Rice's hip examined; surgery seems likely

Wide receiver Sidney Rice was at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., on Monday to have his injured hip examined and it appears likely he will undergo surgery, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Surgery would be expected to sideline Rice for at least the first half of the season.

Rice had been on the physically unable to perform list since training camp opened because of the injury he said he suffered in the Vikings' overtime loss to New Orleans last January.

While still just in the "likely" stages, this is clearly bad news for Rice and the Vikings. Rice was Brett Favre's go-to receiver last year, emerging from the waiver wire to catch 84 balls for over 1300 yards. If Rice does undergo surgery, missing half the season would make him undraftable, and Favre and the Vikings would become highly dependent on Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian as starters without much talent behind them on the depth chart (Greg Lewis and possibly Javon Walker currently). We will let this story develop and update Rice's ranking later today. Bernard Berrian has already been moving up our draft boards, and will continue to do so.