It wasn’t long after Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Fave returned to the practice field that most of his receivers started to disappear from it. Just in the last week, Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice, who together accounted for almost exactly half of Favre’s 4,202 passing yards in 2009, went down with migraines and hip surgery, respectively. Rice, who wandered into the last year of his contract after having put off surgery, will miss the first 8 weeks of the season. The Vikings, meanwhile, are scrambling to replace the personnel in the same way that I drive to McDonald’s at 10:28 in the morning. Because I really like their breakfast, see.

The Vikings scrambled this week to add depth to a receiving corps that’s short on experience, signing veteran free agent Javon Walker on Tuesday and trading with the Miami Dolphins for slot receiver Greg Camarillo on Wednesday.

Walker caught passes from Favre for four years in Green Bay, but he had just 41 receptions in the last three years in Denver and Oakland.

Camarillo had 105 receptions for 1,165 yards and two touchdowns over the last two seasons in Miami. –NFL.com.

It always amazes me that instead of starting the bad players on their own bench, NFL teams go out and bring other bad players into the fold. You could make a case that both guys were stuck with bad quarterbacks in JaMarcus Russell and Chad Henne, but how much better could they be than Taye Biddle? At least one can enjoy saying the name “Taye Biddle,” even during the agony of getting crushed by the Saints in Week 1. What’s that? Biddle hasn’t caught a ball since 2006? Never mind then.

By the way, Harvin’s status is still up in the air, even after returning to practice yesterday, five days after collapsing and vomiting on the field. Jeez, Percy. I know we’re all sick of this Brett Favre business, but hold it together, will ya?

Despite his refuted and often embarrassing recruiting efforts to bring Brett Favre into camp, Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress seems to be a rather discriminate dude in terms of his personnel. In Peter King’s report filed from Vikings training camp, Childress discusses the intensive character testing to which recent draft pick and noted pothead Percy Harvin was subjected [emphasis added]:

The troubled Harvin, obviously, got investigated thoroughly before he was drafted out of the University of Florida in April. When Brad Childress went to Gainesville the week before the draft to meet Harvin and spend a day with him, he said he wanted Harvin to pick him up and drive him around. “I wanted to be in his car, and I wanted to smell the car,” Childress said. You know, for the pot smell. via.

I just love that story: I’m sure Percy Harvin picking up Major Dad at the airport didn’t hurt his game with the Gainesville ladies at all. And what’s to stop Harvin from using somebody else’s car? Childress seems like one of those parents that would just barge into your room while you’re getting high. “Are you smoking pot? No? Okay, son, carry on. Boy, it sure it foggy in here.” Yes it is, coach. Yes, it is.

Percy Harvin is one of the newer Minnesota Vikings, but that didn’t stop anyone at the Pioneer Press for picking his views on life. His favorite book is The Cat In The Hat, which I’m sure was great for his senior thesis at UF.

If I could trade places for a day with anyone, it would be my old (Florida) teammate, Tim Tebow. Some of the stuff and some of the girls and things that were thrown at him. We saw all kind of actors and news reporters just kind of blatantly say, “Tebow, I want you.” And he turned them down. I’m looking at him, like, “Man, you are crazy.

Although that seems to fly in the face of this gem, uttered immediately beforehand:

The worst advice? My friends always said, “If the shoe fits, wear it.” That wasn’t always the case with women. Some of the shoes fit, but I shouldn’t have worn it. (Laughs.)

C’mon Percy, you’re either putting that shoe on or you’re not. And you weren’t complaining about Tebow’s style when he gave you that free circumcision. And at least give us some names, sucka. Although I know who my money’s on…Nick Lachey. If that guy was any bigger of a douche, he’d have vinegar in his bloodstream.

|via Dashspin|

While athletes smoking weed still seems to make front page news, regardless of context, the story here is not, “Percy Harvin and former UNC wideout Brandon Tate tested positive for marijuana at the NFL combine.” Rather, it’s more along the lines of “Harvin and Tate were stupid enough to get caught.” From FOX Sports:

Harvin and Tate were the only high-profile players to flunk their combine drug tests, the sources said. Fewer than a dozen players tested positive for recreational drugs, one source said.

NFL teams received the drug-test results earlier this week. Players who failed are subject to entry into the NFL’s substance-abuse program.

Sports Illustrated’s Web site reported that Boston College defensive tackle B.J. Raji had flunked a combine drug test. Raji was not on the list of failed players, one source said, and SI.com has since retracted its story.

I don’t get it. If the guys running the combine had that news in February, why not release it to the teams then? Why wait until the week of the draft? And why not tell everyone publicly? And what’s up with airline food? And is Dana Jacobson seeing anyone? You know, besides the Papa John’s guy every night?