Jermaine Wiggins & Brett Conway

UPDATE: I've moved this blog. Visit the new Vikings section at my new TwinCitiesMinnesotaBlog.com.

Jermaine Wiggins

Our big offseason offensive pickup was TE Jermaine Wiggins, who was supposed to serve the Byron Chamberlain role of a big, soft-handed tight end who would stretch the middle of the field. Wiggins has plenty of swagger but he hadn't backed it up on the field, until last night. As the Strib's Kevin Seifert reported, Tice acknowledged that Wiggins would have been cut were it not for his six catch, 50 yard and one touchdown performance yesterday. Still, after watching him last night, I remain wary. I'll be perfectly happy to be proven wrong, but I think he looks a bit too thick to be much of a recieving threat. Speaking of tight ends...maybe Tice should have added another player to his list of those he wouldn't play last night: Richard Angulo. He looked extremely impressive--more impressive than Wiggins--and he's a huge target at six foot eight. But he sprained his knee last night. I hope we keep him.

Brett Conway

As the Pioneer Press' Jason Williams points out, the jury is still out on new Vikings kicker Brett Conway. His first kick0ff landed at the 17, his second kickoff went two yards further to the 15, and it was only on his third kickoff that the ball reached beyond the five, to the three yard line. But he did make his PATs, which was an improvement over Aaron Elling. I just had to shake my head when we first signed him. The book on him was that he was injury prone. A kicker? Injury prone? How can a kicker possibly be injury prone? And how slick are we for signing one?!?