Daunte Culpepper watched last season, helpless, as the Class of 1999 literally passed him by. With Jeff George and Randall Cunningham calling signals, there were times when the Minnesota Vikings rookie simply wanted to disappear. When you are a 250-pound quarterback, that's an impossible task.
"I wanted to play, no doubt," Culpepper said. "But I had to mature and understand my role on the team, and that was to get the defense ready to play each week. So I wasn't on the sideline pouting and complaining. I was in the game and hoping the team did the best to win the game."
|  | | Daunte Culpepper threw for 177 yards and two TDs and ran for 59 yards in a win over the Pats. |
While the other five quarterbacks drafted last season -- Cleveland's Tim Couch, Tampa Bay's Shaun King, Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb, Chicago's Cade McNown and Cincinnati's Akili Smith -- combined for 1,149 passes, Culpepper didn't throw a single ball in a real game. Still, he ran the scout team in every practice as well as the two-minute offense against the starting defense. He grew. He matured. He got better.
More than anyone, Dennis Green saw Culpepper's learning curve accelerate. When Green passed on Cunningham and George during the offseason and installed Culpepper as the starter, people wondered what the head coach was smoking. After a successful eight-year run, during which the Vikings made the playoffs seven times, Green seemed to be committing professional suicide by linking his future so closely, so dangerously with Culpepper's.
As usual, Green saw something the rest of us couldn't. Culpepper has won the first three starts of his NFL career and the Vikings are one of the league's three undefeated teams. Green won a contract extention Wednesday, one that will keep him in Minnesota at least through the 2004 season.
Outside of the Vikings' training complex in Eden Prairie, Culpepper has been a revelation.
He has completed 55 of 88 passes for a percentage of 62.5 and thrown for 722 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions. And while Couch (93.8) and King (82.8) have better passer ratings than Culpepper's 76.0, remember that they had much of last season to learn their craft against opposing defenses.
Early on, Culpepper has distinguished himself as a runner. Bigger than some of the linebackers he's eluding, Culpepper scored three touchdowns in the second half of the opener against Chicago and has scrambled 33 times for 169 yards. Since most teams will double-team talented wide receivers Randy Moss and Cris Carter, Culpepper still is learning how to level the field.
"Their thinking is that if we take out Cris and Randy, who are a huge part of our offense, they have a good chance of stopping us," Culpepper said. "My job is to keep the chains moving, no matter what. The main thing is to keep the options open. If they want to take Cris and Randy away, then I come to the tight end or the back underneath. If they want to take that away as well, then I can run it."
After an impressive but unending string of quarterbacks, Green seems to have found his man. Stretching back to his first season in 1992, Green has played Rich Gannon, Sean Salisbury, Jim McMahon, Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, Cunningham and George behind center.
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“ |
Hopefully by the end of the year, we
can see me gradually getting better. I don't want
to peak out too early. I want to get better at the
end of the season when the playoffs come. That is
where I want to be at my best. ” |
|
|
— Daunte Culpepper, Vikings quarterback |
In 1998, against the beliefs of many presonnel men, Green used the draft's 21st pick on a Marshall wide receiver named Moss. Bouyed by his enormous success, Green passed on Florida defensive end Jevon Kearse and made Central Florida's Culpepper the No. 11 pick in the 1999 draft, then added Michigan State defensive end Dimitrius Underwood the No. 29 pick.
Well, one out of two isn't bad.
After the Vikings won their third game, owner Red McCombs rewarded Green with an extension that will pay him $9 million over three years and leave him as the second-highest-paid coach in the league after Seattle's Mike Holmgren. Green is 87-54 in Minnesota, a winning percentage of .617 that compares favorably to Hall of Fame Vikings coach Bud Grant (.607), Paul Brown (.609) and Tom Landry (.601). Green's winning percentage is precisely the same as that silver-haired genius from San Francisco, Bill Walsh.
Green's Vikings were picked by most to finish third or fourth in the NFC Central, but they're sitting in first, ahead of heavily favored Tampa Bay. The next two weeks will say a lot about Minnesota's playoff chances. After a bye, the Vikings play at Detroit on Sunday and meet Tampa Bay the following week on Monday Night Football.
"We know we've got a great opportunity," Culpepper said. "We've just got to take advantage of it."
He's still a little rough around the edges, but his head seems to be squared away, even if his third, fourth and fifth reads aren't.
"Hopefully by the end of the year, we can see me gradually getting better," Culpepper said. "I don't want to peak out too early. I want to get better at the end of the season when the playoffs come. That is where I want to be at my best."
When the playoffs come, not if.
This, from a guy who's played three NFL games.
The 250-pound quarterback is no longer invisible.
Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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