Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress, along with Vice President of Player Personnel Rick Spielman, hosted a media clinic inside Winter Park on Wednesday. The event was attended by close to 40 Twin Cities media members and featured presentations from Coach Childress, Spielman and Vikings Head Athletic Trainer Eric Sugarman.
Wednesday marked the second time in as many years that Coach Childress has held such an event, and the goal is to educate the local media about NFL football and the inner-workings of the organization. The mood was light as both Coach Childress and Spielman took friendly jabs at themselves and members of the media present at the event.
Newly acquired defensive end Jared Allen even made a cameo appearance, stopping in before the event started to joke around and visit with the media. Also, following the event, Bernard Berrian stopped in to
Coach Childress’ presentation included a breakdown of a typical day for him, critical variables and statistics from last season, team lessons discussed in meetings and traits he looks for in his assistant coaches. He also broke down game film of Allen, quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, receiver Bernard Berrian, safety Madieu Williams and second-round pick Tyrell Johnson.
Spielman spent his time talking about the 2008 draft process, including a breakdown of how and why the Vikings made a deal to move up in the second round to acquire Johnson. Sugarman, who was on the Philadelphia Eagles staff with Coach Childress and came with him to Minnesota in 2006, explained his job duties and some of his points of emphasis, including hydration and injury prevention. Sugarman also broke down a case study of Adrian Peterson’s knee injury to explain in some detail the process of rehabbing an athlete.