I really hope Shiancoe can prove the "experts" wrong ... but it is hard to ignore the media opinions.  I've also read that there's grumbling on the team about the direction the team is going. The following is from Peter King / ESPN (we must remember he has not been especially kind to the Vikes in the last few years):

"The other day, the front-office mentor of both Reinfeldt and Thompson, former Packers GM Ron Wolf, was in Green Bay for the team's annual Fan Fest. Wolf, sitting in Thompson's office discussing the state of the game, playfully chided him for his inaction.

"I can't get him to do a deal!'' Wolf told me. "I just want him to do something.''

Then Wolf made it plain he wasn't serious. "This market's amazing," he said. "Al Johnson, what did he play last year? Seven plays? And he gets $7 million ... No, he didn't just play seven plays, but he didn't start. And the Vikings pay $7 million to [former backup Giants tight end Visanthe] Shiancoe? Amazing.''

He's right about the $7 million in 2007 money for Johnson, beaten out for the Dallas center job by Andre Gurode last year. But he understated the money for Shiancoe, who caught 35 balls (for a 7.2-yard average) in four years as Jeremy Shockey's backup. Minnesota will pay him, in bonus and salary, $8.2 million this year. Even in a spending spree like the one the NFL has seen in the last week and change, the Shiancoe deal has stunned people around the league. Stunned is putting it nicely. The Vikings are being belittled for spending so much on a guy who, even when he got the chance with Shockey hurt so much, never proved himself a remotely reliable receiver.

We're in for an interesting year,  Rusty