The roller coaster ride that has been the Minnesota Vikings 2021 season took another weird turn on Saturday as starting cornerback Bashaud Breeland was cut from the team following an altercation at practice.
Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported that the Vikings made the decision to waive Breeland “after he got into a verbal altercation at practice with coaches, took off his cleats and got into it with multiple teammates who were trying to calm the situation.”
But, as the saying goes, there’s always two sides to every story. Now Breeland is willing to tell his side, and says the entire altercation is “blown out of proportion.”
Speaking in an exclusive to Josina Anderson, Breeland disagreed with Pelissero’s account of the events and said “I feel like what happened in the meeting room with the coach was not serious enough to be an issue on the practice field.”
Declining to give names Breeland went deeper into the entire event according to Anderson:
Following the exchange, Breeland said he went onto the field with the intention of practicing, but was later pulled off.
“After that, I sat a while and took off my cleats and put my workout shoes on,” Breeland said, adding he remained attentive to practice and listened to the coach’s corrections.
Later, while switching fields, he said a player came up to him and said, “What’s up Breezy?” Breeland said he nodded his head in response and the player asked, “That’s all I get?”
“I was like, ‘Bro’ I’m not trying to be a distraction. Just let me get on the move. I’m good,'” Breeland said. “Then, it escalated out of nowhere.”
The player charged, “like he wanted to fight,” Breeland said. Others intervened. Breeland declined to share the names of those involved.
“The whole time I had my hands in my hoodie,” he said. “You can see my demeanor was like, ‘I’m not on that, but if you want to be on that we can be on that.’
“That’s when the general manager stepped in on the field. I feel like Zimmer came over there, saw confusion and just kicked me out. I feel like Zimmer was already feeling some kind of way because I wasn’t practicing. I said, ‘If I’m not being cut or released I shouldn’t have to leave practice.’”
Breeland said he spoke with general manager Rick Spielman after practice, along with a “player personnel staff member” and two of the players involved to understand what happened. He later received a call from Spielman saying he would not travel, but they would “resume this Tuesday,” Breeland said. His agent later told him he was being released.
Breeland’s less destructive version of the events may be true, but it’s hard to believe that a team so hard up for cornerback help would be willing to cut a starter for any reason other than their hand being forced.
