EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Vikings rookie receiver Laquon Treadwell bought a Range Rover SUV for his 21st birthday Tuesday. On Wednesday, he was cleaning it out.
A couple of his new teammates pranked the first-round draft pick by filling his car with 60,000 packets of Welch’s Fruit Snacks.
“That definitely was a good one,” Treadwell told the Pioneer Press. “I didn’t see that one coming at all.”
The ringleaders were tight end Kyle Rudolph and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who got their hands on the fruit snacks via Welch’s sponsoring their youth camp this summer. They got plenty of help from other mischievous teammates like safety Michael Griffin.
“Griff came in the training room, and he was, like, ‘Hey, move your car, move your car,’ ” Treadwell said. “I’m, like, ‘What?’ It must be like I was parking in the president’s spot. I go out there and I got a car full of Welch’s Fruit Snacks.”
The snacks arrived last week in scores of 14-pound boxes on pallets and were stored underneath tarp in the Winter Park Field House. Hundreds of pounds’ worth were dumped into Treadwell’s car.
“They got my keys out of the locker and then opened the sunroof,” Treadwell said.
At least Rudolph and Bridgewater had the decency to hang around long enough to help clean out the car with Treadwell, fellow receiver Charles Johnson and several Vikings employees. Nevertheless, Treadwell said he already has begun to plot his revenge.
The fruit snacks were loaded back into their boxes, though Treadwell kept four boxes for himself. The rest will be donated to a Twin Cities food bank.
Friendly linebacker battle
Chad Greenway has been a Vikings starter since 2007. Emmanuel Lamur is seeking to change that.
Lamur was signed in March as a free agent and is battling Greenway to start at weak-side linebacker. So far, it has been a friendly competition.
“We all know what’s at stake, of course,” Lamur said at Wednesday’s minicamp. “We’re competing with each other, but at the same time we’re close, man. We’re teaching each other, we’re learning from each other, we’re connecting. We’re building that bond, because at the end of day we’re a team and we’re tying to win one thing, and that’s a championship.”
Greenway, an 11-year veteran, is entering what is likely his final season. Greenway, 33, has said that several times, although Wednesday he played it coy in an interview with the NFL Network.
“Coach (Mike) Zimmer mentioned to me it would not be wise to continue to mention this would be my last year because you just never know,’’ Greenway said. “I tend to listen to his advice.”
Battling the Bengals
Lamur, who spent the previous four years with Cincinnati, said he has been informed the Vikings will scrimmage with the Bengals in Ohio for about two days before the teams play Aug. 12 at Paul Brown Stadium.
“It’s going to be fun, man,’’ Lamur said. “It’s football. At the end of the day, it’s going to be fun seeing the guys that I’ve been with for four years, but at the same time, when it comes to between the lines, there are no friends on the field.’’
The Vikings have announced players will report for training camp in Mankato on
July 28 and the first practice will be July 29. A full schedule soon will be released, and the team will have a much
xshorter stay than usual in Mankato.
The Vikings are expected to practice there through the weekend of Aug. 6-7 before traveling to the scrimmages in Cincinnati, where Zimmer was defensive coordinator from 2008-13. After the game, they’re expected to return to practice at Winter Park before the second exhibition, Aug. 18 at Seattle.
Teddy’s academy II
Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater anticipates this summer having a second “Teddy Two Gloves Passing Academy,’’ and wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson is excited.
Bridgewater invited five wide receivers, including Patterson, and two tight ends to workouts in April outside Orlando, Fla. Bridgewater’s teammates came up with the name for the sessions.
Patterson said he was there “two, three days’’ before. He wants to spend more time with Bridgewater, a Florida native, including some drills outside of the academy.
“I want to focus on going out with Teddy a little more,’’ Patterson said. “I want to make sure I spend a real good week or two with Teddy.’’
Treadwell wasn’t yet with the Vikings during the previous get-together. As for the one likely to be held this summer, he hopes he can make it.
“It just depends what I’m doing, what it is, and what my schedule looks like,’’ Treadwell said. “I’d love to go.’’
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By Chris Tomasson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
