed through the interview area. "Vikings' football is not about wins and losses, it is about history, tradition, and doing things the Vikings' way. That's what this off-season symbolizes."

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