Vikings Gauge The Market For Jackson

Judd Zulgad and Chip Scoggins (Star Tribune) reports the Minnesota Vikings are calling teams around the league to see what they would be willing to offer in exchange for quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.  The team is likely testing the market before they decide to trade or even release the 26-year-old.

The Vikings may indeed hold onto Jackson if they don’t receive good enough compensation, as he won’t be too expensive to hold onto with just a base salary of $535,000.  Not many teams have a backup with 20 NFL starts under their belt, and have a salary as low as Jackson’s.

I believe anything worse than a 5th rounder is not enough to ship out Jackson.  Even though Jackson is in the final year of his contract, he has shown enough progress to possibly become the starter after this season, and possibly this season if quarterback Brett Favre gets injured or doesn’t perform well.

The advantages of keeping Jackson on the roster outweighs any type of advantage the team can have by releasing or trading him for anything less than a 5th rounder.  Jackson can still help the team, and not to mention, he also carries knowledge of the Vikings’ playbook that they wouldn’t want other teams dissecting (especially teams in the NFC North).

It is my understanding that the team likes quarterbacks Sage Rosenfels and John David Booty as well, but ideally would like to carry just three quarterbacks.  We’ll just have to see what will happen following the last preseason game, as all three reserve quarterbacks are scheduled to play.

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