Getting more likely Sidney Rice heads to IR? (1 Viewer)

[dagwood]

Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice was on the field after practice Wednesday catching some passes from position coach George Stewart but Thursday he made it clear that in no way qualified as route running.

“I was jogging around,” said Rice, who underwent hip surgery in August. “I wasn’t doing routes.”

The Vikings have until Nov. 9 to bring Rice off the physically-unable-to-perform list and at this point Rice said the next step is up to the trainers. He also isn’t willing to put any date on his potential return.

“I think it’s going great right now,” he said of his rehab. “I’m going to continue to do what they ask me to do and I’m just working to get better and get out on the field.

Link to the story. Zulgad is one of the main Vikings beat reporters for the local paper. This is in the FBGs news blog. Whoever did the FBGs comment on the story advises dropping him, so clearly he/they viewed this as a negative. Draw your own conclusions.

It seems to me that Rice is being brought along very cautiously by the team, so in my opinion the damage in that hip may have been worse than expected. Rice was supposedly trying to do without surgery, and then as soon as Favre signed he went under the knife. Again, this is only my opinion, but it appears to me that Childress and company kept hope alive that Rice could play this year while courting Favre to sign for 2010 - as soon as that was accomplished, they proceeded with the surgery that was necessary all the while. In short, I don't trust the Vikings to accurately report on this rehab. They covered up the necessity for the surgery to get Favre signed, and now they're having to live with that series of "truth shadings" before putting Rice on I.R. due to an "unforeseen setback".

Just one man's view of the situation, but I'd truly be shocked to see Rice on the field this year at all.

To me this is a perfect example of when the staff need to put out an official FBG opinion on a player situation. If FBG were to put out an official "hold or drop" decision, I would follow it b/c I honestly have no idea. The info out there has been spotty and will likely continue to be.What say you Wimer, can you make this happen? I think it would be a HUGE welcome addition to subscriber content.

Seriously, Isn't it is really close to a coin flip as to whether he helps you at all this year. I own Rice in a couple leagues and am close to dropping him in the non-dynasty leagues. It ultimately comes down to whether you have the room on your roster to carry a guy who may provide no help at all to your team this year.It would be nice to have an official FBG opinion but I am not sure that will make anything that much clearer. Other than it pegs them to a recommendation that we can high five them for if they are right or make fun of if they are wrong.

 

[Faust]

Rice...get healthy soon, as an increased number of passing targets just opened up for you today!

 

[Breesisdaman]

I doubt very seriously they send him to IR with Moss being cut.

 

[Chaka]

I doubt very seriously they send him to IR with Moss being cut.

I would go so far as to say Rice's improved health was a partial driver on the decision to release Moss.

 

[FFdork]

The only path I see back to elite WR status for this year is a healthy Rice + a healthy Favre + better o-line play + an injury to Moss. That's kind of a lot to hope for at this point. He could certainly come back and contribute to a fantasy team, especially in larger leagues, but even that still seems far from assured.

Well, that's one off of the checklist. A lot of people want to read into the Moss thing and say this means Rice will be back soon. Given the shenanigans going on with the Vikings these days, I think that this is probably giving them way too much credit.

I would say that this decreases the chances of Rice going on IR and increases his prospects as a lottery ticket. Still anyone's guess as to when he'll be ready. I still can't see a healthy, effective Rice before week 12, but that's 100% speculation based on the tidbits we know.