When Bryant McKinnie was drafted by the Vikings in 2002, he held out until well into November, and it seemed like he had been playing catch up his whole time in Minnesota.
Speaking of that time, which could best be described as one of underachieving, well, it came to an end today. McKinnie reported to camp overweight, and was put on the non-football injury list by the team on Sunday, didn’t practice Monday, and was released today.
The move still comes as a shock, though. During the off-season, McKinnie tweeted that he was working on his conditioning with Serena Williams by playing tennis, and seemed to say all the right things about showing up ready to go for the 2011 season.
This is a bold move by new coach leslie Frazier, who is definitely doing things his way, and does not seem intimidated by the fact that he is a rookie head coach in the National Football League. He seemed to go against the conventional line of thinking by not cutting WR Bernard Berrian, and went out and traded for QB Donovan McNabb, who he was with when he was an assistant in Philadelphia.
After the Vikings added offensive lineman Charlie Johnson yesterday, it seemed like the team had addressed their depth issues along the line, but by cutting McKinnie today, those depth issues are now back, and there looks to be an open competition for the starting LT job on the offensive line.