Posts tagged: leslie frazier

An Extra Week At Mankato? Sweet!

May 17, 2012, by 9 comments

The Vikings have announced their training camp schedule and the most notable thing to pass along is that they plan to stay in Mankato for three weeks this year instead of two.

Usually the Vikings would go back to Winter Park for week three of training camp, but the ability to stay put is expected to be a welcomed change this year as players and coaches can stay in the nearby dorms and literally do nothing but focus on football every minute that they aren’t sleeping.

The elongated period of time is thought to be a result of the school’s lack of need for the dorm rooms and also frustration over Leslie Frazier’s decision to only hold camp in Mankato for 10 days last offseason.

The three week training camp is scheduled to start on July 26th and the team will soon be listing a full schedule of practice sessions.

WELCOME TO THE BIG SHOW: Rhett Ellison

May 5, 2012, by 4 comments

Welcome to part four of our ten part series entitled “Welcome to the Big Show” where we attempt to bring you a comprehensive, in-depth look at each of the Vikings ten Draft selections of 2012.  In case you missed them, here are links to the first three:  Matt Kalil, Harrison Smith, and Josh Robinson.

Now, we move on to USC’s Rhett Ellison who was a surprise pick by the Vikings near the end of the fourth round.

Continue Reading →

Questions Of Character

May 3, 2012, by 2 comments

Just one week ago, the Vikings commenced in weaving their way through seven rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft, and seemingly placing a great emphasis on leadership and character in their selecting their next generation of football players.

In the same week, however, the Vikings welcomed two players of concern back into their building for offseason workouts.

Cornerback Chris Cook was found not guilty in March of charges that he assaulted his girlfriend and tried to strangle her and has now rejoined the team for the first time since the October incident landed him in jail.

“I definitely appreciate it a lot more than I have in the past,” Cook said of being back with his teammates. “This is what I love to do, even though this isn’t the really fun part, it’s kind of hard, but I love doing this. This is the part of the year when you get better.”

“I feel like I have to earn their trust again. I definitely let them down last year by being in the situation I was in and missing the 10 games. I’m really looking forward to earning their trust and being a contributing factor to the team,” he said.

Cook said that he and Leslie Frazier kept in contact during the cornerbacks lengthy legal issues took place.

“It was positive. He’s a very encouraging man, and I respect him a lot. He’s not really been down on me. He’s very supportive of me,” Cook said.

Time will tell if Frazier’s willingness to not come down hard on Cook will pay off.  If Cook turns his life around, then Frazier could be credited with some sort of second-chance mentorship role being the turning point.  If Cook stumbles again, however, then Frazier will likely be blamed for coddling the young cornerback because of his talent on the field.

The other player who has a bit of proving to do is newly acquired receiver Jerome Simpson.  Simpson will begin his tenure with the Vikings by serving a three game suspension for a September incident that landed him in jail on drug trafficking charges.

Simpson was sentenced after he plead not guilty and admitted to his “mistake” and appeared willing to acknowledge his wrong doing, accept the consequences, and move on.

“Everybody knows that (incident) wasn’t my character, what happened, and it’s basically just prove it. You can talk all you want to, but if you don’t prove it, it really doesn’t mean a hill of beans,” Simpson said.

“That wasn’t my characteristics,” Simpson continued in his first meeting with the Minnesota media.  “I’m a good guy, love the community, love kids and everything, and I just made a poor decision.”

Simpson, while grateful for the opportunity, knows full well that he needs to produce positive results on and off the field for the Vikings or else this one year contract could be the last one he ever gets.

“It’s absolutely a ‘prove it’ (season) just because the nature of that I did get in trouble last year and I have to prove to the league, myself and everybody else out there that I deserve to be in this league,” Simpson said.  “(The Vikings) believed in me and I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to come back and play football again.”

Both of these players have the tools and the talent to help the Vikings improve upon their dismal results from 2011, but each will be on a short leash and needs to understand the importance that will be placed on their actions moving forward… not their words.

Jared Allen’s Job Description Grew On Thursday

April 27, 2012, by No comments yet

Jared Allen couldn’t possibly mean more to this organization than he did at the end of the 2011 season, right?

Wrong.

The Vikings say they are excited about using Allen not only as a veteran mentor, but as the fiercest of practice dummies, with hopes that Matt Kalil will get better quicker by having to face Allen every day in practice.

“One of the good things about Matt coming to our team is he’ll get a chance to face arguably the best defensive end in the National Football League day in and day out in practice,” Leslie Frazier said on Thursday. “That’s going to be a great part of his prep in getting him prepared for what he’s going to see on Sunday afternoons.”

Rick Spielman also acknowledged that Allen’s presence on the practice field should only make Kalil better prepared, and Kalil himself sounds ready for the task.

“The competitor I am, I know that Jared will help make me a great player. Especially the division the Vikings are in – with the Chicago Bears and going against Julius Peppers plus my old teammate, Clay Matthews, going against him in Green Bay. It’s definitely a league of great pass rushers and great defensive ends. So it’s going to be good going against the greatest defensive end in the NFL in Jared Allen. I’m very excited for that.”

MATT KALIL: “Minnesota Was The Only Place”

April 27, 2012, by No comments yet

Matt Kalil admitted that he was keeping an open mind regarding where he might end up being drafted and also where he might end up living.

“I think that I had an idea that’s where I might end up,” Kalil said Thursday night. “But the way the draft works, and especially right now, all these trades going down and everything, I was trying to keep open-minded.”

He also said he was relieved to see his cell phone light up once the Vikings were on the clock after the team indeed dropped backwards one spot in a trade with Cleveland.

“Out of all the visits I took,” Kalil continued, “Minnesota was the only place where I could really see myself living and spending the next 10 years and finishing out my football career there. I knew some people that went to Minnesota and a lot of players that played there. They said there’s no other place like it, especially the fanbase that Minnesota has — it’s probably the best in the NFL. So, as soon as I was picked there, I knew I was going into a great place and a great team as well.”

Way to pander Matt, way to pander.  We don’t mind, especially with our team’s future hanging in the balance from a relocation standpoint.

Kalil seemed like a humble yet confident guy in his introductory press conference, and I for one am glad to have him on our team.

Frazier Enters The “Loaded Debate”

April 23, 2012, by 9 comments

The Vikings are, for a lack of a better phrase, blitzing the media with the contention that they are undecided as to whom they will select if they keep the third overall selection.

After weeks of Rick Spielman using the media to confuse anyone that knows how to read Head Coach Leslie Frazier has jumped into the action and is also putting forth the notion that the Vikings can justify passing on USC left tackle Matt Kalil.

“You’ve got to really weigh your options,” Frazier said in a recent interview. “Because the philosophy [in the NFL] has always been to get the game-changer. And left tackle is not necessarily the game-changer. Usually game-changers are the guys who can score you points. Receivers. Quarterbacks. So what are we measuring that left tackle against? It’s a loaded debate.”

See, and here is where I either imply that I think this is either all “smoke” or imply that I think the regime running this team is full of idiots.

It is not a loaded debate.

This is not about positional importance.  It never should have been, and it certainly shouldn’t be now.  This is about selecting the best player for your team, the prospect that your thousands of scouting hours, that you have bought and paid for, tells you is the best football player for your team.

It is that damn simple.

Spielman wants to insist that Matt Kalil, Justin Blackmon, and Morris Claiborne all have been given the exact same grades by the Vikings front office.  As someone that has seen what real scouting reports (not the kind you find on the internet) look like, I find it very, very hard to believe that these three players have the exact same grade.

The reports are far too detailed, far too personalized to get me to believe the process has identified no differences between three very different individuals.

Reports Fly Regarding Vikings Interest In Parcells

April 4, 2012, by 6 comments

Thanks to a report from the New York Post, the Vikings and Saints are once again intertwined in one of the bigger headlines dominating the news.

The report claims that the Vikings currently want Bill Parcells to run their football team, a dot that was connected by Vikings fans months ago since it is well known that owner Zygi Wilf was a long-time Giants fan prior to owning his own team.

The news was a bit shocking but it didn’t take long for our local beat writers to step up and provide some clarity.

According to Tom Pelissero, yes, the Vikings expressed interest in Parcells to run their football team.  No, that did not happen recently.

Instead, the Vikings approached Parcells prior to hiring Rick Spielman as their General Manager and recommitting to Leslie Frazier as their Head Coach.  The Vikings say that the original report’s suggestion that the Wilf’s told Parcells to “name his price” is erroneous. 

“There is no truth to the media reports,” said public relations director Bob Hagan.

It is fairly evident that Parcells is simply trying to gain some leverage as the New Orleans Saints try to woo him out of retirement as a one-year replacement for the suspended Sean Payton.  After all, this is a terrible time of the year for any head coach or G.M. candidate to try and negotiate a contract.

The news, however, that the Vikings did indeed pursue Parcells prior to promoting Rick Spielman and keeping Leslie Frazier should only increase the pressure applied to their job performances.  The previous appearance that the Wilf family simply promoted from within without looking outside the organization is now dead, and they may be willing to look outside Winter Park once again should the Vikings continue to occupy the last place seat in the NFC North.