If there's one thing that we've learned about the NFL over the years, it's that nothing last forever. Careers come and go, players...with the exception of Brett Favre...come and go, coaches enter and depart, owners buy and sell teams.
And just like that, Bryant McKinnie, aspiring musician, The Love Boat first mate, and future competitive eater, is gone, replaced by Charlie Johnson...who's also wearing his number. Ouch.
What did the five fingers say to the face?
SLAP! CHARLIE JOHNSON, AHHHHHHHHH!!! Leslie Frazier Is King Kong, bitches.
Guess there won't be any '74' stickers on the back of the helmet this year.
Let's get to today's training camp news, after the jump.
Most of the coverage is still the aftermath of Bryant McKinnie getting cut. Leslie Frazier said the right things, players said the right things, but what was said...you know, without being said, was this:
There is a new sheriff in town, and you will do what's expected, or you will be gone. One of the things that lead to Mike Tice's downfall was the preferential treatment he gave star players, and that culminated in the Love Boat. One of the things that was Brad Childress' downfall was allowing Brett Favre to essentially call the shots, and when Childress abdicated his authority to the player, once the team started off slow, his dismissal was a matter of time.
Leslie Frazier will eventually leave as the Minnesota Vikings coach, but it will not be because he let the inmates run the asylum.
Antoine Winfield, who I have as much respect for as anyone on the team, said that Frazier had no choice:
"The message it sends is no one's untouchable," Winfield said. "We all understood as professionals the only thing we had to do was show up in shape. The coaches really had no choice but to do what they did. ... I'm sure he is disappointed in himself. That's kind of embarrassing. But he's going to have to deal with it."
Emphasis in that quote is mine. No one is untouchable, and all that the players had to do was show up in relatively good shape, not eat a swath across America during the lockout. Bryant McKinnie couldn't accomplish the simplest of tasks...with $5 million on the line, and he's gone.
Good.
Okay, not really a lot to talk about today, near as I can tell. With the new staff and playbook, offense looks to be a step behind, and multiple guys have said this looks more like mini-camp installation as opposed to training camp.
Adrian Peterson has been out of camp the last few days due to his fiancee going into labor and giving birth to their son, who will be the greatest running back in the world in about 22 years or so. He'll be back in camp Friday.
And tomorrow is when we might start to see an uptick in offensive production, as guys that were signed as free agents and guys that re-worked their contract can finally practice, as the new league year officially begins. So tomorrow we'll get our first look at Donovan McNabb as your Vikings quarterback.
Ryan Cook has apparently re-signed. Just a couple of days ago, we all assumed...and of course, when I say 'we', I mean 'me'...Cook was probably done in Minnesota. My, how the worm has turned. Cook is still an adequate sub, but not a long term answer as a starter. I will give him his props at center though--I thought he played pretty well there when he was forced into action asfter John Sullivan's injury and Jon Cooper's craptasticness. Looking through ZUlgad's and Pelissero's tweets, guys were shuffling in and out of the line, so I think it's safe to say that we can use the adjective 'unsettled' when discussing that group.
I think we'll start to see a lot of these position battles start to really take shape now that everyone is joined in the battle, and I still ahven't read a lot about the secondary. Come Friday, I'll be tweeting about them like a muldoon.
Oh yeah, a reminder. DN will be covering training camp from Mankato Friday and Saturday. As a matter of fact, with Skol Girl and myself attending, we'll have as much press representation as the Star Tribune, unless Souhan or Sid makes their way down So keep sending us your questions, and we'll ask what we can to who we can.
And remember, I'm not taking an ass beating for anyone, so no smart ass questions.