Football Thoughts

Here are some recent football thoughts.

Still thinking about LaDanian Tomlinson's speech.

The Miami Dolphins signed Jay Cutler to a one-year $10+ million contract. The Dolphins were forced to make a move for a quarterback when Ryan Tannehill went down with a knee injury on Friday. The move wasn't a tremendous surprise as Cutler had one of his better seasons in 2015 when Dolphins head coach Adam Gase was his offensive coordinator in Chicago. I was actually looking forward to Cutler in the broadcast booth. That will have to wait.

Dolphins beat-writer Armando Salgeuro mentioned Colin Kaepernick, Tim Tebow, and Kyle Orton as quarterbacks that the team considered before signing Cutler. Later it was reported that Kaepernick wasn't considered and Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgerwater were. Ponder?!?

Apparently money has never been discussed in any of the contacts that teams may or may not have had with Kaepernick. Talks have never gotten that far. Sad.

The Minnesota Vikings have been on a spending spree this summer. They've signed defensive difference-makers Everson Griffen, Xavier Rhodes, and Linval Joseph to generous extensions in the last week and a half. If it was Jeff Diamond doing these deals I'd be worried that the team's financial future was in jeopardy. I have faith that cap-genius Rob Brzezinski has a clear grasp of the future with everything that he does in the present. I have faith that all Vikings contracts will fit together like pieces of a puzzle, now and in the coming years. Diamond had no such vision in 1998. He spent a ton and then bolted to the Tennessee Titans a year later. Before those Vikings bills came due. And they did come due.

I guess Derek Carr didn't leave enough cash on the table to sign Donald Penn.

Adrian Peterson's running the football for the New Orleans Saints now. That's going to be tough to watch. Especially in Week 1. Starting in 2012 the Vikings stopped giving Peterson preseason carries. That was when he was completing his remarkable return from a torn-up knee. Not playing Peterson in the preseason became a pattern that continued through his final season in Minnesota. Even beyond that, the Vikings defense wasn't even allowed to hit him in practice. I always thought the absolute protection of Peterson prior to the regular season was a mistake. It never made since that the first legitimate hit that he took each season since 2011 didn't occur until the regular season. He wouldn't like himself until Week 3 or 4. A connection? I think so. Sometimes it can take a while to round into a football frame of mind. With that in mind, I hope that the Saints do the very same thing.

During his annual training camp tour, MMQB's Peter King asked Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen if he's ever tackled Peterson.

"Never," said Griffen. "NEH-ver. Not once! I thudded him up a few times, but never tackled him to the ground. He was off limits. He was a golden child. So to tackle him, it's going to be weird, but it's going to feel so good. I miss him."

I miss him too.

A Vikings training camp without Adrian Peterson has felt weird. September 11 is going to be really weird.

The Vikings closed their Mankato training camp yesterday. The first full team practice was August 27. Rookies and select veterans had three practices before the veterans joined them. There were 11 full team practice days in Mankato. And two off days. There once was a time when the Vikings spent over a month in Mankato. Most of those days were filled with two practices. Maybe more than two on select days. Times have changed.

The Preseason gets rolling tonight. Houston Texans at Carolina Panthers. Seven games are on tomorrow's exciting slate.

The real games are less than a month away.