Birk to the Ravens

[gundy89]

Sounds like 2 years 9 million. What a joke. Good luck Matty. We appreciated the effort.

Now we get a 2nd year 6th round pick or a 3rd round waste of talent anchoring the O-line. Sounds like fun. Glad I'm not Sage or TJ.

[slabbin@thecabin]

NO...this is really true?

[eyehunter]

Yes, I'm afraid so. I just don't understand why they would let a "hometown boy" go like that. Obviously whoever made the decsion not to get him resigned isn't interested in making any friends with the fans of this team and the people of this state. Sad day....he should have retired a VIKING.

[Born2Fish]

Pretty sad they let him go. More than enough money to keep him around. Would of been really nice to see him play his ENTIRE career in minne. I do wish him the best of luck though. But I don't see him doing very well in Baltimore.

[Neighbor_guy]

Just one less reason for me to follow the Vikes.

I was a big Birk fan.

Add this to the "economic stimmulous" stuff pulled at the capitol by ziggy and company this week and I may just stop watching or carring about the team all together.

Good luck in Cali boys....

[jigging-matt]

I'm really disapointed in this one. Really like Birk he will be missed.

[LMITOUT]

Good for Birk. He's a decent guy (compared to the rest of the yahoo's in the league) and deserves a shot at a ring that he'll never get in Minnesota.

Plus he heard that Flacco has soft hands.

[Coach1310]

So what do the Vikes intend to do with their cap room? All the big ticket FA's are gone. I can't understand with the team about as good as it is gonna get, minus a piece or two, why they don't spend the $$$. As sick as I am of hearing it, I don't think he was a Chilly guy!

[PierBridge]

No suprise at all here. Birks had a great career but lets not kid ourselves his better days are long gone.

9 Million?... no thanks and good luck Matt!

[DoubleLunger]

Its for the best, hes getting old and undersized now that the Vikes have a zone block scheme and not man for the most part.

[zepman]

Birk was really good at pulling to the outside and playing in space. With the Vikes system now he wasn't asked to do much of this anymore. Like Pier said, his best days have passed him and I wish him nothing but the best of luck. I would think the Vikes will now move Cook over to center (his real position) and let him and Sullivan battle it out for the starting job. Birk, was a 6th or 7th round pick as well and he turned out pretty good. Sullivan came through a great program (Notre Dame) and I'm sure he can play if given the chance.

[longcaster]

Don't the Vikes have a backup center that Birk has been training for the last couple of years that was going to take over anyway?

[Sandmannd]

I was a big Birk fan as well. Sad to see him go. I hope he does well. Gonna leave a gap on that O-line and now who is Hutch going to do crosswords with?

[eyehunter]

That's my biggest thing. I hope Hutch can "mesh" with Sully the way that he did with Birk. I'm really going to miss him, but wish him the best of luck out there. Maybe when his time is up in Baltimore the Vikes will sign him back so that he can retire a Viking like he should. Good Luck Matty, we'll miss you.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

talk abouit disgusting, so what if he was aging, they need experience on the line to be productive. This was just plain stupid.

[bassNspear]

Hutch will be just fine. Hes one of the best if not the best o lineman in the NFL. Personally, i though birk was over rated, but thats just MO. They will mess and get the ball rolling again this year, i hope

[ozzie]

to bad at 3 years 12 million how could we not sign him to stay.....looks like things are going the wrong way this off season for our beloved vikes!!!

[Rick]

Matt Birk was the best in every aspect. Unfortunately he didn't look as good on a number of plays last year which was not typical for him.

I'm glad he got his deal and I hope he retires as a Viking.

With the way Spielman and Chili have moved during free agency in the past they must feel confidant in getting what they need to improve in other ways.

I'm not a big "coach Chili" fan but I do respect him and Spielman with their personnel acquisitions and football philosophy to date. Although I do think they should have moved up to grab Cutler.

[zepman]

It appears Birk simply wanted out of Minnesota. He never gave the Vikes the opportunity to match or exceed the Ravens offer. He told them what Minnersota was offering...they matched or beat it and he signed.

[FISHINGURU]

. Personally, i though birk was over rated,

he was good but i thought he was over rated myself.

[ozzie]

I would be willing to bet that he is in the top 6 centers in the NFL....maybe he has lost a step but he still can dominate at his position and he is a great all around guy for the communtiy......Ravens got a good pick-up in Matt Birk....hopefully Sullivan will prove to be a good NFL center

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Oh God, nobody can say Birk is a bad player, But that's what we said when Christy left, who the [PoorWordUsage] is this ugly guy from Harvard. He turned out to be pretty good, hopefully Sullivan can do the same.

[delta dude]

It all starts with the center. He was listed two years ago as top three in nfc. Could not of dropped that far since. Now there is no experiance at center and right tackle. Blitz's will be coming all season. With the frightned QB we have it will be a long year. Blame our boy Chilly for this.

[FISHINGURU]

no one is givin sullivan a chance aye? who's to say he don't step in and play good if thats the direction we are going? birk was a 6th round pick that was a back up for a couple years before he got the nod...his first year at center he was a pro bowl player.

free agency isn't over and we haven't even drafted yet and everyone seems to know how the season is gonna be lol.

[zepman]

Two years ago Marvin Harrison was one of the best receivers in the league. Two years ago Ray Lewis was the best linebacker in the league...the list could go on and on and on. Where are these guys now? Sullivan is going to be a stud and I'm excited to start seeing some of the Vikes new talent take the next step.

[blue_healer_guy]

Can't feel sorry for him one bit. The offers were close, he wanted out. Kinda takes away all the comm work he did around the cities for me.

[so haaad]

I'll wait and see what the Sullivan kid can do before making judgement. Birk was a six round draft pick too, so you never know how good a guy is going to be until you try him out. Personally I think Birk had some great years, but he wasn't the same player last year as he was say three to five years ago. I don't think you can blame Birk for wanting to try something a little different at the end of his career. Especially since he's going to a solid team.

[mskyfshntchr]

Birk was on with the superstar yesterday. It was a good interview, as almost all of his interviews are.

He said a few intriguing things..the offers from MN and Balt were basically the same. He chose Balt to get out of his comfot level. He felt the teams were almost equal in terms of talent and ability to go far in the playoffs. He said Sully is a player and by October or November we will have forgotten Matt Birk in MN.

So, I think because we waited so long to try to resign him, he decided he wasn't coming back. I think he will be missed, but we were in this same situation 10 years ago and it turned out alright...Let's hope Sullivan can do the same things Birk did. 6 pro bowls in 10 years, all the community work, etc....

I am sure it has been podcasted by now, I would recommend listening to it.

[Sandmannd]

I think you hit it on what he said with superstar. I think Chilly had more to do with it then we know. I just don't think they got along or he would have stayed.

[FISHINGURU]

I would be willing to bet that he is in the top 6 centers in the NFL

madden has him ranked as the #2 center in the league on the game lol