Eric Kendricks turned heads when speaking about a “fear-based culture” in the aftermath of the Minnesota Vikings firing coach Mike Zimmer in January.
Now, the former First-Team All-Pro linebacker is saying he spoke with co-owners Mark and Zygi Wilf directly, when the team was in the early stages of hiring a new general manager and head coach.
“We had a great conversation at the end of the season and throughout the offseason a little bit,” Kendricks told reporters on Wednesday, “I’ve talked to the Wilfs as well. They are very involved in the community as well. Just having that bridge of communication with them and the management as well, I feel like it’s not really common. I talk to players around the league, and they don’t really have that communication with their ownership.”
.@EricKendricks54 on offseason conversations with #Vikings ownership and management about leadership changes pic.twitter.com/Mi9h8T7H3L
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) May 18, 2022
The Vikings eventually settled on former Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their new general manager and former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell as the new head coach.
Adofo-Mensah has spoken about collaboration and making decisions as a collective since arriving in Minnesota. And O’Connell is more of a player’s coach with an ability to relate better with all of the different personalities on the roster.
That isn’t an attempt to pile on a more old school-minded coach like Zimmer. Former Vikings star linebacker Chad Greenway recently called him an elite coach, but he also claimed his “aggressive” coaching style “wasn’t for everybody.”
Kendricks has never elaborated on his feelings towards Zimmer, but to be fair, it really doesn’t even matter at this point. The Vikings are moving on with O’Connell at the helm of the ship, while Zimmer has moved on with his life as well.
If another coaching opportunity presents itself, perhaps the two paths will cross again someday.
