vikings/nfl

The Bengals failed to capitalize on Simpson's amazing potential, keeping him hidden on the bench behind Coles, Owens and even Ochocinko during his first three seasons. They were forced to give him a chance when Owens and Ocho went down with injuries in the last three games of 2010 and he was very productive. And even last year, they too often forced passes to budding superstar A.J. Green when they could have targeted Simpson more. He made plenty of great plays in addition to the famous flip. The Vikings have a steal with this free agent signing.

CC came with similar baggage and potential. People, star athletes or not, deserve a chance at growth and redemption.

what do the vikes have to lose with this? not much a 1 year deal so if he dont work out hes gone next year an beside most of use already know the vikes will be lucky to go 8 in 8 this year anyways

50 catches, 725 yards last year, almost 15 yards a catch, thank you Rick Spielman. Love this pick up.

The Vikings code of conduct should allow for 2nd chances.

What sells me on this is the fact that the Vikes' front office seems to have really done their due diligence, and they apparently got positive reviews of the guy's character pretty much across the boards. Yeah, sure, he screwed up (though smoking weed in-and-of-itself is irrelevant to me--the quantity is a bit, uhh, excessive), but the fact that he was well-liked and involved in the community in Cincinnati is very much a plus. Of course there's no guarantee he'll perform well on the field, but I'm less concerned about the off-the-field issues given what we're hearing. Putting a little faith in this guy and giving him a chance to resurrect his career could pay off very well, and worse case scenario he plays poorly and doesn't get resigned, which is basically always a risk in free agency.

Now that the Vikings have added some talent at both the cornerback position and the wide receiver position they won't go into the draft completly starving for some help at those positions. That's important. We need to stay away from reaching when we make our picks. The Vikes still need help at those positions but now when the best middle linebacker in the draft is there at pick #35 (for example) the Vikes can consider that pick.

This seems to eliminate drafting Blackmon with the 3rd overall pick...so it comes down to Kalil or Claiborne. Unless, there is a willing trade partner for the #3 pick. Good pick-up for only 1 year so it's a low risk move. He will be playing for a contract so he will try his hardest on the field and stay out of trouble off field. If not, the Vikes can always cut him and only lose the signing bonus money.

"of the 115 players who played at least 25 percent of their team’s offensive snaps at receiver, Simpson was graded the fourth worst. Of the 96 times he was legitimately targeted, he had 50 receptions, making his catch percentage fourth worst." Thats why the bengals didn't try very hard to retain him.

The Vikings were interested in Simpson 4 years ago. This similar situation worked out well with Chris Carter, and Simpson is now 26 years old, the time when many people start to grow up. I see no downside to a 1 year deal, and I hope Simpson will recall that the Vikings gave him a second chance.