Add the Minnesota Vikings to the list of teams whose players plan to keep working, even after the owners lock them out on March 4.
Three different Vikings offensive players told the Pioneer Press that they expect to get together for practices during a lockout to work on whatever aspects of new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave’s offense that they can learn. During a lockout, the players wouldn’t be able to get any coaching from Musgrave, but there’s nothing stopping the players from getting a playbook and some tape from Musgrave now and working things out on their own once the lockout starts.
“We almost have to be our own coaches,” Vikings quarterback Joe Webb said.
Webb isn’t the only quarterback talking about getting his guys together and working during the lockout; Josh Freeman of the Buccaneers made similar comments. If you’re a fan who wants your young quarterback to be a team leader who’s dedicated to getting better, you have to like those comments.
But if you’re a union member who wants the best deal you can get from the owners, you might not want your teammates working for free during the lockout, sending a message that they’ll be ready to go just as soon as the owners feel like paying them again.
And so we can expect players like Webb, who just want to bring their teammates together, to create some tension with their most stridently pro-union teammates.