Antoine Winfield is unhappy with the Vikings‘ inability/unwillingness to upgrade their offense this off-season. He all but confirmed this fact today while speaking to the media after the last mini-camp session of the weekend. When asked if his impressions of the team had changed after seeing them practice, Winfield said the following (via Star-Tribune.com ):
"I don’t think anything is going to change. They’re not going to bring in Peyton Manning or anything like that. The scenery is not going to change."
That makes it clear enough – Antoine Winfield does not believe in Tarvaris Jackson and Brooks Bollinger, or probably Brad Childress either. Which is not really a relevant fact by itself – Winfield is only one player after all. But, if Winfield feels this way, how many other Viking veterans do as well?
None have come forth, nor have any others elected to express their displeasure by skipping voluntary team activities (which Winfield plans on continuing to do for the remainder of the off-season). But I still believe Winfield is not alone in feeling irked at the team’s failure to find some kind of legitimate veteran to at least compete for the QB job.
I credit Winfield for speaking his mind in a way that’s prudent and non-disruptive. He’s not calling anyone out by name – he’s just saying that he doesn’t think the team is good enough. Which, I have to believe, is a real matter of consternation for Brad Childress. Brad is a guy who doesn’t seem to take criticism well – and from one of his own players? He’s got this “I’m the boss” mentality, which likely makes it hard for him to countenance employees speaking out in a negative fashion (even if they do so in a round-about way). To call the relationship between Winfield and Childress “strained” at this point would probably be underselling it. But Winfield is too important for Childress to just get rid of the way he did Marcus Robinson, the last player who got on his nerves. So Chilly will just have to live with Winfield’s discontent. And his sorry quarterback and wide receiver situations, which are far more troublesome.