We’re eight stops in, and my rental car—a pretty sweet Ford Escape, if you’re wondering—is about to get dropped off at the Minneapolis airport, after getting me here all the way from Upstate New York. After stops at the Packers, Bears, Colts, Bengals, Steelers and Browns, here’s what I saw/heard at a sweltering Vikings practice today.
1) The overriding thing I took from talking with people here is that the new guys really, really like a lot of what the old guys left for them on the roster, and in particular core players like Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook, Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks and Harrison Smith. And it’s not just that those guys are good players, but they’ve proven to be real program guys early on for new coach Kevin O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Bottom line, this is no teardown, and the team-builders here believe they’ll have a really good locker room from the jump.
Matt Krohn/USA TODAY Sports
