Antoine Winfield is not retiring after all.
At least not yet.
Winfield’s agent, Ashanti Webb, said the 36-year-old free agent cornerback has yet to file retirement papers. On the same note, Webb said he hasn’t “heard anything substantive from (Vikings) to bring back to Antoine.”
Before the season opener, shortly after reports came out that Seattle would release the veteran corner, Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier said that he would “welcome” a chance to reunite with the Winfield.
“You know, I have a ton of respect for Antoine,” Frazier said. “He did a lot of good things for us here, had a great career here in Minnesota and really helped me look good at times with some of the plays he made. I have a deep affection for him.
“But if he wanted to play, I’d welcome the opportunity to work with Antoine again if that’s what he wanted to do. But if he’s retired, I wish him nothing but the best. He’s been a great player, a great person, and he’s going to enjoy retirement. But he was a tremendous player for a long time in our league.”
Minnesota’s defense struggled against Detroit on Sunday. While some of the blame should be attributed to the game planning against the Lion’s potent passing attack, the team’s secondary allowed many unnecessary plays for long yards.
One would assume the Vikings would welcome Winfield back, but apparently little conversation has happened between Winfield and Minnesota since his release from the Seahawks. Familiarity with the Vikings’ defense would make it appealing for both sides, but many other teams in the NFL employ some form of the tampa-2 scheme that Winfield could smoothly transition to.
View Comments
It would be great to see Tony back in Purple.... or not. Freds does't really care either way. Unless perhaps he can play QB or Linebacker. Perhaps a front office job screening the cheerleader hires. My man Tony certainly has to do a better job drumming out some of the fugly from the current crop of bulimic car chasing pom pom wavers. Sheesh.
I would argue he can play linebacker... in the nickel defense anyways, which the Lions had us in almost all day. In fact, I would argue he has been a great linebacker for us over the years.
If they weren't on the phone with Winfield right after Sundays game they need to have their heads examined. I have a strong feeling Winfield would have made a lot of those plays.
I don't think he will come back...
I don't see it happening either.
In this wacko politically correct society we live in, Freds needs to make sure no one gets their feelings hurt, so Freds offers the following:
Please accept Freds heart felt apology for the above comments. The comments were taken out of context. Fred's is not that kind of guy. Bulimia should not be made light of and is a serious problem for many people. Freds also apologies to the entire canine population for the car chasing reference. Car chasing kills thousands of dogs annually and is a serious problem which should not be referenced in a joking manner. Yes, and Freds also apologizes to the fugly's of the world and as long as he's at it...deep regrets to the pom pom's as well.
Now to clear up Freds good name, he will be going to rehab.
it's a long shot, imo. maybe somebody can pull it off, idk. spielman should've shown winfield much more respect when he terminated winfield. it might've helped if they wanted him back, but i doubt that'll happen now. it made spielman look bad all around. if winfield is holding back on retiring, it's probably not because of the vikings. still, i'd like to see him come back. he can't run, but he can tackle and lead
I honestly don't know that he would provide much help. He flat out could not make Seattle's roster. They took a million dollar loss ($500K bonus and $500K guaranteed salary) in releasing him. It could very well be that after all these years of playing like a LB in a 180 lb body, his skills drastically eroded this off-season. I can't say I saw him play in the pre-season, but the reason the Vikings aren't calling could have a lot to do with whatever he put on tape this year. Frazier probably would take him back in a heartbeat, but Spielman isn't going to ask for him to come back unless we suffer a couple injuries at the position. I think our secondary will be fine if they can stay healthy and play together for awhile. That's a young group of corners that took the field and they held up pretty well. Our biggest issue on defense Sunday was right in the triangle where Kevin Williams was absent and Henderson was making his first start. I love Antoine but getting older and slower isn't really a cure all for your defense when the league is becoming more and more spread oriented.