The Minnesota Vikings created shockwaves among their most die-hard fans yesterday when news broke that they had let longtime head trainer Eric Sugarman go. Brad Childress brought Sugarman over from Philadelphia when the Vikings hired him in 2006, and Sugarman has been in Minnesota ever since.
But the Vikings are undergoing an organizational overhaul, and initially, it looked like Sugarman was just the next in line to see the door. However, former defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo pushed back on the notion that Sugarman was beloved by all the players he cared for.
“Eric Sugarman was not a good man so whatever narrative you guys think of him it’s been fabricated,” Odenigbo tweeted in response to Star Tribune beat writer Ben Goessling’s breaking the news.
“It was my rookie year with the Vikings,” he elaborated in a different tweet. “I was put on practice squad during the season, I had a small injury and I wanted to get treatment, so I asked the trainers to see me. Eric [Sugarman] tells me ‘I wish I got paid 6 [figures] to work 3 times a week’ then he proceeded to ignore me. This [is] one of many stories and encounters people had with him on a regular [basis].”
Former Vikings Jeff Badet and Jaleel Johnson co-signed Odenigbo’s sentiment.
The Vikings drafted Odenigbo in the seventh round of the 2017 draft and placed him on their practice squad. Minnesota waived him in October 2018, and Odenigbo spent time with the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns before returning to Minnesota in 2019 and 2020. Odenigbo made 15 starts for the Vikings in 2020 and played nine games in Cleveland last season.
Players on a team’s practice squad do not count towards the 53-man roster and can make up to $14,000 a week, or $252,000 a year. However, Odenigbo likely made closer to $8,400 a week given when he was on the practice squad and his tenure in the league. Either way, it’s a spot where players like Odenigbo can develop, and he eventually became an NFL starter.
Odenigbo is a feel-good story. But if he’s to be believed, the same cannot be said for Sugarman.
