Berrian On Board

After spending nearly two days at Winter Park negotiating a contract, Bernard Berrian signed a 6-year deal with the Vikings on Saturday afternoon. The Vikings were his only visit and it was clear that Owner Zygi Wilf along with the rest of the team's front office was hellbent on adding Berrian to the fray. The deal will make the 27 year old wideout one of the highest paid receivers in the game and is believed to include $16 million in guaranteed money.

Ideally, Berrian becomes the deep threat that the offense sorely needs. He possesses elite speed and has approached 1,000 yards the past two seasons despite dealing with shoddy QB play from Rex Grossman and Brian Griese and fighting through less than ideal weather at Chicago's Soldier Field. It is likely he will see equally erratic QB play with the Vikings, but the Metrodome's controlled environment should make it easier to come down with balls and he should be able to utilize his speed on the Metrodome's field turf. After swinging and missing with the drafting of Troy Williamson, the Vikings hope they have acquired their first true deep threat since Randy Moss was tearing through the NFC North.

Snatching Berrian away from the Bears also leaves them without arguably their best offensive player from the past year. That is not saying much considering the state of the Bears offense, but Chicago is now in desperate need of talent at virtually every position on offense. Rex Grossman and Cedric Benson have failed to live up the hype and their #1 wide receiver now becomes return savant and converted cornerback Devin Hester.

Bernard has his fair share of critics. He occasionally comes down with a case of the dropsies and many argue he is a one-trick pony, with the home run ball being the only weapon in his arsenal. There is definitely some merit to those claims but Berrian is still a relatively young WR and his game has become more rounded as he has matured and developed as a receiver. He will become the teams most established wideout by far and will start across from Sidney Rice with Bobby Wade moving back to the slot where he is best suited. He is not a true #1 receiver, but if Sidney Rice continues to develop and build on the potential he flashed last year, the Vikings receiving core can go from laughable to pretty damn solid in a short amount of time. It also enables the team to focus on other needs in the draft. If they had missed out on Berrian and failed to acquire another veteran receiver they would have in all likelihood plucked a wideout on the first day of the draft. They can now address the defensive end position along with building depth on the offensive line.

The Vikings have once again made a splash early in free agency with the signings of Berrian and Williams. They will be relatively quiet on that front as the offseason wears on, looking to fill the roster in with reserves and guys needed for depth. There are several trade possibilities as well, including the aforementioned Sage Rosenfels deal and a potential move to net Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor. Regardless of what occurs over the next several months, the Vikings achieved many of the goals they had for the offseason. Plans for the 2009 SuperBowl parade have yet to be announced.