Vikings bringing back Baskett

The Vikings, who have been unable to work out a trade for Vincent Jackson as of early Wednesday morning, have decided on re-signing WR Hank Baskett, who made an impression on the team as a rookie free agent in 2006.

The Hank Baskett Vikings saga has come full circle.

Baskett was an undrafted free agent signed by first-year head coach Brad Childress in 2006. Less than a month later, Childress traded Baskett to his former boss and close friend Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles.

On May 18, 2006, less than a month after signing Baskett following the April draft, Baskett went from the Vikings to the Eagles. Since then, Baskett has played for the Eagles and Colts, but was released Tuesday as the Eagles needed to make room on the roster for Buffalo Bills practice squad running back Joique Bell, whom the Eagles claimed earlier Tuesday.

It is unclear who the Vikings will move off the 53-man roster once Baskett passes a physical and is signed. But, at 6-4, 220, he provides Brett Favre with a big target that has been missing with Sidney Rice out and could be pointing in the direction that the Vikings won’t be able to swing a deal with San Diego for Vincent Jackson. Published reports out of Chargers camp claim the team is looking for a pair of premium draft picks – as in a second- and third-rounder in 2011. That is clearly too steep a price for the Vikings to pay for what most believe will be a rental situation.

Baskett, however, might not be the cure-all to the receiving problems for the Vikings – only Buffalo and Kansas City have fewer passing yards to their wide receivers than the Vikings. He is likely best known for being married to former Hugh Hefner girlfriend-turned-reality star Kendra Wilkinson and for being the Indianapolis player who had the chance to make the Saints mega-gamble on the on-side kick to start the second half of the Super Bowl a dismal failure – only to have the ball bounce off his chest and get recovered by the Saints.

He may not be the answer to the prayers of Vikings fans, but he is a big target that Favre needs badly as the Vikings look to keep a grasp on the 2010 season before it slips away and the margin for error becomes almost nonexistent.

WEDNESDAY NOTES

Yahoo! Sports cites three unnamed sources confirming that the Vikings have offered San Diego a second-round pick in 2011 and a conditional pick, but the Chargers are apparently holding fast to getting a second- and third-round pick for Jackson’s part-time services.

There has been little in the way of buzz concerning the other teams most often mentioned in the Jackson discussion – the Redskins, the Seahawks and the Rams.

The strange Favre take of the week comes from Jason Whitlock of FOXSports.com as the panic button discussion hits warp speed. He claims, without any real insight into the matter and a lot of speculation that the Vikings’ season is in the toilet, that Favre will put himself on injured reserve once the Vikings are no longer in playoff contention and use it as an excuse to get out of more poor play. He theorizes if the Vikings drop to 0-3, Favre will go on I.R. to avoid the humiliation of getting beat by former teams in New York and Green Bay. Check it out for yourself to see the column that a nameless internet narrator claims is “humorous, thought-provoking, agenda-free, honest and unpredictable.” Read if for yourself and see if you think “occasionally delusional” should be included in the phantom third-person descriptor of this Whitlock column.

---

John Holler has been writing about the Vikings for more than a decade for Viking Update. Follow Viking Update on Twitter and discuss this topic on our message boards. To become a subscriber to the Viking Update web site or magazine, click here.

---