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This isn’t nearly as sexy as the early Mike Wallace and Martellus Bennett signings, because offensive lineman inherently aren’t sexy. Unless that’s your thing.

But the Vikings retaining tackle Phil Loadholt is still a pretty damn big deal, especially for the safety of Christian Ponder, and the continued success of Adrian Peterson. That happened in the early minutes of free agency, with ESPN 1500′s Tom Pelissero reporting that Loadholt is staying with the Vikings on a multi-year deal.

This thins out a tackle market that was already top heavy, and led by Loadholt and Jake Long. Now teams like the Bears who are looking for tackle help may have to overpay for either Long or Andre Smith — though Long’s price could be declining — or dip into the second tier of Jermon Bushrod, Eric Winston, Sam Baker, and Sebastian Vollmer.

This is not Percy Harvin, but use your imagination.

Here at Goal-Line Stand, we were quite involved in the Colts-Bills preseason game in Toronto yesterday. Lost in the shuffle because of that was a scary incident involving Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin.

Harvin vomited and collapsed on the sideline at Vikings practice. The apparent culprit: another migraine.

The 22-year-old star-in-the-making from Florida dealt with chronic migraines for much of his rookie season, missing several practices and a game. Despite an offseason trip to the legendary Mayo Clinic, Harvin’s head problems aren’t going away in 2010. Before his medical emergency Thursday, Harvin had already missed pretty much all of training camp because of the chronic issue.

In what has become one of the most famous stories in NFL history, Terrell Davis scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XXXII despite not being able to see straight due to a migraine. And I’m thinking that tale has softened the average sports fan’s expectations in regard to how debilitating migraines can be.

Harvin’s been plagued by this problem since he was 10 years old, and it’s clearly hindering his ability to perform consistently as a professional athlete (not to mention his ability to perform day-to-day tasks as a human being).

So, could migraines ruin Percy Harvin’s career?

“He said he’s tried everything,” Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie told ESPN.com. “Hopefully he can eventually find something.”

But to actually try everything, it could take a lifetime. I had a conversation with osteosomatic therapist Dan Palma from the Toronto-based Headache and Pain Relief Centre. The majority of Palma’s patients are migraine-sufferers, most of whom get rid of their symptoms permanently once they’ve been treated.

The problem, though, according to Palma, is that it’s extremely difficult for a specialist to determine what’s triggering the migraines in patients that don’t wipe them out the first time around.

“There is a very small percentage of recurring or chronic patients that you’ll stabilize and, guess what? After a while they need to come back and do the whole program again,” Palma said.

Palma says there are dozens of potential causes that trigger migraines — deep-seated vascular problems, hormonal imbalances, benign tumours, aneurysms, teeth grinding, stress, and jaw issues to name a few — meaning it can take years to properly diagnose the underlying root, or roots, of the problem.

Palma, who interned with the 49ers in the 1980s while attending San Francisco State University, notes that we rarely hear of athletes suffering from chronic migraines because they’re less likely to encounter them.  

“I would find that we have less athletes presenting with chronic migraines,” he said, “and if we do (get them), they tend to respond better to treatment.” That make sense, because athletes are generally healthier than the average Joe.

But it’s too late for a guy like Harvin. Treatment hasn’t work for 12 years and there’s no telling when it will. What does an athlete do when migraines are interfering with his or her livelihood and there’s no cure in sight?

“You need to slow things down,” Palma said. “Of course that’s not easy when you’re being paid to perform.”

There is no context for this picture. Just enjoy.

I’m not going to waste too much time on Brett Favre’s most recent return, simply because there have been too many of them. Here are some quick thoughts…

1. I’m not convinced things are going to be as peachy early on for Favre and the Vikings this year as they were last year. And that’s because the schedule is stacked against Minnesota early. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a peek at the schedule factored into Favre’s temporary retirement two weeks ago. Here’s a look at the first eight weeks of the Vikings’ season, along with my prediction for each game:

Week 1: at New Orleans (loss)
Week 2: vs. Miami (win)
Week 3: vs. Detroit (win)
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: at New York Jets (loss)
Week 6: vs. Dallas (win)
Week 7: at Green Bay (loss)
Week 8: at New England (loss)

Seriously. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Vikings were 3-4 headed into their Week 9 game against Arizona. The early bye week also means Favre will have to go 12 consecutive weeks on that bad ankle. Not easy.

2. Exactly two weeks ago, on Aug. 3, news of Favre’s apparent “retirement” shattered the football world (sarcasm). And NFL Network went live all day. And ESPN devoted what felt like 45 minutes per hour to No. 4. The sports world stopped because Favre had reportedly sent a few text messages indicating that he was considering stepping aside.

What a waste of an entire day of resources, time, energy and money that was. When will we learn our lesson?

3. No new contract yet for Favre, but the press conference regarding his return isn’t  supposed to take place until later on Wednesday, so there’s still time for Favre to get a raise. Based on what went down in this process, I doubt Favre will ask for or receive any more money, but the Vikings reportedly offered him a $3 million boost earlier this month.

4. How awesome is this story? I mean, three veteran players fly down to Favre and basically persuade the guy to come back just by spending some time with him on his Mississippi ranch. In the midst of training camp, Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson and Ryan Longwell simply leave town and become recruiters. And they do a sweet job. Not bad, although Hutchinson noted it wasn’t as fanciful as it sounds.

“I wish I had some sort of fairy-tale story about the way it all happened, but it really was not a big moment or anything.”

5. I was struck by the way in which Tarvaris Jackson reacted to the news of Favre’s return:

“Honestly, I really don’t care,” Jackson said. “I feel like if my number is called I’ll be ready and I’m going to continue to try and work hard and get better. That’s all I can do. My teammates, that’s their prerogative. I can’t really control that. I’m just going to do my part.”

He doesn’t care? Perfect….

I didn't doubt Kevin Kolb. Nope, not for a second. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images).

Judging a team or a player during a preseason game can often be like assessing a girl’s attractiveness over the phone. Sure, she sounds pretty, but your imagination can be deceiving. We see and hear whatever we want, and whether it’s the model date, or model quarterback, the judgment phase can be more mirage than reality.

But an impressive throw is still an impressive throw, and there are nuggets of information to be gleaned about possible future stars and role players as they play in the August heat. As the preseason rolls along, each week we’ll look at who has impressed, disappointed, and developments in position battles.

In the good books

+ So, that Kevin Kolb guy is pretty good. You can count me among the doubters, but I must not be the only one who sees Kolb’s talent, but isn’t ready to jump on board after two measly regular season starts, right? Whatever. Kolb was highly effective against Jacksonville Friday night, connecting on six of his 11 pass attempts and throwing for 95 yards.

+ Hey look, Rex Grossman is still in the NFL. Neat. Grossman had one of the most ungraceful falls from grace, and sure, most of his snaps Friday came against second stringers, but it was still nice to see the former Bears QB connect on a few deep balls. Grossman threw for 140 yards and two touchdowns, showing that the Redskins may have capable backup on their hands if prized offseason acquisition Donovan McNabb–who has missed 10 games over the last four years–goes down.

+ Tampa Bay’s Mike Williams impressed early. Williams, the rookie fourth-round pick who has already made the Bucs’ starting unit, caught a long pass in the first quarter to set up the only score by either first team offence in Saturday’s 10-7 loss to Miami.

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

+ Devin Aromashodu was buried on Chicago’s depth chart in the early part of last season until he emerged in an upset win over the Vikings in December, hauling in the game-winning touchdown in overtime and 150 receiving yards. If the Bears offence expects to bounce back under Mike Martz, they’ll need major contributions from the likes of Aromashodu, Devin Hester, and Johnny Knox. So far Aromashodu is doing his part, racking up 48 yards and a touchdown Saturday against the Chargers.

In the bad books

+ The infatuation with Matt Moore after his glowing finish last season–eight touchdowns over the final five games– has seemingly spread to every corner of the NFL media. Moore didn’t look terrible Thursday night against Baltimore, but he didn’t look great either. Meanwhile, until the heavens opened and the rain started to fall, rookie Jimmy Clausen had a solid debut. It’s widely expected that Moore will start week 1, and that it’s his job to lose. But Clausen showed he’s more than capable if Moore stumbles.

+ It doesn’t take much to send football-mad Dallas into a frenzy, and the Cowboys’ red-zone offence had the fans of America’s team seeing red. With Tony Romo and the first team offence in for one of the red-zone blunders, Dallas settled for a field goal three times deep inside of Raiders’ territory. There’s a trend here: The Cowboys were very middle-of-the-packish in the red-zone last season, finishing 14th in the league after scoring touchdowns on 52 per cent of their visits.

+ To the surprise of no one, Kansas City’s offensive line is still awful. Matt Cassel–who was sacked 43 times last year–went down twice against the Falcons during his limited playing time Friday, with one resulting in a fumble.

+ Unless Mike Tomlin is convinced to go with Dennis Dixon, Steelers fans saw the harsh reality they’ll face with Byron Leftwich at the helm of the offence to start the season. Chants of “we want Ben!” came down from the stands as Leftwich could only muster 48 yards through the air against the Lions. Capping off the unpleasant evening for the first team offence, Leftwich was sacked for an eight-yard loss and also had a mental lapse when he unintentionally spiked the ball.

In limbo

+ It’s as if C.J Spiller hired a hitman. Just when it looked like some ugly three-headed monster would emerge in the Bills’ backfield, Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch went down with injuries in Buffalo’s first preseason game Friday against the Redskins. Jackson’s hand injury is more serious. Not only will he miss the rest of the preseason, but Jackson could miss time during the regular season too. Spiller now gets an edge in the battle for carries in Buffalo with the increased reps he’ll receive in practice.