Vikings Trade for Quarterback

The Vikings and New York Jets pulled off a trade that helped both teams Thursday.

The Vikings have been rumored to be in the market for a quarterback for the last few weeks as Mike McMahon has fallen from the No. 2 quarterback to not expected to even play Thursday night.

With a need at the position, the Vikings and New York Jets pulled off a trade that helps both teams. Minnesota sent defensive tackle C.J. Mosley and an undisclosed draft pick to the Jets in exchange for quarterback Brooks Bollinger. With the development of rookie Kellen Clemens in New York, Bollinger became expendable, and the Vikings may have cut Mosley before Saturday’s deadline to trim the roster to 53 players. As a rookie last season, Mosley performed admirably in two starts filling in for an injured Kevin Williams. Mosley finished 2005 with 24 tackles and three sacks in 12 games played. He had a career-high two sacks and seven tackles against Cleveland on Nov. 27.

But Mosley had fallen behind in the depth chart this preseason as the Vikings added Ross Kolodziej at defensive tackle behind starters Kevin and Pat Williams. With Spencer Johnson and Darrion Scott also in the to the mix ahead of Mosley, he may have been released.

Bollinger played sparingly in his first two seasons with the Jets, but he started nine games last year, completing 155 of 266 passes (56.4 percent) for 1,558 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions.

Bollinger played his collegiate ball at Wisconsin, where Vikings head Brad Childress was a part of the staff. Childress left Wisconsin in 1998, when Bollinger was a redshirt freshman. Bollinger was 30-12 as a starter with the Badgers.