Re: Efficient Johnson pacing Vikings' turnaround <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (Dec. 7, 2005) -- Minnesota wasn't Brad Johnson's first choice when he hit the free-agent market in March.Truth be told, the NFL veteran didn't even discuss the possibility of his returning to his original team before the signing period began.After being relegated to the bench four games into his fourth season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- the same team he led to victory in Super Bowl XXXVII two years earlier -- Johnson, 37, was eager to find another starting job, or at least the chance to compete for one. He and agent Phil Williams viewed the Daunte Culpepper-led Vikings as anything but.When discussions with Chicago, Detroit and Miami proved fruitless, however, Johnson weighed his options and, against Williams' advice, avoided a potentially summer-long waiting game by signing on to be Culpepper's backup."Sometimes things work out, and sometimes they don't," said Johnson, a ninth-round draft pick out of Florida State in 1992. "I didn't get what I wanted in the offseason. There were already some commitments that were already made.</div>Read More...
