A day after losing out in the T.J. Houshmanzadeh sweepstakes to the Seahawks, the Vikings continued their not-so-stellar start to free agency with lifelong Viking Matt Birk to another flock of birds. Wednesday afternoon, the Ravens swooped in and literally stole the six-time Pro Bowler. Terms of the contact have not been officially disclosed yet, but multiple reports are saying it is $12 million over 3 years, with $6 million guaranteed, which is considered robbery in most states in the union.
Packers fans need start sending those classic Wisconsin meat and cheese gift baskets to Ravens’ GM Ozzie Newsome immediately. Taking one of the best centers in the game and the longest-tenured Viking of 11 years out of the NFC North for little guaranteed money is applaudable for the Green and Gold faithful. It looked like for a while that Birk was going to re-sign with the only team he ever knew when reports came out early this week that he was only going to make one visit outside of Minnesota. However, that one visit was enough for the St. Paul native to leave his hometown team.
The move is even more perplexing when you see that the Vikings came into free agency with t $32 million under the cap and their two moves thus far were for career backups masquerading as starters, Quarterback Sage Rosenfels and Tight End Jim Kleinsasser, for about $15 million. There also is not a clear replacement on the roster to replace Birk. The team apparently likes John Sullivan, a fifth round pick last year, but you and I have seen the field as much as he did last season. Right Tackle Ryan Cook was a center in college, but hasn’t proved anything in the NFL to the point where the Vikings started looking for an upgrade from him even before Birk left.
Gauging the scope of Vikings fans, it is safe to say the majority of them are not happy with this move and are putting even more pressure under embattled head coach Brad Childress.
Birk was the last remaining member of the 1998 squad, which might have been the best team in the franchise’s history. As you might remember, that team went 15-1 and set numerous scoring records before losing to Atlanta in the NFC Championship game. He has been one of the few Vikings that has been a role model in the last few years and was very active in local communities and charities. The team is also in a battle to build a new stadium and one would have to think that Harvard-educated Birk could have been a great player spokesman as the team is struggling to get money from the state in the current economy.
The on-field work of Birk has always been respected at Ol’ Bag of Donuts and we were openly hoping a trip to Green Bay would be in his plans if he wasn’t going to return to Minnesota. We would have welcomed him in open arms and especially for the deal Baltimore gave him. He is 32 years old, but is only one year removed from his last Pro Bowl bid and anchors the line that is in front of one of the best rushing attacks in the game. However, if it wasn’t the Packers, it never hurts seeing a division rival lose a player of that caliber.
As Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune pointed out, Packer fans have to be thrilled to see their neighbors to the west fumble their way through this year’s free agency.
-Adam Somers
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