According to Judd Zulgad of the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Vikings approached journalist Jay Glazer about getting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson into an Mixed Martial Arts training regimen in order to increase flexibility.

Interesting, no?

The reason, Jay Glazer says, is because a few years ago he got Jared Allen involved in MMA training to improve his pass rushing ability. Glazer stated, “We turned (Jared Allen) from a big, stiff white guy to a guy that actually can come off the edge. He came in every day, was committed to us out in Arizona. They asked if we could do the same for Tarvaris to get his hips … really loosen up his hips.”

So what exactly does this mean? For starters, it seems the Vikings are not giving up on Tarvaris Jackson and are trying something different to get him to improve. It’s an interesting tactic, though personally, I don’t see how they related an improved defensive end to an improved quarterback from the same training. Hopefully, it will work, but this isn’t all good news for the people who want Tarvaris out of Minnesota, or at least relegated to a backup job.

With this development, it looks like Minnesota is, at the very least, not ready to quit on Tarvaris completely. It looks as though they are going to give him another shot, though I don’t know that they’ve necessarily given him the starting job. It doesn’t mean competition won’t be brought in, but it does appear, as Jay Glazer put it, “It looks like they are planning long-term with him.”

I’m glad it worked for Allen, but doesn’t this seem kind of gimickey? It really reminded me of the “eyesight” training that Troy Williamson did, and we all remember how that turned out. Hey Troy, how’d it work out for ya?

Yikes, that bad? Well, at least you can still fight Childress, though my money is on the mustachioed one.

I hope it works out well for Jackson if this does happen. He needs any help he can get to improve, though to me it seems like it’s more so his decision making skills, his ability to read defenses, and recognizing the blitz to adjust accordingly. Or maybe Childress thinks Jackson needs a few knocks to the head to jar whatever got into Jackson’s head loose. I don’t know, but more power to the Vikings for giving it a shot.

And who knows, maybe Jackson finds his true calling in MMA. Look for it next year:

Tarvaris Jackson versus Kimbo Slice on Pay Per View!

In the blue corner, wearing purple trunks...

In the red corner, wearing black trunks...

 

 

 

 

Versus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarvaris – Good luck.