Rosenfels, Reynaud traded to Giants

Quarterback Sage Rosenfels and RB Darius Reynaud have been traded to the New York Giants for future draft picks.

The Vikings have traded Sage Rosenfels and running back Darius Reynaud to the New York Giants for future draft picks, an undisclosed draft choice in 2011 and a conditional draft choice in the 2012.

The Vikings were able to unload Rosenfels one day before he likely would have been released.

The Vikings traded a fourth-round draft pick to the Houston Texans in 2009 to obtain Rosenfels and he was expected to battle Tarvaris Jackson for the starting job. But that all changed when Brett Favre signed with the Vikings on Aug. 18 last year.

Jackson ended up winning the No. 2 job and Rosenfels was inactive for every game last year. This year, Rosenfels was never able to gain the confidence of the coaching staff to compete for the No. 2 job. He is expected to assume that position behind Eli Manning in New York.

With the Vikings liking the developmental prospects of rookie Joe Webb and Rosenfels scheduled to make $2.6 million in base salary this year, he didn’t seem like a fit with the team any longer, especially with head coach Brad Childress clearly a supporter of Tarvaris Jackson.

Rosenfels completed 31 of 51 passes for 402 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions this preseason for a 111.7 passer rating. All of those marks led all Vikings quarterbacks in the preseason.

In his preseason finale Thursday night, Rosenfels completed 1 of 4 passes in limited action, but previously had been sharp.

"There were some things I wish I could have done a little better. Overall in the four preseason games, I think my body of work speaks for itself," he said after the game. "There’s always room for improvement. I think I have made it known that I would like to be here. I’m not the decision maker and I’m going to go with what happens.

He knew for some time that he could be the odd man out in the Vikings QB rotation with the development of Webb, but he tried to remain focused on improving.

"It’s not an easy thing. There’s a human aspect to the whole thing with family members and kids in school," he said. "I like that I had a good preseason and I had a good training camp. The body of work I thought was pretty good."

Reynaud was making the switch from receiver to running back and wasn't likely to see much playing time there, but his real value for the Vikings was his ability to return punts and kicks. Reynaud averaged 32.2 yards on five kick returns, including a 73-yarder, and 9.7 yards on seven punt returns during the preseason.

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Tim Yotter is the publisher of 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.

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