A fresh start for Berrian?

MANKATO -- Bernard Berrian confirmed Monday that he agreed to restructure his contract with the Vikings. The move almost certainly saved Berrian's place on the team because his salary-cap number was scheduled to be a very high $6.3 million.

That would be one thing if Berrian was coming off a solid season but that wasn't the case. He caught only 28 passes for 252 yards with no touchdowns in 2010. That was his worst NFL season since his second year in 2005 when he played in 11 games with the Chicago Bears.

Berrian's willingness to redo his contract -- he said he was pleased with what happened -- likely was done in part because he's confident he will be able to rebound working in a new offense with coordinator Bill Musgrave and quarterback Donovan McNabb.

"I like the offense, going through the book, when I first got it and seeing the plays and finding out … not really knowing my role just seeing what the plays are and how the system is run," Berrian said. "I really like the system and then as we go along through camp really finding out what our role really [will] be."

Berrian, who said his contract is now set to expire after the 2012 season instead of 2013, isn't the only one who feels he will have a better year. Coach Leslie Frazier also has expressed confidence in Berrian.

"He and I talked at length before the lockout was instituted, and we talked about his future here and my expectations of him and what he wanted to achieve if he were to remain a Viking," Frazier said. "I'm convinced he knows that this is the best place for him. He knows he has some things around him, and we have his best interest at heart and he has a chance to really thrive in our offense. Bernard is a guy who is excited about playing, and I'm looking forward to watching him play this season. He's going to have a great year and I really believe that."

The new addition

Frazier said Johnson would be worked into the rotation. Johnson also can play guard and his arrival might mean the Vikings aren't going to make any attempt to bring back free agent Ryan Cook.

"We'll get a chance to take a look at him and see how he looks," Frazier said. "He's a guy that I am familiar with from our days in Indianapolis and of course watched him progress and we're fortunate that he was available and we'll just see how he fits in. We've talked all along about how we want to improve both of our lines, our defensive line and our offensive line and upgrade our depth as well. He gives us a chance to do both, so just glad he's here."

Frazier said it's possible that Johnson could battle for a starting job, but it's unclear at what position that might be.

"We're still early enough that we can kind of evaluate our roster and see where he is going to fit best," Frazier said. "I think early on we'll just get a feel for our team. That's one of the, I don't want to say downsides, but one of the things about this no offseason, you're not certain on certain guys so you get a chance to go through this early phase and figure out what's best for them and what's best for us."

Sitting it out

Here's the list: Quarterback Donovan McNabb; kicker Ryan Longwell; wide receiver Devin Aromashodu; running back Tristan Davis; safety Eric Frampton; safety Husain Abdullah; linebacker Erin Henderson; linebacker Mark Washington; guard Rodney Huntley; guard Anthony Herrera; defensive end Adrian Awasom; tackle Scott Kooistra; tackle Charlie Johnson; tackle Bryant McKinnie; wide receiver Michael Jenkins; wide receiver Bernard Berrian; defensive tackle Fred Evans; and defensive tackle Remi Ayodele.

Etc.