The Minnesota Vikings held their last OTA session for the week today, with a concentration on two-minute drills. The big news was that Kenechi Udeze (working with the first-team today) actually recorded a sack – meaning he now has as many sacks in two-minute drills this off-season as he had the last two regular seasons put together.
Meanwhile, FB Tony Richardson says that QB Tarvaris Jackson had his best day of the week today, declaring, “He’s getting more and more comfortable.” Does this mean he gets a gold-star on his chart? The Star-Trib‘s Kevin Seifert also reports that presumptive O-line back-ups Ryan Cook and Marcus Johnson got some work with the first-team. No word on how many false-starts they committed.
In transaction news, Judd Zulgad reports that the Vikes have inked seventh-round pick Chandler Williams, a wide receiver out of Florida International. Yes, Williams was one of the players suspended for participating in that humongous brawl between FIU and Miami. But, if the guy can catch passes, who cares if he has a propensity to get caught up in scrums? He can kick the crap out of people all week if he wants to, so long as he holds onto the ball on Sunday.
Concerning a couple of popular fronts:
Adrian Peterson. Said Brad Childress of his soon-to-be-star running back:
"He’s done a great job, particularly in drills, with all the pass stuff. The run stuff comes very easy to him as well as you would think, but you get drilled with the nuances of the pass game, whether it be protection or route-running, and he’s doing a good job with that."
I hope Peterson is working extra hard on the pass protection part of it. Especially after years of hearing how Mewelde Moore would get more playing time if only he knew how to block.
And on Antoine Winfield. Brad Childress expects him to be present for mandatory mini-camp on June 1. The key word there, of course, is “mandatory.” There were no fines associated with his missing the OTAs – but he will be punished if he fails to show for mini-camp. This sets up our first soap opera intrigue of the off-season – will Antoine Winfield report? Only the Shadow knows. Um, and Antoine. And probably his agent.