Just a Thought ~ Vincent Jackson's Destination

After observing the sputtering Vikings passing offense today with a hobbled Percy Harvin and a lack of Sidney Rice, is there any doubt in anyone's mind that they will trade for Vincent Jackson? Granted Brett Favre completed 22 of 36 passes (with 3 interceptions), but they were mostly short and intermediate passes. Visanthe Shaincoe was his leading receiver for the second consecutive week in both catches and yards, and that is not a good sign for any team, even if it's Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates. Rice is expected to return to the field somewhere around week 8 to week 10, and there has already been some inside information saying his recovery is not proceeding as quickly as it was expected to.

It is very obvious the Vikings are in a "win now" mode. Their entire Super Bowl hopes rely on Favre being their QB (they haven't bothered to draft a quality QB prospect in the last few years), and Brad Childress has been on the hot seat since before he originally convinced Favre to join the Packers' division rival. Jackson has been asking for an extremely high salary--too high for the Chargers and too high for any team to vehemently pursue him--and the Vikings may suddenly be desperate enough to pony up the cash after a dismal 0-2 start. They need a big deep threat WR.

As a Jackson owner in my money keeper league (drafted him in the seventh round and have the option to keep him next year), I have heard all the rumors of the Vikings, Seahawks, Brown, Redskins, and Rams being in the V-Jax sweepstakes and have been strongly pulling for the WR1-less Redskins to pay for his services. From a fantasy perspective, joining the Vikings right now would return Jackson to WR1 status with the ultimate gun-slinger as his QB, but the inevitable return of Rice would cloud that status. Joining the Redskins would assure Jackson owners of owning a top fantasy WR into the fantasy playoffs, since the Redskins don't currently have a true WR1 for Donovan McNabb.

Given the recent Vikings loss, helped along by the paltry passing offense, it seems inevitable that Jackson will be a Minnesota Viking before Wednesday afternoon, which is the deadline for his suspension to be reduced to four games instead of six if traded. If that happens, it is scary to think of what kind of noise the Vikings will make in the NFL once Rice is fully healthy.

The Donovan McNabb Trade ~ Fantasy Implications

There are some huge fantasy implications involving the Donovan McNabb trade that went down Easter Sunday. As the speculation was swirling about where he could be traded (Oakland being the front runner), all of the obvious options were explored. Basically, every team that needed QB help was considered, including the Redskins who became less and less interested in Jason Campbell running the offense. The Redskins seem like a nice fit for McNabb because Mike Shannahan runs a similar West Coast offensive system and likes a QB who can bootleg or roll out, creating passing plays while scrambling. Prior to the trade going down, all the offensive pieces seemed to be in place for the Redskins to make a playoff run, as long as the right QB was put in place to run the plays (and as long as the holes in the offensive line get addressed during the NFL draft).

So, why the hell would the Eagles trade a pro-bowl caliber QB to a division rival, who they will play twice every year? There was speculation as early as Saturday that the Redskins had inquired about McNabb, but it was still more of a rumor than a report. This wasn't out of the ordinary because many of the teams needing an upgrade at QB had inquired about trading for him. Of course many people, including myself, immediately shot down the possibility of a trade between the Eagles and the Redskins involving any pro-bowl players, for obvious reasons. However, the relationship between McNabb and Andy Reid was strong enough that Reid was willing to trade McNabb to a division rival if it made McNabb happy.

"We thought this was the best for Donovan and