On Draft Day in 2006 I spent the day at my momma’s house in Montgomery, Alabama. She cooked some wings and I had some people over, a couple teammates from college, my grandma, my sister and some other family members to watch the draft. I knew I was going to get drafted, I just didn’t know when or by who.

There’s a lot of waiting on Draft Day. I talked to my agent a lot, held onto the phone to make sure it wasn’t tied up.

As the draft got near the second round my mom’s house phone rang. The caller ID just said “Twin Cities.” I had no idea what that was. I had never heard of the 952 area code. The guy on the phone, I forget his name now, said something like, “How would you feel about being a Viking?” He said they were going to trade up with Pittsburgh to pick me.

I whispered to everyone while I was on the phone to keep their eyes on the TV screen and it got real quiet. Then when they said my name the house exploded. My mom cried. It was a great feeling.

The months leading up to the draft, you’re all about wondering what team you’re going to be on and what city you’re going to be playing in. Then you suddenly find out and it’s like, wow.

I was surprised that it was the Vikings who took me. Most teams try to be discreet and secretive but they really caught me off-guard. They had a scout at my pro day and their quarterback coach came down for a private workout, but the last I had heard from them was in March sometime. I was invited for visits to four or five teams and the Vikings were not one of them.

Then, out of the blue, I’m moving to Minnesota.

You know, I’m from the South, and we don’t know a whole lot about what’s going on in the Midwest. I knew where Minnesota was, but I couldn’t tell you exactly which states were next to it. I knew though that I was going to be going from one of the hottest states to one of the coldest places in the U.S.

When it was over I really felt relieved. I was ready to get started right away. You’ve done so much to get to that point, it was time to get back to work.

If I had advice for the young players who are getting ready for the draft this year, I would tell them don’t listen to what all the people say. Learn as much as you can about what’s going on, but just know that the draft is very unpredictable. Wherever you end up, just make the most of it.

Usually I’m excited to watch the Super Bowl, but this year I couldn’t have cared less. I felt like, we got so close, we were supposed to win it. That should have been us. We know we could have done the same thing the Saints did in the Super Bowl, but they beat us and they’re the champs.

I’ve just been chilling, hanging out with my son, my friends and family here in Alabama. I like to play basketball, video games, stuff like that. I like to cook for my family.

At this point I feel fine physically because I didn’t play all the time. Usually this time of year I need time to let my injuries heal, so this off-season won’t be as hard as last year. I’ll take a few weeks off, then start doing things a couple days a week. The closer the season gets, the harder my training gets, the more I do. I do more running than lifting weights, but I do want to get in the weight room a little more than usual because I feel like I didn’t do that enough last season. I want to keep my body strong so I can last all 16 games.

I’m not sweating whether Brett comes back or not because I’m a free agent. Depending on the collective bargaining agreement I’ll be either restricted or unrestricted, just waiting to see. Right now I still feel like a Viking, but I’m just going to have to wait a while to find out what’s going to happen.

I’m always motivated going into the season, but losing the way we did, getting as close as we did shows you that you never know if you’re going to be able to get back there. It’s so hard to get that far, you wonder whether you’ll be back there again next year or if it will take 10 years to get that far again. It makes you put things in perspective.