Skip navigation
Site powered by
Latest news:
msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines: Grammys open with prayer for Whitney Houston

Childress, Belichick in feud over waived players

Vikings coach: Pats coach wanted him not to claim Mills, but he declined

Bill BelichickGetty Images
Patriots coach Bill Belichick refused to be drawn into a public feud with Vikings coach Brad Childress.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - Vikings coach Brad Childress is the typical tight-lipped NFL coach, but he opened up on a radio interview last weekend. And Childress revealed an apparently tense conversation he had with Patriots coach Bill Belichick about a couple of players each team wanted to pass through waivers and put on the practice squad.

Childress said Belichick called to ask him not to claim tight end Garrett Mills, offering to avoid picking up a player the Vikings cut as a reward. Childress declined.

“He didn’t really care for that,” Childress said Sunday morning on WCCO-AM. “He was trying to leverage, but you always find out who is honest and straightforward.”

So the Vikings claimed Mills, the Patriots claimed linebacker David Herron, and Childress later realized he said too much.

“That’s a case of me being a little too colorful,” he said at his Wednesday news conference. “You guys wonder why I stand up here and go, ’Yep, no, and maybe so.’ Bill’s and my conversation should stay between Bill and myself.”

Belichick didn’t have much to say about it when asked on Monday.

“I talked to a lot of people in the league over the course of the last few days,” he said. “That’s part of the whole process of player transactions and so forth. I’m sure that all of the coaches in the league are trying to get their team ready for opening day and the regular season, and I’m trying to do the same thing.”

Mills didn’t want to comment on being in the middle of it.

“I have a lot of respect for coach Belichick and Scott Pioli and the whole Patriots organization,” he said. “I don’t know what happened and I’m here now, that’s all that matters.”

© 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement
More news
Image: Gerald Sensabaugh, Terence Newman, Mike Jenkins, DeSean Jackson
AP
Offseason needs for NFC teams

Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.

Image: Wild Card Playoffs - Pittsburgh Steelers v Denver Broncos
Getty Images
Wesseling: Offseason priorities for AFC teams

Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.