Vikings Get Conditional Pick for James

The Vikings were able to get a conditional draft pick in 2009 by trading defensive end Erasmus James.

The Vikings were able to get something for defensive end Erasmus James after all.

On Friday, the Vikings placed James on the waived-injured list, but then rescinded the transaction on Tuesday. Because of the holiday weekend, the waiver move was never made official, and the Redskins asked the Vikings to trade him instead of waiting for their turn on the waiver wire, according to ESPN.com.

The Redskins opted to give up a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2009 draft instead of letting James hit the free-agent market. He would have to make the 53-man roster for the Vikings to receive the draft pick. To make room for James, the Redskins released defensive end Dorian Smith.

A former first-round pick (18th overall) out of the University of Wisconsin in 2005, James (6-4, 266) appeared in 23 career games with 12 starts for the Vikings. In his three seasons, James has totaled 51 career tackles with five sacks. His best season occurred in his rookie year (2005), when he set a career high in tackles (34), sacks (four), games played (15) and games started (nine).

James spent much of the last two seasons on injured reserve or coming back from knee injuries, including two torn anterior cruciate ligaments and a torn medial collateral ligament.

He will be reunited with his college defensive line coach John Palermo, who tutored him at the University of Wisconsin. As a senior, James earned All-American honors and was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

"We really liked Erasmus coming out of college" said Vinny Cerrato, Redskins executive vice president of football operations, in a release. "He is young, talented and has a great deal of potential. We like the fact that his defensive line coach at the University of Wisconsin, John Palermo, is our current defensive line coach."

In 2007, James had six tackles and one sack in six games with one start for the Vikings. He sustained a knee injury and was placed on injured reserve on December 7.