Bernard Berrian: The investment

A nagging toe injury kept Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian out of the team's final three preseason games and severely limited his practice time throughout training camp, so any evaluation of him is based on assumption.

So we assume Berrian will be better than Troy Williamson. You know, the guy with 20/1,000 vision who tried to catch passes with his chest and facemask. Yes, it's a giant leap of faith to think Berrian will be an upgrade, but we'll throw it out there and hope it sticks.

Seriously, it's hard to imagine Berrian not being a dramatic improvement at wide receiver. The Vikings are banking on it after signing Berrian to a six-year, $42 million contract that includes $16 million in guarantees.

Berrian takes over as the No. 1 receiver and is expected to provide what Williamson never could in his disastrous three-year stint with the team: a legitimate deep threat who can stretch the defense and take pressure off the Vikings running game.

Williamson was fast but couldn't catch. Berrian also is fast, but he knows it takes more than that.

"It doesn't matter if you can run down there if you don't catch the ball," he said. "You can do that all you want. If you're not making the play, it doesn't matter."

The Vikings have confidence Berrian will provide that play-making ability after setting career highs in catches (71) and receiving yards (951) with the Chicago Bears last season. He is fast enough to gain separation from cornerbacks, particularly down the sideline, which could force defenses to provide help from safeties and create gaps in the middle of the field.

"He opens it up completely," wide receiver Bobby Wade said. "He allows a lot of one-on-one situations. Teams are eventually going to have to roll coverages to Bernard because he's a guy who will really stretch the defense. He's going to be a consistent player, too. I think that's the biggest thing, being able to catch the ball down the field consistently. That will be a major factor in this offense."

Berrian's impact in the preseason was minimal. He played only three series in the preseason opener and didn't make another appearance because of the toe injury. But he showed flashes of his ability to stretch the field early in camp when he connected with quarterback Tarvaris Jackson on a number of deep passes.

"He's a nice addition for our offense because that is one thing we lacked last year, going down the field," Jackson said. "We have guys on the team that can do that, but just by adding him, it's another threat that we can have more consistently and just open up things for the other guys. The other guys should be happy because with him back there, you get that extra safety on the hash, and it's going to open up things for them."

Defenses didn't fear the Vikings' ability to throw deep last season so they brought safeties near the line of scrimmage to help contain Adrian Peterson and the NFL's top-ranked running game. Peterson rushed for only 144 yards total in the final four games last season.

The Vikings made a big investment in Berrian to keep defenses more honest. He has good speed and seemingly reliable hands. He's not a physical receiver at 185 pounds and needs to improve his downfield blocking, which can spring long runs. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, however, said he's surprised by different parts of Berrian's game.

"I thought he was a pretty good player, but he does a great job with his speed down the field," Bevell said. "But that speed gets cushion for him and helps him on the underneath routes where we have a little bit more separation, a little bit more time to throw. He has got really quick feet and does a really good job of getting in and out of cuts. I would probably not have said that when he first got here, but he does that very well."

It all comes down to making plays, though. If Berrian can do that, defenses won't be able to gang up on the run as much this season.

"If they still want to stack the box, we're going to have to stretch the field vertically," Berrian said. "And not just do it. We've got to make plays. That will get people out of the box so we can attack them with the run."