Floyd: we will find out soon

A quick look at the Michael Floyd situation - What does it mean?

Back on February 17, Scottsdale court sentenced Michael Floyd to 120 days for extreme DUI. He served 24 days in jail and was given the remaining 96 to serve on house arrest. During that time the Minnesota Vikings signed a contract with him, and the courts were generous enough to transfer his in-house arrest up to Minnesota and even allow his advanced blood testing ankle bracelet to be swapped out with a normal one so that he could play and practice his profession, but that included adding breathalyzer tests to ensure of no alcohol consumption. Then on June 11, as we all know he failed a series of breathalyzer tests, and his excuse was that he drank allegedly kombuch tea. Normally the tea, which has a very low amount of alcohol in it, theoretically was left outside, or at least unrefrigerated, and may have gone through a second fermentation process upping its alcohol content. That is what we are led to believe, and that this was one big mistake.

Our friend Brian Murphy over at the Pioneer Press has written today that city prosecutor Caron Close is asking Judge Statia Hendrix at 3:30 PM central time to put him back into jail for his remaining sentence, the final five days, that remain.

“It appears he’s in violation and he should be ordered to serve the rest of his jail time,” city prosecutor Caron Close told the Pioneer Press on Monday. “The deal he made really gave him special considerations by letting him transfer out of state to continue his career.”

If Floyd does go back to jail today, he will be done with his sentence by next week. If the judge decides to have him continue his house arrest, again he should be done by next week. There is no football activities scheduled between now and then. If Michael does get jailed, any effects look to be limited to the possibility of poor diet and lack of a training facility, but it will only be for five days.

Brian Murphy had reported earlier, back on the 24th, that the Minnesota Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren had written a letter to Floyd’s attorneys along with Judge Hendrix defending the excuse that it was not Michael Floyd’s fault, and that the Vikings had encouraged players to drink kombucha.

Daily Norseman’s Sarita Kelly wrote about it too.

If Michael Floyd only needs to serve five remaining days of his sentence, be it in jail or on house arrest, with no scheduled football activities upcoming, this begs the question as to why are they going through such an effort to defend his actions? This very much looks to be a preemptive strike on part of the Vikings towards Roger Goodell and the NFL. We know that under the league's discipline policy that Floyd is expected to miss at least two weeks serving a suspension, and that could be much more depending on how Roger Goodell rules. The Vikings seem to be trying to minimize that suspension by taking the blame on themselves for this incident.

If the Vikings are pushing so hard, what does that say about how they feel about Laquon Treadwell as the WR3 or the red zone offense and their ability to score? It seems like the organization, with Warren and “cc’d president Mark Wilf, general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer” going to these lengths could indicate that they feel Floyd is necessary to optimize their chance of winning. Remember, the Vikings are a business, and winning is good for business. Michael Floyd is at minimum their insurance policy if Treadwell fails to develop, if not already penciled in as the WR3 when they signed him. The Vikings could have been coveting Floyd since he was eligible for the draft a few years ago, or they could think he’s the best solution to their known red zone deficiencies. As of now, we will wait and see.

Updated 26 Jun at 3:50 CDT

Matt Vensel reports:

https://twitter.com/mattvensel/status/879440158008979456