The V Boysâ€
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 by Judd Zulgad
That’s what coach Brad Childress playfully referred to his newest players, TE Visanthe Shiancoe (Giants) and LB Vinny Ciurciu (Carolina). They were introduced this afternoon at Winter Park. While Judd is transcribing the tape, I’ll give you a rundown of what we know:
*Shiancoe got a five-year contract worth $18.2 million, including $7 million in guaranteed money. For those of you wondering (like I was), the origin of his name is the African country of Liberia. He was born in England and moved to America when he was two months old.
*Ciurciu will get a chance to compete for playing time at linebacker but is primarily a special teams player. Either way, it’s notable that he played middle linebacker at Boston College.
*WR Kevin Curtis left Winter Park today without a contract and is on his way to Detroit. Both Childress and VP of Player Personnel Rick Spielman said the door is still open for Curtis to sign with the Vikings, but it’s clear that Curtis wants to weigh his options in Detroit, where his former coach, Mike Martz, is the offensive coordinator.
And for all those Brady Quinn haters and free agency big signing proponents....
*Spielman and Childress will take owner Zygi Wilf’s private plane to South Bend, Ind., tomorrow for the Notre Dame pro day. So it’s unlikely that the team will have any more visits until Monday.
*Childress was vague on the future of tight end Jim Kleinsasser but said the two have spoken recently. Reading between the lines, it sounds like the Vikings are trying to get him to take a pay cut from his $2.9 million base salary for 2007.
