The Minnesota Vikings have done a lot of things right since the Wilf family bought the team in 2005, but at the top of the list may be their treatment of players and their families. The Vikings have been mainstays at the top of the NFL Players Association report cards over the past three years, and it didn’t take former offensive tackle Cam Robinson to find out why.
“The whole operation…in my however many weeks I was there, from top to bottom, front office down to everything, how they ran child care on Sundays, everything. That was probably the best-ran organization I’ve been in,” Robinson said on "The Set with Terron Armstead" podcast. “They did everything. They did everything well and welcomed me well.”
The fact that Robinson has praise for the Vikings despite spending just 10 games with them during the 2024 season says a lot, and it shows why Minnesota remains an attractive destination for most players in the NFL.
The Minnesota Vikings continue to be a top NFL organization for player treatment
The fact that the Vikings made such an impression on Robinson is notable considering how chaotic his time was after being traded from the Jacksonville Jaguars ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. While he was picking up the offense, the Vikings went to work behind the scenes so he could concentrate on what he needed to do on the field and be at his best.
“For me, it was just trying to get there, pick that s*** up [and] process the fact that I was in a new situation after eight years,” Robinson recalled. “I really ain’t had time to do nothing else but roll. I ain’t got time to sit there and think about…I have been there for this long. I ain’t got traded. I ain’t got time for that. We need to learn this tight zone, this wide zone, and this two-jet, three-jet. …So kind of by nature, I ain’t have a choice but to hit the ground running in Minnesota.”
Robinson’s experience is a big reason why the Vikings have earned good grades in the NFLPA report cards. In this year’s survey obtained by ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler, the Vikings received an A-minus or higher in treatment of families (A), locker room (A), training room (A-), training staff (A-), weight room (A-), strength coaches (A), offensive coordinator (A-), special teams coordinator (A-), head coach (A) and team ownership (A+). Minnesota also got an A for its general manager, as its survey was taken before Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was fired in January.
This is an important selling point when it comes to free agents. The Arizona Cardinals have been toward the bottom of the grades in the three report cards and drew an F in ownership, while having outdated facilities, poor treatment of families, and forcing them to deduct money from paychecks for players who picked up meals at the facility.
Kyler Murray spent the first seven years of his career there but signed with Minnesota in part to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job. But TCO Performance Center and U.S. Bank Stadium likely played some role in his decision to come here and potentially revive his career.
Even in the case of a traded player like Robinson, the Vikings went the extra mile to make sure he was comfortable during his time in Minnesota. It’s one thing the Vikings have done right under the Wilf’s ownership and could continue to pay dividends.
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