Frerotte find new home with old team

by Ryan Van Bibber on Apr 9, 2008 9:06 AM CDT in News

Gus Frerotte landed on his feet after being let go by the Rams. The Vikings signed him yesterday to be Tavaris Jackson's backup and hand the ball off to Peterson if Jackson can't play.

I noticed the story said that the Vikings wanted someone who could "possibly push" Jackson. Can Frerotte do that? It's hard to judge him based on last season's performance with the Rams, given the injuries all around him. Linehan, for what it's worth, thought highly enough of him to sign him for a $2 million a season as the Rams backup, so maybe there's enough gas in the tank to give Jackson a push after all.

Be sure to read the transcript of Rams beat report Jim Thomas' chat with readers at STLToday.com yesterday. It's a pretty good source of info this time of year. Some highlights:

He clarifies the draft priorities a bit more for round two:

Assuming DL is picked in Round 1, I would say WR ranks as a higher need in Round 2 over OT.

It also sounds like a really good chance that Fakhir Brown is going to spend some time out of the lineup next season. And that means Ron Bartell will be a starting corner for the Rams. As I said before, that second round pick could significantly improve the d-line and give the secondary less exposure. Here's Thomas' thoughts on Bartell:

In my mind, Bartell has made significant improvement over the past two seasons. Whether he's good enough to be a starting corner in the league remains to be seen. He has good size, good speed, and is a bright player. I'd like to see him be a more physical player (he flashed this characteristic at times). He played much of last season with a painful hand and thumb injury (which required offseason surgery), otherwise he would have probably had a more INTs. Bartell is entering his contract year _ he's scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this year _ so I'm sure that will be an extra motivation as well.

Congrats to AmpLee, he's got him self a new book! I'm sorry I can't get one for everyone interested in it. Next time.

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