Reception has been split amongst Vikings in the aftermath of Sidney Rice’s departure from Minnesota to join Tarvaris Jackson with the Seattle Seahawks.
The five-year deal worth over 40 million dollars–18 million of that guaranteed– was too much for the Vikings to match.
One person who is furious with the Sidney Rice departure is his now former teammate, superstar runningback Adrian Peterson.
Via his Twitter account, Peterson voiced his displeasure with the Vikings letting Rice slip out West to Seattle.
I CAN’T Believe the Vikings let my boy Sidney Rice get away! I didn’t think we wouldn’t be playing together this year! WOW!
Seeing teammates that also grow to be great friends leave town is part of the business. But Peterson seems more than just “business” related upset.
The capitalization and exclamation marks show a substantial level of hostility towards the Vikings franchise.
The loss of Rice will definitely hurt the Vikings. Names like Malcom Floyd, Braylon Edwards, and Jim Jones are all being tossed around to replace the void left by Rice. But will they be enough?
As it stands Percy Harvin–who excels as a slot receiver– is now atop the Vikings depth chart at Wide Receiver. And while the acquisition of one of the above names would help, it’s definitely not the ideal receiving core that new Vikings quarterback Donovan McNabb or rookie Christian Ponder would dream of.
Much more will be known about the Vikings receiving core over the next 24 hours. But right now it appears that Peterson seems very upset with the Vikings front office. Placing a potential hurdle in front of future contract negotiations with the superstar running back.
-Brett Cloutier
Brett is a contributor to The Sports Bank by covering all things Minnesota sports, but mainly the Minnesota Timberwolves. You can follow him on Twitter @brettcloutier.