The Vikings have by far the worst QB situation in the NFL right now.  The starter will probably be second year man Tavaris Jackson out of tiny Alabama State.  The Vikings are wrong in throwing this kid to the wolves before he’s ready and the results could wind up pretty darn awful.  Jackson has the physical skills (good runner, strong throwing arm) to be a success, but the mental part of the game is his big problem.  Lucky for Jackson is the fact that the Vikings will be a running team first which should take a lot of pressure off of him in the passing game.  Jackson played in 4 games as a rookie (2 starts) and he completed 47 of 81 (58%) passes for 475 yards with 2 TDs and 4 INTs (62.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 15 times for 77 (5.1 ypc) yards with 1 TD run. 

Brooks Bollinger will be the backup, but the Vikings will likely let him split the reps in practice as if he was QB 1A.  Bollinger has the look of a career backup because he just doesn’t have the arm strength to drive the ball in tight spots.  He probably is a better passer overall than Jackson is, but he doesn’t have the all around upside.  Bollinger is good as a play action passer and that would seem to work well in the Vikings’ style of run first offense.  Bollinger played in 2 games (no starts) for the Vikings last season and he completed 13 of 18 (72.2%) passes for 146 yards with 0 TDs and 1 INTs (72.9 QB Rating).  Bollinger does have the most experience of the Vikings’ QB roster and that’s scary.  He has played in 14 games (9 starts) in his NFL career and he completed 168 of 293 (57.3%) passes for 1,764 yards with 7 TD passes and 7 interceptions (73.0 QB Rating).  He also has carried the football 36 times for 137 yards (3.8 ypc).

The battle for the #3 QB will pit rookie Tyler Thigpen out of Coastal Carolina vs. Drew Henson.  The Vikings hope that Thigpen wins this battle.  Thigpen does not have a strong arm and he’s played against weak competition, but he was efficient in college so he will get a chance.  Drew Henson has had a rough time since leaving the University of Michigan, where he was a fine college QB.  He took the big money and played baseball and it didn’t turn out too well.  He played a lot of his minor league games in Columbus, Ohio so he took abuse from Buckeye fans in his home park and that couldn’t have been good for his baseball career.  When he quit baseball and resumed playing football he had a lot of rust in his game and he still hasn’t been able to shake it off.  Henson has played in 7 NFL games (1 start) and he’s completed 10 of 18 (55.6%) passes for 78 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception (61.8 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 1 time for 7 yards.