Vikings lead the NFL -- in trouble

Adrian Peterson's arrest last weekend at a Houston bar magnifies an alarming trend for the Minnesota Vikings, who have the dubious distinction of being the NFL's leading troublemakers.

The club's 10 arrests since January 2011 are almost twice as many as the second-place Detroit Lions. Peterson's bust also marked the 39th time a Vikings player has been arrested or cited since 2000, according to Pioneer Press research.

That is the longest rap sheet in the league, U-T San Diego reveals in an online database tracking NFL arrests over that span.

The raw numbers don't reflect well on an organization that in 2005 vowed accountability after the "Love Boat" and a series of other embarrassing incidents. Despite taking a P.R. hit for paying cornerback Chris Cook last season while he fought domestic-abuse charges, the Vikings don't want to appear soft on crime.

They privately admit they had no choice with Cook. And they publicly insist they are doing everything they can to be good citizens in the community and the league.

The NFL agrees.

"The Vikings are among league leaders in communicating with players about pitfalls," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said. "There's complete buy-in with the Wilfs, coaches and players. Some teams, you only get one out of three. Because of the consistency of the organization, they're looked at for guidance by other teams, and they're transparent helping other clubs pattern other programs."

The Vikings organization declined to

address the Peterson arrest directly, with the case pending and conflicting accounts emerging.

But as the Pioneer Press has spent the offseason examining the increase in arrests among Vikings players, the team has addressed in general its concerns while trumpeting what the NFL calls a model organization for full-scale community service and player engagement.

"We take off-the-field conduct very serious," Vikings President Mark Wilf said in a statement emailed to the Pioneer Press on June 9.

"Certainly we are very disappointed any time there is an off-the-field issue with a player. But we are also proud of the young men in our locker room who do a significant amount of good in the Twin Cities community and throughout Minnesota.

"We realize the system is not perfect, nor is player conduct always perfect. But we strive to make every effort to succeed in that area. We continue to stress to our players, coaches and staff that as members of this team, we want them to make good decisions and to contribute to the community in a constructive way."

The Vikings budget about $200,000 a year for player-development programs that help on a more personal level. The club also reports 100 percent participation by players, coaches and front-office personnel in at least one community-service program in six of the last seven seasons. More than $3.2 million has been donated to the Vikings Children's Fund, the team's long-standing charity, a 90 percent increase over average donations prior to the Wilfs buying the team.

So how to reconcile all that goodwill with the reality that Minnesota has had more arrests than any team in the NFL, not just in the past 18 months but over the last 12 years?

"I wish I had an answer," said the man responsible for such troubleshooting, Les Pico, the Vikings executive director of player development. "We take that very personally even though these are grown men. It's disturbing and alarming, to say the least. We go above and beyond to set

examples, provide education resources. I don't know what else we can continue to do."

DIFFERING RESPONSES

The drip-drip-drip of recent arrests hardly compares to the tumult of 2005, when the Wilfs found themselves with a team in crisis management from events that occurred shortly before or shortly after they took control.

-- Four players were charged with lewd and disorderly conduct in connection with a sex party on a chartered boat cruise of Lake Minnetonka.

-- Coach Mike Tice was fined $100,000 by the NFL for scalping Super Bowl tickets.

-- Running back Onterrio Smith was suspended by the league for attempting to smuggle through airport security a contraption designed to cheat drug tests.

Owner Zygi Wilf responded by issuing a 77-page code of conduct to every Vikings employee, outlining "the class, dignity and integrity that we strive to maintain in our business dealings, and the class, dignity and integrity we expect from our players, coaches and staff."

The document spelled out how police matters would be reviewed "case by case, and punishments may not be doled out until completion of pending court and/or legal action."

In 2006, new head coach Brad Childress, who had authority over the 53-man roster, acted swiftly when confronted with his first crisis by severing ties with a troubled player he had just re-signed from the previous regime.

In August 2006, five months after signing a three-year, $12.7 million contract extension, wide receiver Koren Robinson was arrested and charged with fleeing police and DWI after a high-speed chase that ended in St. Peter, Minn. Robinson was jailed for 90 days, suspended one year by the NFL and cut by the team.

Childress also gambled by acquiring players with character questions, including wide receiver Percy Harvin, who had failed a drug test at the 2009 scouting combine, and sack specialist Jared Allen, who had been charged twice with drunken driving and suspended four games in 2007 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The coach also reached back into the Vikings' troubled past by signing wide receiver Randy Moss during the 2010 season, which backfired when Moss' attitude proved toxic and Childress cut him without consulting the Wilfs. That decision essentially sealed Childress' fate, and he was fired that November.

There were eight reported arrests during Childress' 41/2-year rein, a relatively small amount compared with the chaos during the first half of the decade. But the circus never really left town when factoring in Moss and two years of Brett Favre drama that ended with the future hall of fame quarterback tainted by a sexting scandal.

Now the offensive coordinator in Cleveland, Childress declined an interview request made through the Browns.

Leslie Frazier, who has a 6-16 record as head coach, has been praised as an even-mannered steward and likable coach driven to make Minnesota competitive again in the NFC North Division. But the Vikings already have had 10 arrests in the 18 months since Frazier succeeded his autocratic predecessor.

Frazier was asked during minicamp in June, shortly after new fullback Jerome Felton was arrested in Eden Prairie on suspicion of DWI and careless driving, whether the Vikings needed to reassess the situation.

"We'll always try to see what we're doing and what can make us better on and off the football field. I also know, when you're dealing with young men at this age, there's a possibility of this happening," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me -- hopefully it doesn't happen -- but there may be some other incidents around the league or on our team."

Newly promoted general manager Rick Spielman piloted his first draft in April, three months after earning command of the roster. None of the 10 players Minnesota selected this year had any reported character issues.

Of the 14 Vikings arrested since the 2005 Love Boat scandal, half were drafted players who went through the club's player-development programs. The other seven were free agents, mostly role players.

"We don't have issues with the majority of our players," Spielman said during a June interview. "There's always a certain few. But we're identifying potential issues when bringing in players. The first thing we ask ourselves from ownership on down is: Are we able to cope and handle and can we teach this player what he's doing wrong? Yeah, we can handle that, but it may take some time. There are players we've talked about where there's no way we want to go down that road."

And when a player gets to Minnesota, Spielman says, the team privately examines his history and whether any misdeeds seem isolated. The Vikings used that rationale to sign free-agent wide receiver Jerome Simpson this offseason, despite a 15-day jail sentence and pending three-game league suspension after Simpson was convicted of mailing himself 2 pounds of marijuana last year with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Still, the Vikings' responses to arrests in recent months appear to send mixed messages. Did better players receive better treatment?

-- Reserve running back Caleb King was cut in April, two days after being jailed following an altercation outside an Anoka house party that left a man hospitalized with a severe head injury. King has not been charged with a crime, although team officials said privately that disciplinary issues unrelated to his arrest contributed to his dismissal.

-- Starting cornerback Cook was suspended with pay for most of the 2011 season and returned to the team after being acquitted in March.

-- Fourth-string quarterback Rhett Bomar was cut last year during training camp shortly after being arrested and charged with suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Mankato.

-- Everson Griffen, a talented 2010 fourth-round defensive tackle, was not disciplined despite being arrested twice within three days for confrontations with police in Southern California in January 2011. Charges against Griffen were dropped in one case. In the other, he was sentenced to three years probation and a $10,000 fine.

Asked about differing responses by the team for different players who have been arrested, Mark Wilf said via email that Vikings ownership backs the judgments by Frazier and Spielman:

"They keep us apprised of situations and we provide feedback, but we have 100-percent trust in their decisions and the process they follow to reach those outcomes."

With Cook, the Vikings just didn't make that process public.

THE COOK CASE

Cook's case was noteworthy for its high profile and for not just the accusations of violence but the admissions.

Although a Hennepin County jury would acquit Cook on all charges concerning the confrontation with his then-fiancee, Chantel Baker, he testified to striking her in the side of the head after she hit him in the back of the head with a high-heel shoe, causing her to fall face-first into a nightstand. She got up and continued to punch him, Cook testified, and he held her down by her wrists on the bed. Cook denied choking Baker, who suffered facial injuries and a punctured eardrum.

The incident initially landed Cook in jail for two days and kept him out of Minnesota's Oct. 23 home game against the Green Bay Packers.

As accusations surfaced against Cook, team executives debated how strongly they should discipline their 2010 second-round draft pick. Under the collective bargaining agreement, the Vikings had the option of keeping Cook on the NFL's injured/suspended list for up to four weeks for conduct detrimental to the team.

The Vikings decided to suspend Cook for two games without pay. They had consulted with NFL general counsel Jeff Pash and were advised that longer club suspension without pay (or outright release) while Cook's criminal case was pending would not survive a grievance, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has ultimate authority to discipline players under the NFL's personal conduct policy, and teams cannot supersede his discretion. Ultimately, the league did not punish Cook.

Cook was banished from Winter Park while defending himself at trial but was paid for the second half of a 3-13 season. Another person close to Cook said he voluntarily completed a 10-week program on domestic violence after his acquittal.

NFL spokesman McCarthy declined to comment about the Cook case, as did Spielman. Cook's agent, Hadley Engelhard, did not return telephone calls.

David Valentini, who successfully defended Cook in Hennepin County, said his client was prepared to contest a longer unpaid suspension.

"He definitely would have filed a grievance," Valentini said. "There was the compromise. Ultimately, the Vikings did the right thing as it turns out."

Cook declined to be interviewed for this story. At May's organized team activities, he vowed to reclaim his job and the trust of teammates who suffered through a 3-13 season he essentially escaped.

"I think the biggest way to reconnect is come out here and show them what I can do, prove myself on the field," Cook said. "Just let my actions and my character speak for itself."

SPOTTING TROUBLE

The Vikings look to their player-development programs to help their players avoid trouble.

Spielman calls his team one of the NFL's best in player education. And the general manager, who also has worked for the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins, calls his troubleshooter Pico the "best I've ever been around."

"I would trust him, no doubt, 100 percent and beyond," Spielman said.

Prior to the draft, Spielman and his scouts cross-examine prospects on their biographies while security officials with the team and NFL vet the college players' criminal and financial backgrounds.

Rookies who sign with the Vikings are required to attend seminars five days a week during offseason camps at Winter Park and meet with Pico and his staff three times a week during the season, Spielman said. Sessions are voluntary for veterans, who are managed differently from rookies under the collective bargaining agreement.

Still, Pico's staff is trained to spot trouble and is in constant communication with players about available resources. Frazier also routinely addresses the players about acting professionally and protecting their -- and the Vikings' -- interests.

The team counsels players on investing money, screening agents and nannies, recognizing substance abuse, and managing domestic problems. Director of security Kim Klawiter, a former Minnesota State Patrol officer, instructs players how to handle themselves during traffic stops.

A sober cab program is available to every team employee for free transportation anytime, anywhere. With rare exceptions, a player who seeks help from Pico can count on discretion, which Spielman respects and the Wilfs understand.

"If guys in that locker room believe that I am sharing confidential information, I'd be out of a job," Pico said. "The only time I've told a player I was going to management is if an incident has the ability to reach the media. I've had ownership ask what's going on here, and very respectively I say I really can't say anything because I'd be breaching confidentiality. They're good with that. No one presses me that way anymore."

Added Spielman: "You don't ever want players to think if they utilize a tool, it's going to come back to bite them in the ass."

Besides Klawiter, the team also employs retired Minneapolis police commander Don Banham part time.

Pico and Spielman each said Twin Cities police departments take no-nonsense approaches when dealing with players compared with other markets in which they have worked. Pico worked for the Kansas City Chiefs and recounted instances, without specifying names, in which police officers drove home intoxicated players instead of incarcerating them.

Both were quick to insist they did not expect preferential treatment.

"We have no animosity toward law enforcement here, and it would be very presumptuous for us to expect special consideration," Pico said. "These are grown men who should be held accountable. But it does vary from community to community. Whether that has an impact, I don't know."

Peterson's case remains fluid, and it was unclear whether the arrest of their highest-profile player will force the Vikings to re-examine their player management. Kevin Warren, vice president of legal affairs, offered only a general comment.

"Every member of this organization, from players, coaches, owners and staff, is cognizant of how we conduct ourselves and the importance of good behavior," he said. "We emphasize hard work, integrity, class and the reality that we live and operate in a fishbowl. We strongly believe in all of our employees and embrace opportunities for daily continuous improvement, both as individuals and as an organization."

Follow Brian Murphy on twitter.com/bmurphPiPress.

Source: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21069428/vikings-dominate-nfl-trouble?source=rss_viewed

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