No contract offer for Sidney Rice before lockout

Pre-lockout talks with the Vikings about Sidney Rice's future were positive, agent Drew Rosenhaus said Saturday, but the Pro Bowl wide receiver is still expected to explore free agency. Rosenhaus spoke with the Vikings about Rice, a free agent with four years of NFL service, at the NFL Combine in late February. But despite the Vikings publicly expressing interest in signing Rice long term, negotiations never got that far before the old Collective Bargaining Agreement expired in early March. The team did not offer a formal contract, only discussing the possibility of one. "The Vikings have been good to him," said Rosenhaus, while in Minneapolis for a charity event for the Jack Brewer Foundation. "There's just so many factors that will take place once the lockout is lifted." Brewer, a former Vikings safety, is close friends with Rice and took him to China in February on behalf of the Jack Brewer Foundation, is blunt when discussing Rice's future ...