http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/2806 Recent articles about Bryant McKinnie en-us The Vikings go into camp with 80 men on their roster, and will have to trim that to 53 by the time the season starts.  The current position-by-position breakdown follows the jump (depth chart positions subject to debate in some cases; starters in italics): Offense Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson Gus Frerotte John David Booty Brooks Bollinger Running Back Adrian Peterson Chester Taylor Maurice Hicks Albert Young Fullback Thomas Tapeh Jeff Dugan Naufahu Tahi Tackle Ryan Cook Bryant McKinnie Marcus Johnson Chase Johnson Drew Radovich Guard Steve Hutchinson Anthony Herrera Artis Hicks Brian Daniels Mike Jones Center Matt Birk John Sullivan Dan Mozes Tim Mattran Tight End Visanthe Shiancoe Jim Kleinsasser Garrett Mills Braden Jones Wide Receiver Bernard Berrian Bobby Wade Sidney Rice Robert Ferguson Aundrae Allison Jaymar Johnson Martin Nance Nate Jones Darius Reynaud Daniel Davis Defense/Special Teams Defensive End Jared Allen Ray Edwards Brian Robison Jayme Mitchell Ellis Wyms Otis Grigsby Martail Burnett Defensive Tackle Kevin Williams Pat Williams Fred Evans Letroy Guiron Kenderick Allen Leger Douzable Linebacker E.J. Henderson Ben Leber Chad Greenway Heath Farwell Vinny Ciurciu Derrick Pope Rufus Alexander David Herron Erin Henderson Jeremy Leman Cornerback Antoine Winfield Cedric Griffin Marcus McCauley Charles Gordon Benny Sapp Dee McCann Marcus Walker Brandon Sumrall Safety Darren Sharper Madieu Williams Michael Boulware Tyrell Johnson Eric Frampton Jusain Abdullah Kicker Ryan Longwell Steven Hauschka Punter Chris Kluwe Long Snapper Cullen Loeffler Hard to find any real positional battles there.  The best one is probably at tight end, where I'm hoping Garrett Mills, who showed flashes in the final game of last season, will push Visanthe Shiancoe.  Maybe Marcus McCauley or Charles Gordon can make things uncomfortable for Cedric Griffin?  Everything else looks set, barring injury or guys suddenly forgetting how to play.  I'll continue to update this as camp progresses, reflecting cuts, and any changes in depth chart position. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:24:10 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294950 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294950 From: Pro Football Weekly OLT Bryant McKinnie's hearing for a criminal case, in which he faces four separate charges related to a fight outside a Miami nightclub, was continued back in June and is scheduled for a court date of Sept. 24 — three days after the Vikings face the Panthers in Minnesota during Week Three of the season. The team is aware of the situation and knows that McKinnie, should he be found guilty, could face punishment by the league. In fact, McKinnie already has met with commissioner Roger Goodell on the matter, so a punishment for violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy could come down swiftly in this case, especially because McKinnie would be a repeat offender if found guilty. In that case, the Vikings would be left to replace one of their better run blockers, and there is no natural replacement on the roster who possesses McKinnie's mass or talent. Artis Hicks is a jack-of-all-trades who has played left tackle sparingly before (in Philadelphia, when Brad Childress was the Eagles' offensive coordinator) and could play there in a pinch. But don't be surprised if either Marcus Johnson or Chase Johnson gets a chance there. Marcus Johnson has more experience and has shown improvement, but don't rule out the massive Chase Johnson (6-8, 331 pounds) possibly being a strong option. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:52:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292735 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292735 From: Pro Football Weekly OLT Bryant McKinnie's hearing for a criminal case, in which he faces four separate charges related to a fight outside a Miami nightclub, was continued back in June and is scheduled for a court date of Sept. 24 — three days after the Vikings face the Panthers in Minnesota during Week Three of the season. The team is aware of the situation and knows that McKinnie, should he be found guilty, could face punishment by the league. In fact, McKinnie already has met with commissioner Roger Goodell on the matter, so a punishment for violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy could come down swiftly in this case, especially because McKinnie would be a repeat offender if found guilty. In that case, the Vikings would be left to replace one of their better run blockers, and there is no natural replacement on the roster who possesses McKinnie's mass or talent. Artis Hicks is a jack-of-all-trades who has played left tackle sparingly before (in Philadelphia, when Brad Childress was the Eagles' offensive coordinator) and could play there in a pinch. But don't be surprised if either Marcus Johnson or Chase Johnson gets a chance there. Marcus Johnson has more experience and has shown improvement, but don't rule out the massive Chase Johnson (6-8, 331 pounds) possibly being a strong option. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:52:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292735 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292735 New Lions safety Dwight Smith is being altogether too circumspect in his public comments about his former team the Vikings.  You know the guy is full of beefs after the way things ended up in Minnesota, but for some reason he is restricting himself to remarks like this: The last two teams basically cut me. I feel like I have something to prove in that sense. And I'm also playing back home. There's more pressure on you playing in front of your hometown fans and family. Smith wasn't really cut by the Vikings for performance reasons though…he ran afoul of Brad Childress's culture of accountability schtick, and wasn't a big enough name to be spared.  If he'd managed to avoid getting caught having sex in stairwells and smoking pot at intersections, he'd probably still be here. Either way, I expect more from Dwight on the vitriol front.  He needs to take his cues from Fred Smoot and other guys who've left…he needs to take shots at the organization and act like he was wronged.  He needs to call Chilly a hypocrite, and point out how guys like Bryant McKinnie are protected when they do bad things.  Plus he's a Lion now - he needs to start making outrageous statements a la Jon Kitna.  "We expect to go 16-0 while outscoring our opponents by 40 points a game," and stuff like that.  We like it when Lions say things like that…it makes us laugh. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:45:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291266 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291266 New Lions safety Dwight Smith is being altogether too circumspect in his public comments about his former team the Vikings.  You know the guy is full of beefs after the way things ended up in Minnesota, but for some reason he is restricting himself to remarks like this: The last two teams basically cut me. I feel like I have something to prove in that sense. And I'm also playing back home. There's more pressure on you playing in front of your hometown fans and family. Smith wasn't really cut by the Vikings for performance reasons though…he ran afoul of Brad Childress's culture of accountability schtick, and wasn't a big enough name to be spared.  If he'd managed to avoid getting caught having sex in stairwells and smoking pot at intersections, he'd probably still be here. Either way, I expect more from Dwight on the vitriol front.  He needs to take his cues from Fred Smoot and other guys who've left…he needs to take shots at the organization and act like he was wronged.  He needs to call Chilly a hypocrite, and point out how guys like Bryant McKinnie are protected when they do bad things.  Plus he's a Lion now - he needs to start making outrageous statements a la Jon Kitna.  "We expect to go 16-0 while outscoring our opponents by 40 points a game," and stuff like that.  We like it when Lions say things like that…it makes us laugh. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:45:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291266 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291266 Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie has earned a place on the 2008 All-Turd team as compiled by ProFootballTalk. Said PFT of McKinnie: He followed up the Love Boat saga by swinging a Hate Pole into a bouncer's noggin. They'll never let the Love Boat go, will they? Congratulations Bryant. You earned it bud. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:31:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284665 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284665 Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie has earned a place on the 2008 All-Turd team as compiled by ProFootballTalk. Said PFT of McKinnie: He followed up the Love Boat saga by swinging a Hate Pole into a bouncer's noggin. They'll never let the Love Boat go, will they? Congratulations Bryant. You earned it bud. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:31:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284665 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284665 Cleaning up some business from the past week… Kenechi Udeze, who has been stricken with leukemia, announced on KFAN host Dan Barreiro's show Friday that he will have a bone marrow transplant early next month. Udeze will receive the donor marrow from his older brother Thomas Barnes who is a 100% match.  Obviously, we wish Kenechi well.  But from a heartless pragmatic strictly-business point-of-view? Udeze's loss became irrelevant when we traded for Jared Allen. On the legal front:  Bryant McKinnie learned Friday that his criminal case will be continued. McKinnie's lawyers have been trying to get the assault charges dismissed by convincing the judge to let him enter a pretrial diversion program.  The next court date is September 24, but it won't interfere with Bryant's football schedule because he doesn't have to show. It somewhat sucks having the McKinnie thing hanging over the team, especially given all the enthusiasm we feel over Jared Allen and Bernard Berrian and a second season of Adrian Peterson.  But that's how it is when you have an overgrown juvenile delinquent on your squad. On the personnel front:  The Vikings pared their roster down closer to the 80-man limit by cutting RB Arkee Whitlock and WR Justin Surrency.  I like the name Arkee.  It reminds me of legendary B-movie producer Samuel Z. Arkoff. Darren Sharper participated in an NFL broadcasting bootcamp. Said Darren of the experience: It's excellent. I'm learning a lot about all the different areas of broadcasting from script writing, to reporting, to interviewing guys. It's a great because I'm meeting a lot of great contacts and learning things that will help you grow to be in whatever type of broadcasting that you want to get into. Darren will one day work for ESPN I suppose.  They have a never-ending need for ex-players who have nothing to say, and are willing to become pure corporate stooges. A final item of interest:  USA Today says Maurice Hicks is the favorite to return kicks.  Well, that's why they signed him.  Cripes, USA Today is really on top of things, hey?  I bet they'll soon report that Steve Hutchinson is the favorite to start at left guard. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:45:37 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281395 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/281395 Adrian Peterson is an exciting fantasy player by any measure. Besting the NFL single-game rushing record in his rookie season was a feat for the ages. Many a fantasy football trophy was won last year thanks to his statistical brilliance. I certainly wouldn't be incredibly surprised if he has an even better season in 2008. Even though I think he has a higher ceiling than any running back in the league, if I were drafting with the #2 pick tonight, I'd be taking Addai over Peterson (assuming, as I think we can, that LT goes #1 almost universally). Here's why. Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:20:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/277208 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/277208 Bryant McKinnie got called into the principal's office to explain what happened that night in Miami when he pounded a bouncer's head with a pole.  This meeting was supposed to be hush-hush, but like everything else, news of it got leaked to the media…though no details of the meeting itself have been revealed (apparently no one thought to bug Roger Goodell's office). Given the fact that this was McKinnie's second violation of the personal conduct policy, and that Roger Goodell seems to enjoy suspending people…well, I'd say it's almost a lock that McKinnie will get suspended.  I think two games ought to be sufficient.  And the commissioner should make Bryant promise not to go to anymore nightclubs.  Nightclubs and Bryant mix about as well as strip clubs and Pacman. Sun, 01 Jun 2008 07:40:12 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/272978 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/272978 Bryant McKinnie got called into the principal's office to explain what happened that night in Miami when he pounded a bouncer's head with a pole.  This meeting was supposed to be hush-hush, but like everything else, news of it got leaked to the media…though no details of the meeting itself have been revealed (apparently no one thought to bug Roger Goodell's office). Given the fact that this was McKinnie's second violation of the personal conduct policy, and that Roger Goodell seems to enjoy suspending people…well, I'd say it's almost a lock that McKinnie will get suspended.  I think two games ought to be sufficient.  And the commissioner should make Bryant promise not to go to anymore nightclubs.  Nightclubs and Bryant mix about as well as strip clubs and Pacman. Sun, 01 Jun 2008 07:40:12 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/272978 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/272978 This article includes the projected starters for the upcoming season, statistics and injuries from the past season, an overview of players on the line and an outlook for the 2008 season. Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:58:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/254935 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/254935 Remember when the Minnesota Vikings' Bryant McKinnie was a part of the Love Boat scandal? Yeah, that was the wrong way to make friends with girls. This video shows you the right way. Prolly NSFW Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:18:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/199011 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/199011 Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie was arrested for aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest (the hat trick!) after a street fight outside a Miami club on early Sunday. This is not McKinnie's first run in with the law you might remember he was charged with a misdemeanor for his involvement in the 2005 Vikings love boat scandal.... Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:24:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/165056 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/165056 A Week 6 NFL matchup between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings. Just a few things to watch for in this game. Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:05:38 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/30795 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/30795