Former Vikings defender sends a statement to old team with Instagram post
By Adam Patrick
Former Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd made a post on his Instagram page about his recent treatment by the team’s coaches and staff.
It’s been a difficult two years for Sharrif Floyd. After it appeared the defensive tackle was progressing into something special with the Minnesota Vikings, he suffered a setback in 2016 when he injured his knee.
Floyd then underwent a routine surgery to repair his injury and since then, his life has never been the same.
Following his surgery it was revealed that the operation unfortunately damaged some nerves in his leg, causing his quadriceps to not properly function. Thanks to the mishap, Floyd has not suited up for an NFL game since the Vikings took on the Tennessee Titans in the first week of the 2016 season.
He remained with Minnesota in 2017 but he recently became a free-agent after the league announced that his contract would not toll into next season.
Not much has been heard from Floyd since his injury, but the former Vikings defensive tackle took to Instagram on Saturday to express some his feelings about what has gone on in the last two years.
It’s pretty easy to see that Floyd was not happy with Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer and some of his comments before the defensive tackle’s surgery. Floyd battled injuries during his first few years with the Vikings, but he never missed more than three games in a single-season prior to 2016.
Unfortunately, his situation is not very unique in the NFL. The league is ruthless and teams are known to cut players as soon as they stop being productive, injury or not.
Zimmer is still one of the most blunt coaches in the NFL, but his public criticism of Minnesota’s players has definitely gone down in frequency over the last two years.
Should he have made those comments about Floyd in 2016? Probably not, but Zimmer is someone known to let his frustrations sometimes get the best of him, especially during the early part of his tenure with the Vikings.
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Will Floyd ever play again in the NFL? That’s incredibly hard to predict at this point in time, but he’s at least letting it be known that he will not be going out quietly.