Vikings receiver Percy Harvin has had a very rough start to his second NFL training camp.
On Saturday, he gave the team a scare by tweaking an ankle. On Sunday, he missed practice due to a death in the family. Coach Brad Childress made the disclosure to the media after Sunday’s workout, according to Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Childress said that Harvin was still with the team, and Zulgad got the impression that it hadn’t been determined when or if Harvin would leave.
In 2007, Childress became the target of much criticism after docking former Vikings receiver Troy Williamson a game check for missing a game to attend the funeral of his grandmother. Though Childress later rescinded the fine, the incident poisoned the relationship between player and coach, prompting Williamson to offer to fight Childress in 2008, when his Jaguars hosted the Vikings.
We don’t expect Childress to drop the ball this time around. For starters, he surely learned a lesson about sensitivity to player needs. Moreover, Williams already was on the outs at the time of his fine, given his bad habit of dropping the ball pretty much every time around.