Monday smorgasbord, courtesy of Peter King

Gents,
As things have been a bit quiet recently, I thought I'd lob a few things in for your reading pleasure:

1) Vikes cut Erasmus James, which means that only one player from the 2005 draft is still around. You'll recall that this is the draft where we had two first round picks in exchange for dealing Randy Moss. From Peter King:

It should interest, or sicken, everyone wearing purple. The Vikings' two most valuable chips entering the 2005 off-season were Randy Moss and their first-round draft choice, the 18th overall pick. Imagine if I told you three years ago that the Vikings would have turned Randy Moss and the 18th overall pick in the draft into absolutely, totally nothing.

That's what's happened -- unless you consider the 27th receiver in the 2008 draft a bonanza.
In the Moss trade, in came linebacker Napoleon Harris and first- and seventh-round picks. Harris lasted two mostly undistinguished years, compiling 84 tackles and 3.5 sacks before moving to Kansas City in 2007 as a free agent. The first-rounder, seventh overall, was wide receiver Troy Williamson, who had three touchdowns in three totally undistinguished years. He's one of the biggest busts in the top 10 in recent years. The seventh-rounder, cornerback Adrian Ward, never played a game for the Vikes. And last Friday, defensive end Erasmus James, the injury-plagued first-rounder from 2005, was waived. He gave the Vikes all of five sacks in three years.

This is what the Minnesota Vikings have left from Randy Moss and a first-round pick in 2005: Jaymar Johnson, a wide receiver from Jackson State. The Vikes dealt Williamson to Jacksonville for a sixth-round pick in March, and Johnson -- yes, 26 receivers went before him -- is the flag-bearer for one of the worst first rounds a team has had in recent history.

2) King spends the first page of MMQB talking about T-Jac. Nothing super-insightful...but gives me mild to moderate optimism going into next season. Check it out at the link below.

3) Interesting tidbit from King about the Santana trade that never happened with Boston: Found myself thinking the other day about the aborted Johan Santana trade to the Red Sox, which the Sox didn't do because it was too rich for their blood. Minnesota wanted, if you believe the reports, either Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury, along with minor-leaguers Justin Masterson, a pitcher, and Jed Lowrie, an infielder.

Lester threw a no-hitter last week. Over his past five starts, he's thrown 34.1 innings and allowed 18 hits and six earned runs. Over his past five starts, Santana has pitched 32.1 innings and allowed 37 hits and 13 earned runs. I haven't even mentioned Masterson -- who, in two emergency-duty starts after being called up from Double-A, is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA -- or Lowrie, who beat Minnesota with a homer May 10 before being sent back to the minors.

Here's the link to the full MMQB:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/05/25/mmqb/index.html

Hope everyone is still in one piece after the holiday weekend.