Anthony Barr reveals why he was absent from Vikings’ OTAs last week

The Minnesota Vikings linebacker is back practicing with his teammates after sitting out the team’s first few OTA practices a week ago.

The eyebrows of Minnesota Vikings fans raised a bit last week when the news came about that linebacker Anthony Barr was not present for the team’s first OTAs of the year.

Some wondered why Barr was not participating. Was it due to a contract situation? Was he injured? Did he have a personal matter to attend to?

Well the linebacker is back practicing with the Vikings this week and he explained on Wednesday why he missed the first portion of OTAs.

"“I was hoping to get (an extension) done before OTAs, but that didn’t happen. So I had to protect myself and get an injury insurance policy and that took like a week to get situated. So I got that and now I’m good to go.I thought it was in my best interest to protect myself and that’s what we did.”"

People should be able to breathe a little easier now. There does not seem to be any sort of rift between Barr and Minnesota currently and he is back on the field preparing for the upcoming season just like everyone else.

As far as Barr getting any sort of extension in the future with the Vikings, he also revealed on Wednesday that the team and his agent are, “having conversations.”

For now, the linebacker is in the final year of his current contract which will be paying him a little over $12 million this season.

Next: Who could be the Vikings' starting right tackle in 2018

Spotrac currently has Barr with a market value that would be able to command a new contract of around $38 million spread out over five years. If Minnesota intends to extend his deal, they would be wise to do so before the regular season begins and avoid the possibility of his price tag growing any larger.