Sharrif Floyd’s Instagram Post Points to Serious Injury
Joe Johnson
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Vikings defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd only played in one game last season after suffering a knee injury early in the year that required surgery in late September. Despite that surgery, the Vikings kept Floyd on the active roster until December. They officially placed the 24 year old on the injured reserve on December 12th and he was expected to be ready to practice by the time training camp began this season. That was until his cryptic and concerning Instagram post from last night…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSAhOLKAhg6/
Most of the post is written as some sort of letter to god, or some have said a prayer. In it, he’s essentially asking for “One last” chance to “Run”. That sounds really disconcerting, as essentially it sounds as if Floyd’s career is on the line. There hasn’t been any sort of statement from Winter Park and I wouldn’t really expect one, even if/when the media start making calls as head coach Mike Zimmer is typically super tight lipped about injuries unless he’s forced to let the league know. However, we can gleam some information from the moves or attempts at moves that the Vikings have made in free agency. The Vikings signed Datone Jones, a ‘tweener tackle/end that at the time seemed like a depth move if nothing else.
Now, it’s looking like Jones may be the early season or complete replacement for the injury prone Floyd. It was also reported that the Vikings asked Jones to put on some weight, which would make sense if he moved from the outside in. Now, it has also been said that the play at the defensive tackle position was what kept the Vikings from being a truly elite defense, and now that it’s looking like Floyd could be out for the year (Basically yet again), the Vikings may look towards the draft to replace him. Especially considering that Floyd had been on the fence even before this, as someone that the media has said perpetually resides in Zimmer’s dog-house, seemingly for his inability to play through injury and or pain.
So, until we know what the specific injury is, we won’t really know what options the Vikings have. It has been speculated that he’s perhaps acquired some nerve pain, perhaps in or from his surgery, as really it boils down to “What could’ve happened and when?” If it’s something that could end his career at the age of 24 it had to have happened during (or from) his surgery, thus nerve pain makes a lot of sense. However, it could be any number of things related to his surgery or recovery process. Obviously. So, at this point we are at in wait and see mode. The better question, to me, is when the Vikings knew. One could argue that they would’ve added Jones regardless, and the fact that they didn’t go after one of the more elite (Like Kawaan Short or Calais Campbell) defensive tackles could mean that things aren’t as dire as they appear. Hopefully.
Regardless, all eyes now point towards the draft. In a year that the Vikings are down a first round pick, the Vikings seem to be acquiring more needs than they can possibly fill. That’s always been one of the main reasons that I’ve argued for keeping Floyd when discussing replacing him in the past, as we simply don’t need to create the need for another defensive tackle, not to mention that he’s also arguably an elite pass rushing tackle something that you can’t simply assume that a draft pick will come in and be able to provide. However, it appears that the Vikings may have no choice and considering the fact that he was on Zimmer’s s%&#-list before this, we very well may have seen the last of Floyd in purple and gold.
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