Is Derek Anderson the Answer to Minnesota's QB Troubles?
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Recently, the Minnesota Vikings were struck a severe blow as a team, a season-ending injury to their star quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater. He suffered the dreaded “non-contact” injury, to the lower leg. Those are two words you never want to hear associated with any player on your team. With Bridgewater out, journeyman Shaun Hill, age 36, takes over. This means a sudden onslaught of doubters and negative thoughts by fans who were talking of an NFC Championship playoff run just days, no hours before.
What steps can be taken by the Vikings to put themselves back into consideration for making a deep playoff run? I think I have the answer. But there’s one thing I know that will certainly KEEP them from making the playoffs, and that is allowing Shaun Hill to quarterback this team. So I propose a trade between the Carolina Panthers and the Minnesota Vikings. This will be a trade that is beneficial to both teams.
Derek Anderson will give the Vikings a much better chance of making that playoff run than Shaun Hill. Recently, the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers traded punters and a 4th for a 7th round pick. In making my proposed swap, the Vikings will trade their 4th round pick to Carolina and in return Carolina will give the Vikings 2nd team quarterback Derek Anderson. Anderson is 3 years younger than Hill and Anderson has been a Pro Bowl quarterback in his past, it was with the Cleveland Browns back in 2007. Derek threw for 3700+ yards, 29 touchdowns and a 57% completion percentage. Please remember this was with a Browns team that was nowhere near as talented as this Vikings team is.
I think this move is perfect for the Vikings. Right now the teams around the league have the Vikings “over a barrel” with Shaun Hill taking the reins. I know other GMs are taking advantage of the Vikings desperate need for a quarterback and are asking for ridiculous compensation in order to acquire players like a Josh McCown from Cleveland or Mark Sanchez from Denver. The Panthers would likely be satisfied with getting a 4th round pick in return for Anderson. For Minnesota Derek Anderson would provide a veteran presence, he is an upgrade over Hill, he’s 3 years younger, most importantly he knows what it takes to win. That is where Anderson will help this young team the most. Derek would allow Teddy Bridgewater to take all the time he needs to make a full recovery.
The departure of Anderson from Carolina would allow Joe Webb to step into the backup role. His skill set is very similar to Cam’s and Webb has looked good in the preseason. Imagine what he would look like behind the 1st team offensive line and with a legitimate run game taking some of the pressure to throw the ball off of him. With the switch to Webb as the backup to Cam, the offense does not have to change at all.
I am not going to hold my breath in anticipation of the deal actually taking place, but I think it is one worth looking into at least. Is this a move the Panthers should do or should we stand pat with Anderson as our backup and Webb as the emergency quarterback? What do you think?
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