Erasmus James Claims Vikings Didn't Give Him Any Help as Rookie First-Rounder

I think it's fair to call Erasmus James an underachiever. Or at the very least unlucky. His career started well enough: after the Vikings selected him in the first round of the 2005 draft, he appeared in 15 games (started nine) and registered nine four sacks.

And then James played in three games the next two seasons after twice injuring his left knee. Two surgeries and many unfulfilled expectations later, he was traded to Washington.

Apparently, the grace period for taking shots at your former team is a week, because James sorta did just that in Monday's Washington Post.

"Coming in as a first-rounder there's a lot of pressure on you," he said. "A lot of guys think because you're a first-rounder, you're going to come in and start. . . . And that's the worst thing to come in as, especially as a rookie with people like that, because you can't get any help. It's kind of like you fend for yourself. It's nice to be around older guys who are not out there to say, 'Hey, there's this new guy coming in.' It's not like that at all. You can learn from these guys. I'm real excited about that."

Of course, James left out a few key details. Luckily, the Daily Norseman is kind enough to fill in the gaps:

...The Vikings had a pretty big need at defensive end, pretty much like they have since Chris Doleman was traded to Atlanta, and one would have thought that James would have been able to come in and make a serious impact.

And that, in fact, might have been the case. . .if he hadn't decided to hold out and miss the first 19 practices of training camp in 2005. Call me crazy, but maybe that's what put the veterans off a little bit. Well, that and the whining he did about the rookie hazing he received from the Vikings in training camp.

Yeah, but other than that, James has a point. No? Moving on...