Tarvaris Jackson doesn?t want to be a Minnesota Viking anymore

Tarvaris Jackson is talking as if his odd and brief tenure as a Minnesota Viking is over. He doesn't feel like the Vikings are giving him a fair shake to be a starter, and he told the Star Tribune that he's ready to turn the page.

"It's probably time for a change," Jackson said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to play up here the last five years. ... [But] I'm not trying to be a backup. I'm trying to go somewhere where I have a chance, and I don't feel like I'd get that chance here. It's time to move on. No hard feelings or anything. It's a business."

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"Since Day 1, I don't really think I was really welcome here anyways, because nobody really knew who I was, being from a smaller school," Jackson said when asked to reflect on his relationship with the fans. "A lot more things probably play into it, too. It's just the way things are. I can't help that."

T-Jack is 28 years old and wants a chance to be a starter in the league. The Vikings apparently feel better about Joe Webb and recent draftee Christian Ponder than they do about Jackson, so he wants to be elsewhere. One sympathizes.

However, one also wonders what NFL team affords Jackson a better starting opportunity than the Minnesota Vikings.

The number of teams that would say to Jackson, "Yes, please sign with us, and you can immediately become our starting quarterback" is exactly zero. The number of teams that would say to Jackson, "You can come here and be in an open, fair competition to be our starting quarterback" might be greater than zero, but probably not by much.

The teams that do need quarterbacks have their sights set on guys with better resumes than Jackson's. The teams that don't need quarterbacks ... well, they don't need quarterbacks, and Jackson isn't interested in carrying someone's clipboard.

My advice to him would be to stay in Minnesota, if he can. He's right when he says it hasn't always been a great situation for him there. He really got railroaded with all the Brett Favre nonsense, but it wasn't all bad. He did start 20 games there, and has, in brief stretches, looked decent. Minnesota might not be an ideal fit for him, but I don't know if there's a better one out there at the moment.

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