Vikings players disappointed in McKinnie

MANKATO, Minn. — One day after Bryant McKinnie's surprising release from the Vikings, his ex-teammates tried hard to avoid criticizing him directly.

But you don't have to read too hard between the lines to see the disappointment in their quotes, to hear the frustration in their sound bites. Because it's not often that a player of McKinnie's caliber essentially eats himself out of the league.

The Vikings sent McKinnie packing on Tuesday after the former Pro Bowl tackle showed up at training camp significantly overweight. Team doctors were reportedly concerned about McKinnie's cholesterol level, and after putting him on the non-football injury list for the first two days of camp, the only franchise McKinnie has ever played for told him that his days as a Viking were over.

Steve Hutchinson, who lined up next to the former first-round pick on the Vikings' line for five seasons, said that head coach Leslie Frazier told players that they had McKinnie's long-term health in mind, and that his release provided a wake-up call in many ways.

"You want to stay in shape for the job professionally and you also want to stay in shape for your health, too," Hutchinson said. "Everybody plays this game with the intention of having a life after, so that's, I would say, at the forefront of everybody's mind."

The unusual circumstances of the offseason — no minicamp or other team activities because of the lockout — left players to fend for themselves in their workout programs, and it's possible that periodic check-ins might have helped the team keep McKinnie's weight reined in during the spring and early summer. But defensive end Jared Allen said the responsibility to stay in shape falls on every player's shoulders.

"My philosophy: This is my job. This is my livelihood," Allen said. "You've got to assume the lockout is going to be done at some point, so it's your job to stay in shape. Everybody can find a gym."

Cornerback Antoine Winfield said it's not unusual for players to come to camp in varying levels of conditioning, but agreed with Allen that in the end, each player is responsible for being a professional.

"With so much time off, guys do different things. Some guys relax, some guys travel, some guys like to party," Winfield said. "But you have to be disciplined. All you have to do is go work out, stay in some kind of shape and come in here and perform."

Asked if he was angry at McKinnie, Winfield said, "No, you can't be mad at him. I'm sure he's disappointed in himself. I mean, that's kind of embarrassing, but he's going to have to deal with it."

Hutchinson added that while he's disappointed, he understands how McKinnie could let himself go a bit, and that working out with his fellow Minnesota-based linemen made the difference for him this offseason.

"I'll admit, as you get older, you're not 23 years old anymore. It's hard to kind of get up maybe sometimes on your own and go run in the heat of the day, and push yourself to do the things that you would do when you're in an offseason conditioning program with all of the guys," Hutchinson said. "I had six other guys to push me every day. There was a group of us that worked out every day in the Twin Cities, and so I can't tell you if I would have worked out as hard if I didn't have guys with me."

For now, veteran Charlie Johnson will get the first crack at the starting left tackle spot. The Vikings signed Johnson, a five-year veteran who won a Super Bowl with Indianapolis in his rookie year, earlier this week, but Johnson thought he was coming aboard to challenge McKinnie, not replace him immediately.

"I was just going to come in and try to compete," Johnson said. "That's what they brought me here for. They said, ‘You have a great opportunity to compete and play,’ and so when I signed on the dotted line, my mentality was that I was going to come in and compete."

Another possible option would be switching right tackle Phil Loadholt to the other end of the line. At 6-foot-8 and 343 pounds, he's practically McKinnie's twin (when the latter was at his ideal playing weight), and standing four inches taller than Johnson might help him keep defensive ends off quarterback Donovan McNabb's blind side better than Johnson.

But Loadholt isn't thought to possess the quickness needed to play left tackle, where speed rushers often fly to the outside to reach the quarterback at the back of the pocket. Loadholt said Wednesday that he played some left tackle in college and that he'd do whatever the coaching staff asks of him.

As for losing a teammate, friend and mentor like McKinnie, Loadholt acknowledged that Frazier sent a message that was received, loud and clear, in the locker room.

"It just shows that whatever Coach Frazier thinks is best for this team, he's going to do it, whether it's a popular decision or not," Loadholt said. "He's going to do what's best for the team. That's about what it showed us. And we expected that, too — not that individual situation, but that we expected him to make those kinds of decisions. Whatever it is, he's going to make the right decision for the team."