Robert Ferguson: Signs with Minnesota, should we care?
Robert Ferguson has signed with the Minnesota Vikings after being released last week by the Green Bay Packers. While it’s tough to get excited about the perennial underachiever, I was shocked to read the following blurb from the aforementioned ESPN article:
Ferguson was drafted in the second round by the Packers in 2001 and will immediately become the most experienced and productive receiver on the Vikings. Despite battling numerous injuries, Ferguson has caught 116 passes for 1,577 yards and 12 touchdowns in his six years in the league.
Before his arrival, Bobby Wade had the best numbers on the team with 101 catches and just two touchdowns in his career.
If I’m a Vikings fan, that little factoid is downright SCARY. I mean, Ferguson’s career best season was 2003 when he caught 38 receptions for 520 yards and 4 touchdowns. His best fantasy ranking? 56th!
Here are the current Vikings receivers and their career stats:
- Robert Ferguson (6 seasons): 116 receptions / 1,577 yards / 13.6 YPC / 12 TDs
- Bobby Wade (4 seasons): 101 receptions / 1,199 yards / 11.9 YPC / 2 TDs
- Troy Williamson (2 seasons): 61 receptions / 827 yards / 13.6 YPC / 2 TDs
- Billy McMullen (4 seasons): 45 receptions / 601 yards / 13.4 YPC / 3 TDs
- Sidney Rice (Rookie): N/A
- Aundrae Allison (Rookie): N/A
- Cortez Hankton (4 seasons): 34 receptions / 310 yards / 9.1 YPC / 2 TDs
- Jason Carter (1 season): 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
- Martin Nance (1 season): 4 receptions / 33 yards / 8.2 YPC / 0 TDs
Not that anyone expected Tarvaris Jackson to set the world on fire, but is there a potential contributor in this bunch? If anything, I would think the Vikings are best served giving the trio of well-regarded youngsters (Williamson, Rice and Allison) long looks this year; if there’s a star in this group, it’s not Bobby Wade or Robert Ferguson.
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I’ve said a few times in the Shark Pool that Minn very well might set a record this year for most team rushing attempts. One of the best lines in football, an inexperienced young QB that they have high hopes for and don’t want to throw to the wolves, two quality backs who can each carry the load, and WRs like Wade and now Ferguson.
I mean, we’re talking in the past 4 yrs the highest rush attempts was Pittsburgh at 534 (avg 33-34 rushes per game). I would seriously not be surprised to see Minn put up 40 attempts per game…
Comment by tmarman — August 21, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
I think you may be right. One thing a lot of people mistake about Brad Childress is his offensive philosophy. Since he was OC under Reid, people assume Childress shares Reid’s view that a 4-yard pass is as good as a 4-yard run, but Childress time as a play-caller in college (most notably Wisconsin) tells a different tale. With Taylor and Peterson, plus a decent line, and huge gaping questions at QB and WR, I think he’s going to try very hard to win the Steelers way. Whether he can keep it up is another question.
Comment by admin — August 22, 2007 @ 8:36 am