Brett Favre threw for 4,202 passing yards and 33 touchdowns last season with the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings wide receivers Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin were on the receiving end of 2,102 of those passing yards and together the pair caught 14 of Favre’s 33 touchdowns passes last season. The statistics tell it all, Rice and Harvin are Brett’s two favorite wide receiving options. While Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor are adept at catching passes out of the backfield and Visanthe Shiancoe and Bernard Berrian are serviceable targets for Favre, it starts and ends with Rice and Harvin at the wide receiver position for Minnesota.

So it is understandable why head coach Brad Childress, owner Ziggy Wolf, and members of the Minnesota Vikings fan base are unnerved by the fact that Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice have both been sidelined from training camp action and preseason games with injuries. Harvin has been suffering from migraine headaches and just last week collapsed on the field at Vikings training camp from the migraines. He has been held out of camp, but team officials do expect the former Florida Gator to begin working out again sometime this week and haven’t yet ruled him out for Minnesota’s Saturday preseason matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Rice on the other hand is expected to miss at least eight weeks after having hip surgery, head coach Brad Childress hasn’t ruled out the option of placing Rice on injured reserve which would end his season entirely.

Without Rice or Harvin the Vikings now have a receiving core that consists of Bernard Berrian and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe. The next most productive healthy wide receiver Minnesota has is Greg Lewis who caught eight passes for 96 yards and one touchdown last season. That is why the Vikings have been working these last few days to address their anemic depth at the wide out position. The result is the addition of wide receiver Javon Walker from free agency and the addition of wide receiver Greg Camarillo via a trade with the Miami Dolphins.

Ok so the Minnesota Vikings have picked up Greg Camarillo and Javon Walker to help them at wide receiver, let me explain just who these two guys are.

Greg Camarillo caught 55 passes for 613 yards and two touchdowns before suffering a season ending knee injury in week 12. Before his season abruptly ended in 2009 he was starting to look like one of Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington’s favorite receiving options. The Vikings are hoping that his season ending injury doesn’t hold him back any further and that he can regain the momentum he was building in 2009.

Javon Walker meanwhile enjoyed the two most productive seasons of his career by far while playing with Favre in 2003 and 2004 in Green Bay. He eventually left the Packers after landing in Favre’s doghouse for missing training camp time over a contract dispute (can you imagine Brett Favre being critical of someone for missing training camp). Javon hasn’t been nearly as productive during his last three seasons with the Broncos and Raiders, posting only 483 receiving yards and one touchdown. Vikings ownership is hoping that Javon can once again return to his 03’ and 04’ form with Brett leading the way at quarterback once again.

Injuries are one variable that no coach or owner can predict in the NFL. At the moment the team is without their two top wide receivers and this is a scenario that Brad Childress or owner Ziggy Wolf definitely did not prepare for. The additions of Camarillo and Walker can be considered Minnesota’s emergency plan. Yes, everyone is excited about Brett Favre returning for another year, but it is important to remember that he achieved the statistics he did last year with a fully healthy complement of wide outs.

It is vital for Minnesota that Greg Camarillo continues the success he had during the first half of the 2009 season. It is also crucial that Javon Walker does more of what he did in 2003 and 2004 and less of what he did in 2007 and 2008.

If Camarillo and Walker do not produce in the manner that Minnesota is hoping for then that Vikings wide receiving core doesn’t look very threatening after Berrian and Shiancoe. A non threatening wide receiving core equals eight men in the box for Adrian Peterson and numerous blitz packages for Brett Favre to get used to seeing.

Brett has been stealing the headlines for his decision to return for another season with the Vikings, but it should be known that while the man under center will be the same his supporting cast on offense will be different. I don’t know whether the difference is for the better of worse. It remains to be seen.

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