I’m a bit shocked by this one. Antoine Winfield has been a pillar of the Vikings defence since he arrived and still had one year to go on his current contract. He is, to put it mildly, popular with the fans. Here’s the brief report from Tom Pelissero:
Antoine Winfield is done with the Minnesota Vikings.
The veteran cornerback was informed on Monday afternoon he’ll be released, an NFL source said.
Winfield was due $7.25 million in base salary in the last year of his deal.
The Vikings wanted him to restructure his contract, but Winfield [turned] down the offer, per sources.
I understand the mathematics here … $7.25 million is too much to pay for a player who was supposed to be playing fewer snaps in the 2013 season. But it feels wrong.
In other Vikings news, wide receiver Jerome Simpson signed his offer to come back for another year after a disappointing 2012 season. That means the current receivers under contract are Simpson, Jarius Wright, Stephen Burton, Greg Childs (on IR for his rookie season), and Chris Summers (practice squad in 2012).
I’ll be updating this post with other free agent news as it trickles in:
- Right tackle Phil Loadholt is reported to have signed a new multi-year contract. The expressed interest from divisional rivals in Chicago may have helped this deal happen.
- Backup offensive lineman Joe Berger is also reported to have signed a veteran minimum contract for 2013.
- A bit more information on the release of Antoine Winfield from 1500ESPN.
- Safety Jamarca Sanford told his Twitter followers that he’s re-signed with the Vikings.
Update, 13March: After I logged off last night, the Vikings re-signed outside linebacker Erin Henderson to a two-year deal. They also re-signed fullback Jerome Felton to a three-year deal.
At the Daily Norseman, KJSegall pens a tribute to a great player:
You hear about Ray Lewis and how he would motivate a locker room, fire up teammates, blah blah blah. You hear about it because the guy is the biggest media whore since… OK, I sat here for no less than four minutes and really couldn’t come up with a good follow up. Winfield was so much like Lewis, and yet the total opposite at the same time. He was the heart and soul of the defense, an aging vet who cared far more about his teammates all along than he ever did himself. He bought into the idea that football is a team sport, and that football players are team players. Arif pointed out in the comments section that he himself watched Winfield coaching the very players who could take his job as deeply as an actual coach. Winfield was a Viking, and that was always first and foremost.
Last season, three times, Winfield put team before self as fiercely as any football player could have. First, after his younger brother died, he fought through the emotional agony that he surely must have felt and returned to play in a September game. Then, when things were looking bleak for the team, he silenced the locker room to even beyond a whisper, giving a fiery speech that spurred his team on, helping in a key way to propel the Vikings to an amazing finish and a playoff berth. And then, in the last, he suffered through a broken hand, playing in the season finale (before finally yielding to the pain halfway through) and then returning for the playoff game.
That speech, by the way- do you have any clue what was said? I don’t. No one really does. And there is the oxymoronic comparison between him and Ray Lewis. Sure, Lewis too could spark his team with a big speech. But then he wanted cameras around, he wanted reporters to know what happened and what was said. Winfield, however, had none of that. His words were for his team and his team alone. He didn’t want the glory or the adulation, he just wanted the win. That was always good enough for him.
