With the eminently forgettable Mike Tice era now over in Minnesota, will one of my favorite receivers, Aaron Hosack, finally get a chance to play in the NFL. Hosack was a star in NFL Europe again this past season. He's 6-5 with great hands and while he may not have "top end" speed he has plenty of game speed and football smarts.Think of a guy just an inch shorter than Matt Jones with hands just as good andwho knows how to get open and make big plays.It's ridiculous that Hosack labors in the NFL's minor leagueinstead of startingfor an NFL team. The new Childress regime does not seem to be devoted to Tice's goal of making the Vikings as black as possible, as the drafting of Chad Greenway and some other moves would indicate. This St. Paul Pioneer article gives us a little more reason to hope:
Childress said the objective of this week's practices was to get the rookies and young players more accustomed to the Vikings' tempo and system in addition to the larger goal of teaching them how to be professionals.
It also was a good opportunity to get some extra work for players such as rookie quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who took all the snaps as the only QB at Friday's practice, and two players just back from NFL Europe, wide receiver Aaron Hosack and cornerback Ronyell Whitaker.
"Great hand-eye coordination," Childress said of Hosack. "Obviously, he's a bigger target, which quarterbacks love. He kind of vacuums up the football. As my old stats guy used to say, receivers by definition should receive, and he does a good job of that."
If Childress is fair, Hosack shouldn't just make the team, he has the ability to quickly establish himself as the best of thebunch. The one Viking WR with better raw talent is Koren Robinson, who had a terrific '02 season with Seattle but basically threw away the next three seasons because of an immature attitude and frequent run-ins with the law, though through it allMike Holmgren continued to swearhis eternal paternal love for K-Rob. Robinson resurrected his career with the Vikings the second half of '05, but who knows which K-Rob will turn up this season.
After Robinson, there's only Travis Taylor, a perennial first round bust, Marcus Robinson, an oft-injured one-trick pony who can make TD catches for a game or two or three then disappears for six or eight. The only other receivers are scrubs Kelvin Kight and Chris Jones. Hosack currently ranks seventh or eighth among the receivers, but K-Rob is the only one with more talent but with a very checkered career, to the point that he was almost out of the league last year. In a truly fair and objective talent evaluation process Hosack would be expected to be at or near the top. One can only hope that he'll shine so strongly in the preseason that he begins the regular season as the fourth or fifth receiver and continues to move up as the season progresses because of his undeniable productivty. He should be a big, reliable target and red zone threat that Brad Johnson should feel confident going to.Edited by: Don Wassall
Childress said the objective of this week's practices was to get the rookies and young players more accustomed to the Vikings' tempo and system in addition to the larger goal of teaching them how to be professionals.
It also was a good opportunity to get some extra work for players such as rookie quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who took all the snaps as the only QB at Friday's practice, and two players just back from NFL Europe, wide receiver Aaron Hosack and cornerback Ronyell Whitaker.
"Great hand-eye coordination," Childress said of Hosack. "Obviously, he's a bigger target, which quarterbacks love. He kind of vacuums up the football. As my old stats guy used to say, receivers by definition should receive, and he does a good job of that."
If Childress is fair, Hosack shouldn't just make the team, he has the ability to quickly establish himself as the best of thebunch. The one Viking WR with better raw talent is Koren Robinson, who had a terrific '02 season with Seattle but basically threw away the next three seasons because of an immature attitude and frequent run-ins with the law, though through it allMike Holmgren continued to swearhis eternal paternal love for K-Rob. Robinson resurrected his career with the Vikings the second half of '05, but who knows which K-Rob will turn up this season.
After Robinson, there's only Travis Taylor, a perennial first round bust, Marcus Robinson, an oft-injured one-trick pony who can make TD catches for a game or two or three then disappears for six or eight. The only other receivers are scrubs Kelvin Kight and Chris Jones. Hosack currently ranks seventh or eighth among the receivers, but K-Rob is the only one with more talent but with a very checkered career, to the point that he was almost out of the league last year. In a truly fair and objective talent evaluation process Hosack would be expected to be at or near the top. One can only hope that he'll shine so strongly in the preseason that he begins the regular season as the fourth or fifth receiver and continues to move up as the season progresses because of his undeniable productivty. He should be a big, reliable target and red zone threat that Brad Johnson should feel confident going to.Edited by: Don Wassall
