Minnesota Vikings Josh Freeman Holds Press Conference– GM Rick Spielman Speaks for Him
By Sarita Kelly
Chalk this up to another weird story this week for the Vikings. The addition of Josh Freeman to the quarterback position left many scratching their heads. Our QB situation is a soap opera at best already so adding one more to pack didn’t make much sense to anyone.
The team spent Monday continuing to tell us that Ponder is our starter when he is healthy and Cassel is the backup until Ponder returns. But in between beating that dead horse they wanted everyone to get to know the new guy on the block. They say they think he has a chance to be a good player.
So the Vikings held a conference call Monday with General Manager Rick Spielman, Freeman and reporters, but Spielman can be heard directing Freeman on what to say.
According to a City Pages blog:
"City Pages had a blog Tuesday morning pointing out the hand-holding."
The first instance, at the 14:32 mark, comes just as Freeman is making his opening remarks. Spielman can be heard saying something like, “Just say you’re excited to be here.” Freeman then says, “I’m pumped up to be a Minnesota Viking.”
The second, at 16:35, comes after a reporter asks Freeman, “What happened between you and Greg Schiano?”… As Freeman struggled to answer that question, a whispering Spielman can be heard saying something like, “everything down there was great.” Freeman then says, “I had a lot of great memories there, a lot of good times with the fellas.”
The last instance, occurring at the 26:30 mark, comes after Freeman is asked if reports he only wanted a one-year deal with the Vikings are true. Spielman can be heard whispering something to Freeman about “your business.” Then, Freeman says: “I didn’t really take a whole lot of interest in the actual negotiations. My main focus was where can I go to better myself the most.”
The Vikings even delayed the conference call for about an hour. Spielman talked first for roughly 15 minutes then Freeman began his Spielman portion of the call.
This all would be really hard to believe if it wasn’t true. Here is the audio of the conference call.