Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway didn’t participate in last weekend’s mandatory minicamp and refused to say why. This weekend Greenway is still refusing to say why. But he did say that it’s not an issue with his contract.
“There’s nothing related at all,” Greenway told the Argus Leader in his native South Dakota.. “There is no contract issue at all. Coach [Brad] Childress gave me some time off for the minicamp, and that’s really all that matters.”
OK. But why did Childress give Greenway some time off? And why won’t Childress or Greenway just explain it? The whole thing seems strange, and it compounds an already strange situation with that “mandatory” minicamp in Minnesota, which the team’s two biggest stars, Adrian Peterson and Brett Favre, both skipped.
Whatever the reasons, Greenway says he intends to honor his contract.
“With the scope of where the NFL is right now, with a looming lockout and things uncertain, as a player I think you have to be open-minded about what’s going to happen,” he said. “Of course you’d like to have your long-term future under control and in the bag. But at the same time it’s a business. I signed a five-year contract, and I’m going to play it out to the best of my ability. The Vikings have been very good to me.”