John

Carlson

It’s not a good landing spot for Miller’s fantasy value, but the Seahawks will have a nice foundation in place for Andrew Luck or Matt Barkley next year. Miller is four seasons into the league, but only 25 years old and already one of the top all-around tight ends in football. (New No. 1 receiver Sidney Rice is also only 25.) Though he lacks elite speed, Miller has a knack for getting open and his team loses nothing when he’s on the line to block. The move raises doubt about the future of John Carlson in Seattle. Carlson is in the last year of his deal and may go on the trade block.

The Tom Cable connection again? Seattle just did Miller’s agent a favor, creating a bit of leverage in talks with the Raiders. It’s also an indictment of John Carlson, who was once widely regarded as a promising young tight end. Carlson’s Dynasty value is in the tank after a career-low 318 yards last season.

Carlson was originally drafted by recently departed Bears exec Tim Ruskell and played under new QBs coach Jeremy Bates in Seattle. The Browns and Giants have also been linked to Carlson. We suspect the Bears will lean toward re-signing Kellen Davis instead.

Connecting the dots is easy, as Browns president Mike Holmgren had Carlson as his starter in Seattle. Holmgren already has four tight ends under contract for 2012, however. Kelly suggests the Browns could immediately turn their moribund offense around by signing Matt Flynn and drafting RB Trent Richardson and WR Michael Floyd in the first round.

“If he were 100 percent healthy he would be gone. 100 percent gone,” said Clayton. “There’s not a lot of great-looking tight ends in this market. You know he can start. You know he can be good. And so if he were 100 percent coming off that torn labrum then maybe it would be a different story.”

Carlson is a more well-rounded player with better after-catch ability than Jacob Tamme, who was allowed to hit free agency in Indy. The Colts and Chiefs are competing with a handful of other teams for the 27-year-old tight end.

The Chiefs would pair Carlson with Tony Moeaki, who is coming off a torn ACL. According to the thesidelineview.com’s Adam Caplan, Carlson is also drawing interest from the Colts, Bucs, Bears, Seahawks and Cowboys. Profootballtalk.com reports the Vikings are also in the mix.

Carlson cut short a trip to Kansas City to head to Minnesota. TheSidelineView.com’s Adam Caplan reports Carlson has received interest from “at least eight teams,” but will sign with the Vikes “barring a change of heart.” It wouldn’t be a great destination from a fantasy perspective after rookie Kyle Rudolph proved worthy of a full-time role in 2011.

The deal reportedly includes $11 million guaranteed. It’s a shocking contract for a player who missed all of 2011 with a shoulder injury, especially since the Vikings had seemed to discover a full-time player in Kyle Rudolph. Minnesota was likely forced to overpay for a player it wanted after Carlson reportedly received interest from “at least” eight teams. The deal dampens Rudolph’s outlook in dynasty leagues, and doesn’t revive Carlson’s as much as landing somewhere like the Giants would have. The Vikes can be expected to run a host of two-TE sets in 2012.

Carlson already has three visits scheduled, and thesidelineview.com’s Adam Caplan hears there are eight teams interested altogether. The Vikings and Chiefs view apparently view Carlson as the No. 2 in two-tight end sets whereas he would step in as the starter in Indy.