Tarvaris Jackson Looking Forward To Fresh Start After Vikings Tenure
Tarvaris Jackson knows a thing or two about uncertainty. After being drafted with the Minnesota Vikings' second-round pick as an unknown prospect out of Alabama State in 2006, the signal caller would experience the full gamut of emotions throughout the next five years. Within his time in the frosty north, love and hatred would eventually bleed so seamlessly into one another that Jackson often doubted if anyone was actually on his side, fans and coaches alike.
“Since Day 1, I don’t really think I was really welcome here anyways,” Jackson said to the Minneapolis Star Tribune in a Tuesday report. “Just the way things happened, like the way I was thrown into there, the way where it was me or Brett [Favre] or all this stuff. Just a lot of different things played into it that kind of soured our relationship.”
Jackson’s endless saga with former coach Brad Childress became well-documented in Minnesota as the years pressed on. Never presented the full confidence of the man who drafted him, the young quarterback was yanked in-and-out of the starting lineup more times than he wished to count, his assurance dropping with each passing season.
After being sidelined with an injury halfway through the 2010-2011 NFL season, it became obvious that the relationship between the franchise and Jackson was nearing an unceremonious end. Rookie Joe Webb started the last few games of the year, and performed well-enough to earn the praises of both ownership and the general public.
The situation only compounded itself when the Vikings took an early flyer on Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder with the 12th overall pick in the 2011 draft. The message was loud and clear: Minnesota had moved past Jackson.
Though, in all likelihood the feeling was mutual.
After the Vikings refused to offer Jackson a contract tender before the NFL lockout could begin, it became all but assumed that this stage in the quarterback’s life had come to a close. No longer would Jackson be forced to deal with expectations from the hardened Minnesota fanbase or a flippant coaching staff that could never quite keep their promises.
So here Jackson stands, the troubled quarterback that feels like he never quite got his fair shot. As he lobs passes to close-friend Larry Fitzgerald, drenched in the fresh northern sunlight outside the University of Minnesota campus, Jackson embraces the new chapter he believes he is about to begin.
Only time will tell whether the chance Jackson is looking searching for will ever come to fruition.
For more Vikings, visit Daily Norseman and SB Nation Minnesota.
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