For nearly a decade, Chad Greenway has been a force at the linebacker position for the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota drafted him with the 17th overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, and after missing his rookie season with a knee injury, he has missed just four games.
However, with the Vikings re-signing Audie Cole and adding Emmanuel Lamur and Travis Lewis in free agency, it looks like openings at the linebacker position for the Vikings may be in short supply. . .something that Greenway acknowledged in a conversation with Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
"I have to consider playing for another team, if that's the position I'm put in," Greenway, 33, said in a phone interview. "But I literally have not done too much (in free agency). I've just been kind of laying low."
Greenway's role was much more limited last season than it had been in the past. He took a pay cut last offseason to stay with the Vikings, and is now a free agent for the first time in his career. He nearly got the chance to test the market in 2011, but for just the second time in team history, Minnesota chose to use the franchise tag to retain his services.
Greenway told Tomasson that he would prefer to finish his career in Minnesota, which sounds like it means he'd like to come back on a one-year contract to bring his career to an end.
"Yeah, I've always maintained that," Greenway said. "That's the hope, but obviously I have now become a free agent, so it's definitely a different feeling. I've never been at this point. They've never let me get to this point. So the hope is obviously to get something done with Minnesota."
It would be painful to see a great Viking like Chad Greenway leave Minnesota, but we've seen it happen with several players in recent years. Unfortunately, it's just the nature of the beast in today's NFL.
What do you think, folks? Do you want to see Chad Greenway back in Minnesota in 2016?