Purple Rumor Mill: Richard Sherman, the OBJ Tour, Mike Zimmer’s Office

Purple Rumor Mill: Richard Sherman, the OBJ Tour, Mike Zimmer's Office
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports.

Purple Rumor Mill

VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the December 3rd edition.

Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.

Rumor: The Vikings should reach out to Richard Sherman, who indicated he’d return for a playoff push with the right team.

Richard Sherman
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports.

This idea — Sherman to the Vikings — appears to have been kickstarted by The Viking Age, a Fansided Vikings-themed site.

Gradually, the Vikings cornerbacks are returning to health, as rookie Akayleb Evans will return on Sunday versus the New York Jets, and Cameron Dantzler is tentatively slated for a comeback in Week 14 at the Detroit Lions.

If injuries still ravaged the Vikings CB room, perhaps phoning Sherman would make sense. And indeed, rookie Andrew Booth is now on the shelf for the rest of the season because of a meniscus injury (and surgery).

Sources tell VIkingsTerritory that Minnesota has no interest in Sherman.

Rumor: Odell Beckham’s “free agent tour” doesn’t include the Vikings.

Vikings Shouldn't Be Ruled Out of Sweepstakes for Star WR
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports.

Beckham does have an upcoming world tour of sorts, visiting the New York Giants, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys. The Vikings are not on the list, and the Rams have evidently disqualified themselves with a trashy 3-8 record.

Per this little tour, plus sportsbook betting odds, Beckham landing in Minnesota would be a mammoth surprise. There’s simply no mutual interest — aside from fans’ daydreaming.

We predict Beckham will join the Cowboys.

Rumor: Justin Jefferson didn’t know where the head coach’s office was located until 2022.

20 Brief & Essential Facts: Bills-Vikings
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports.

This one is true.

Jefferson wasn’t invited to Mike Zimmer’s office, well, ever. So when Kevin O’Connell said, “Hey, man, come to my office,” the phenom wide receiver didn’t know the location. ESPN wrote an article about Jefferson’s rise to stardom, and that tidbit was included.

This is merely the latest of oodles of revelations about Zimmer’s personality differences from O’Connell. It’s in the past — probably time to move on. The Vikings are 9-2 with a head coach; the old stories are sort of irrelevant.


Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).

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