Minnesota Vikings Decide Not to Franchise WR Sidney Rice

As if we didn’t already know, new Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier is making his focus of the team obvious by slapping the franchise tag on linebacker Chad Greenway instead of wide receiver Sidney Rice.

Greenway is a very good linebacker, but probably is not worthy of the $10 million price tag the franchise tag carries. Rice, on the other hand, has proven to be a difference-maker when healthy. He had an All-Pro-caliber season in 2009 and, even though he was injured for most of 2010, came back at the end of the season and showed the injury was not going to derail his career.

Reports are coming out of Minnesota that the team also believes it will be easier to negotiate with Rice than with Greenway on a long-term deal.

The Vikings are playing with fire here. Unless they swing a trade for Kevin Kolb or Donovan McNabb, they’re going to have a young quarterback under center next season and will need receivers that can help him out. If they lose Rice, it’s unlikely they’ll have a receiving corps capable of covering for a rookie quarterback.

The team still has the transition tag at its disposal, but for reasons that haven’t really been defined as now the Vikings seem unlikely to tag advantage of it.