Why Matt Schaub, why?

All around Viking Country, I hear this absurd talk about how the Vikings should do what it takes to bring Matt Schaub here. They talk as though he’s the second coming of Christ.

“He’s an established vet, why draft an uncertain college player when we can get Schaub?” is what I here day in and day out.

An established vet? Are you kidding me? How many second year backup quarterbacks can be considered established vets? I’ll help you out a little on this one…….none, zero, nadda!

Let’s take a look at last year’s stats for Matt Schaub:

He finished the season with 495 yards passing, four touchdowns (three of which came from one game), and a QB rating of 98.1. That’s a decent rating, but not too hard to ascertain on just 64 attempts for the season.

Remember when he came in for Vick against the Vikings last year? Yeah, I do, and he really lit it up going five for 14, 39 yards, and no touchdowns. That lovely endeavor had him post a QB rating of 44.3. That’s who our savior is supposed to be, the same guy that some say we should hand over our 17^th pick for?

The only other game worth mentioning from last year (his rookie year numbers are even more pointless) is his full game against the Pats the following week. Now here he truly did have a nice game going 18 for 34, 298 yards, and three touchdowns. But even those impressive numbers coupled with a solid 112.1 rating translated into a 31-28 loss for the Falcons. No, that loss may not have been his fault, but do we really want to chance a vital draft pick in an impressively talent laden draft based off this one game? I say no, no way in hell.

I say the only move that makes sense in obtaining Schaub is our second third round pick coupled with our fourth. If that’s not enough to snag him away from Atlanta, well then that’s just too bad. The Vikings have already committed to Johnson this year, so either make some kind of quarterback move in the draft and let him learn under Johnson, or look ahead to next year’s free agency.

At number 17, the Vikings will have plenty of options when it comes to talented players. Our most glaring need is at linebacker, and I sure would hate to see it wasted on a so-called established veteran quarterback.